In 2024, the average post on Instagram recieved 15.66 comments, 513.37 likes, and 19.79 saves. In 2023, the average post on the platform amassed 14.62 comments, 509.15 likes, and 20.28 saves.

In 2024, Instagram reels from accounts with over 50,001 followers reached over 67,000 Instagram users, down from approximately 73,000 users in 2023. Reels from accounts with between 10,001 and 50,000 followers reached around 9,650 people in 2024.

In 2024, the average Reel on Instagram generated over 15,000 views and 805 likes. Overall, in 2024, the average Instagram Reel received 25.72 comments and 82.04 saves.

As of April 2024, almost 32 percent of global Instagram audiences were aged between 18 and 24 years, and 30.6 percent of users were aged between 25 and 34 years. Overall, 16 percent of users belonged to the 35 to 44 year age group. Instagram users With roughly one billion monthly active users, Instagram belongs to the most popular social networks worldwide. The social photo sharing app is especially popular in India and in the United States, which have respectively 362.9 million and 169.7 million Instagram users each. Instagram features One of the most popular features of Instagram is Stories. Users can post photos and videos to their Stories stream and the content is live for others to view for 24 hours before it disappears. In January 2019, the company reported that there were 500 million daily active Instagram Stories users. Instagram Stories directly competes with Snapchat, another photo sharing app that initially became famous due to it’s “vanishing photos” feature. As of the second quarter of 2021, Snapchat had 293 million daily active users.

During the first quarter of 2024, Huge Instagram accounts, which had over 50,000 followers, reported to post approximately short-form videos, or Reel, every two days, and almost 0.50 Reels per day. In comparison, Big accounts, which counted between 10,001 and 50,000 followers, posted 0.3 Reels daily on average. Tiny accounts, which had a following of less than 500 users, posted their Reels on Instagram approximately every five days, or 0.18 Reels per day.

During a survey conducted among marketers in the United States and released in July 2023, 58.2 percent of respondents said they were planning to use Instagram Reels for influencer marketing purposes in 2024, while 54 percent said they planned to use TikTok.

According to a 2024 study of Reels hosted on Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram, the highest average video views on either platform were in the late hours of the day, especially at midnight. Instagram Reels that were published at midnight generated approximately 25,000 views on average, while Facebook Reels published at the same time received approximately half of the views, or 12,300 on average during the first quarter of 2024. However, the most popular posting time for content creators was six in the afternoon, with 119,000 Reels published on Instagram and 60,000 Reels published on Facebook at that time, respectively.

In 2024, Instagram accounts with more than 50,000 followers posted an average of 8.66 Reels per week, up from 3.98 per week in 2023. In addition, Big accounts, which are accounts with between 10,000 and 50,000 followers, increased their posting frequency of Reels from 1.71 times weekly in 2023, to 3.93 in 2024.

As of January 2024, India had a total of 362 million Instagram users, the largest Instagram audience in the world. The United States had 169 million users, and Brazil had 134 million. Indonesia, Turkey, and Japan ranked in fourth, fifth and sixth position, respectively. Brunei is the leading country for Instagram audience reach, with 92 percent of the population using the social media service. Guam came in second, with a penetration rate of 79.2 percent and the Cayman Islands ranked third, with 78.8 percent, followed closely by Kazakhstan, Iceland and Montenegro. It took Instagram 11.2 years to reach the milestone of 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, took 11 years, whilst Facebook took 13.3 years and YouTube took just over 14 years. Instagram’s demographics in the United States As of May 2021, Instagram was the fourth most visited social media service in the United States, after Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Out of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, TikTok was the most used of all three platforms by Generation Z. Overall, 57 percent of Gen Z social media users used Instagram, down from 61 percent in 2020 and 64 percent in 2019. Instagram finds most popularity with those in the 25 to 34 year age group, and as of December 2021, roughly a third of all users in the United States belonged to this age group. The social media app was also more likely to be used by women. Most followed accounts on Instagram Instagram’s official account had the most followers as of February 2022 with over 470 million followers. Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) had over 401 million followers on the platform and media personality and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) had over 309 million followers. National Geographic (@natgeo) had over 206.9 million followers, sharing educational content through its renowned photojournalism.

In 2021, there were 1.21 billion monthly active users of Meta's Instagram, making up over 28 percent of the world's internet users. By 2025, it has been forecast that there will be 1.44 billion monthly active users of the social media platform, which would account for 31.2 percent of global internet users.

How popular is Instagram?

Instagram, as of January 2022, was the fourth most popular social media platform in the world in terms of user numbers. YouTube and WhatsApp ranked in second and third place, respectively, whilst Facebook remained the most popular, with almost three billion monthly active users worldwide.

India had the largest number of Instagram users as of January 2022, with a total of over 230 million users in the country. The second-largest Instagram audience could be found in the United States, with almost 160 million people subscribing to the photo and video sharing app.

Gen Z and Instagram

As of September 2021, Gen Z users in the United States spent an average of five hours per week on Instagram. Although Instagram ranked third in terms of hours per week spent on the platform, Gen Z users spent considerably more time on TikTok, amounting to a weekly average of over 10 hours being spent on the mobile-first video app.

Most followed accounts on Instagram

As of May 2022, Instagram’s own account had 504.37 million followers. In terms of celebrities, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (@chistiano) had over 440.41 million followers on the social network. Moreover, the average media value of an Instagram post by Ronaldo was over 985,000 U.S. dollars.

