What 41 Instagram accounts taught us about Reels
Original benchmarks from our own analysis of public accounts. Reuse them, cite them, and check them against your own account.
How we measured this
We read the public Reels of real Instagram accounts and compared two things per account. First, how often each topic was posted against how well that topic performed. Second, follower count against average views per Reel. Every figure below is a count or an average of public readings, not an estimate.
Most accounts post their weakest content the most
Across 41 accounts we analysed, 88% post most on a topic that is not their best performer. In plain terms, most creators put their effort into their weakest content and starve their strongest, because nothing ever showed them which was which.
A reporting dashboard will happily rank your posts by views, but it will not tell you that the topic you post most often is the one holding the account back, or that your best-performing topic is the one you post least.
Follower count barely predicts reach
The three creators below sit in the same niche and their follower counts run from 44,000 to over a million. The smallest, at 44,000 followers, averaged more views per Reel than one sixteen times its size. A standard dashboard would have called the biggest account the winner. The data said otherwise.
| Followers | Average views per Reel |
|---|---|
| 44,000 | 139,000 |
| 1.1 million | 194,000 |
| 720,000 | 87,700 |
Post more of what already works for you
Both findings point the same way: the lever is not posting more, it is posting more of the right thing. Work out which topic carries your views, then check whether that is the one you post most. For most accounts, it is not.
Reel Intel finds exactly that in your own account, backed by your own reels and your competitors', and turns it into a plan for what to post next.
Instagram Reels benchmarks, answered
Do Instagram followers predict how many views a Reel gets?
Not reliably. In our analysis a 44,000-follower account averaged 139,000 views per Reel, while a 720,000-follower account averaged 87,700. Follower count did not predict reach; the content did.
What percentage of accounts post their weakest content the most?
Across 41 Instagram accounts we analysed, 88% post most on a topic that is not their best performer. Most creators put their effort into their weakest content and starve their strongest.
How was this Instagram Reels data collected?
We read the public Reels of real accounts and compared two things per account: how often each topic was posted against how well it performed, and follower count against average views per Reel. Every figure is a count or an average of public readings, not an estimate.
Can I see this for my own Instagram account?
Yes. Reel Intel reads your own Reels (and your competitors') and shows which of your topics actually carries your views, and how much of it you are posting. You can start from the home page with any public handle.