The most liked post on Instagram as of May 2022 was Photo of an Egg, which was posted in 2019 by the account @world_record_egg. Photo of an Egg has not only exceeded 55 million likes on the platform, but it also has nearly 3.5 million comments, and the account itself has over 4.5 million Instagram followers. After mysterious posts published by the account, World Record Egg revealed itself as part of a mental health campaign aimed at the difficulties and demands of using social media.

In 2024, YouTube was the most popular social video platforms for users in the United States, with an estimated viewership of 211 million viewers. Facebook ranked second, while Instagram had approximately 143 million users engaging with the platform's Reels and posts on a monthly basis. TikTok was estimated to have a monthly audience of 112 million users in the examined period.

The Influencer Marketing Platform market is experiencing explosive growth, projected to reach $22.19 billion in 2025 and exhibiting a remarkable Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 35.8% from 2025 to 2033. This surge is driven by several key factors. Businesses are increasingly recognizing the effectiveness of influencer marketing in reaching target audiences organically and building brand trust, particularly among younger demographics heavily engaged with social media. The rise of short-form video content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels further fuels this trend, creating new avenues for influencer collaborations and campaign formats. Technological advancements within these platforms, offering enhanced analytics and campaign management tools, are streamlining the process and improving ROI for brands. Furthermore, the diversification of influencer marketing strategies beyond traditional social media, encompassing live streaming, podcasts, and even gaming platforms, expands the market's potential. The segmentation into various end-users (large enterprises, SMEs) and applications (fashion, food, travel, fitness) highlights the market's versatility and adaptability across diverse industries. Growth is particularly strong in North America and APAC, reflecting the high concentration of social media users and the significant adoption of influencer marketing strategies in these regions. However, Europe also represents a substantial market, with significant growth potential in countries like Germany, the UK, and France. While challenges exist, such as influencer authenticity concerns, brand safety issues, and the need for robust measurement frameworks, the market's overall trajectory points towards sustained, high-growth potential. The expanding list of platform providers indicates a competitive landscape, encouraging innovation and improved services. Looking ahead, the market is expected to see increasing sophistication in targeting and measurement, leveraging AI and data analytics to optimize campaign performance. This will be a critical driver of future market expansion and sustained high CAGR.

In 2023, the average engagement rate on Instagram Reels for accounts with between 100 thousand and 500 thousand followers stood at 6.59 percent. Reels engagement dropped off slightly for accounts with between one million and five million followers, but for accounts that had over five million followers the average Reels engagement rose to 8.09 percent.

Between 2023 and 2024, Carousels and single image posts on Instagram experienced a slight decrease in engagement. Overall, engagement on Reels from feed* stood at 6.92 percent in 2024, up from 4.5 percent in 2023. Additionally, average user reach on Instagram decresed from 2023 to 2024.

In 2024, the average Instagram post from an account with under 500 followers reached around 6,500 Instagram users, up from 1,405 in 2023. Huge accounts, with over 50,001 followers reach an average of 49,932 thousand users in 2024, down from 56,191 users in 2023.

Between June 2021 and June 2021, Instagram Reels videos presented a higher view rate than general videos on the platform, with an average of 2.54 percent view rate. By comparison, videos on Instagram presented an average view rate of 1.74 percent in the examined period. Instagram introduced Reels in August 2020 in order to compete with the short-video video trend popularized by TikTok.

During the first quarter of 2024, Huge Instagram accounts, which had over 50,000 followers, reported an engagement rate of approximately 5.5 percent on their Reels. In comparison, Tiny Instagram accounts, which had a following of 500 users or fewer, reported the highest engagement rates for their Reels: over six percent, as of the examined period. Medium Instagram accounts, which had a following between 2,001 and 10,000 users, reported Reels engagement ratings of 5.65 percent.

In 2023, Instagram Stories were by far the most common type of content posted on the social media platform. Overall, accounts with 50 thousand to 45 million followers posted an average of 130 Instagram Stories per week, as well as 28 posts, and 19 Reels.

How many active users are on Instagram? In 2023, the photo sharing site is projected to reach 127.2 million monthly active users in the United States, up from 114.6 million users in 2020.

Social network reach

The internet has brought about many changes in how people around the world communicate, especially through one of its most powerful inventions: social media. According to a recent study, internet users worldwide spend an average of over 145 minutes per day on one of the many social media platforms. Such websites and apps are increasingly used not just for social sharing, but also as means to building reputation, finding career opportunities or monetary income. As of January 2021, an estimated 54 percent of the world’s population was using social networking, with West and Northern Europe having the highest penetration rate – 79 percent of the respective region's populations. Eastern Asia placed first in a global ranking of mobile social media penetration according to geographical region.

Industry leaders

Facebook is by far the most popular social network with over 2.8 billion global monthly active users but Instagram, the mobile photo and video-sharing application launched in 2010, is quickly growing in popularity. Instagram was bought by Facebook back in 2012. As of June 2018, there are an estimated 1 billion Instagram monthly active users worldwide. There are an estimated 115 million Instagram users in the United States alone, a number which is forecast to grow to over 127 million in 2023.

According to the company, the secret to their success is their unique visual storytelling approach to social media. Users registered with the platform can upload pictures and videos, to which they can also apply filters, frames and other effects. They can also attach captions, tags of other people/accounts, whether friends, celebrities or companies and hashtags, which make the media easy to find if one is looking for specific subjects. There are a reported 60 million photos uploaded to Instagram every day.

In 2024, Instagram Reels saw more engagement than in 2023. However, Small accounts, which are accounts with 500 to 2,000 followers, saw less engagement in 2024 than in the year previous. Overall, Reel engagement increased by 13.08 percent.