Instagram Reveals: Longer Reels May Reduce Your Reach

Instagram’s content team has recently advised that Reels exceeding 90 seconds can negatively impact your reach on the platform.

This insight was shared during a creator event in New York last week, where Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri and his team addressed various questions about the platform, its algorithm, ongoing projects, and more.

According to Kaya Yurieff from The Information, one of the key takeaways from the event was a slide presented by Mosseri and his team. The slide highlighted that Reels longer than 90 seconds tend to perform poorly in terms of distribution.

Key Points from the Slide

The slide, shown at the event, included several general tips commonly known to Instagram users, such as creating authentic engagement and posting at optimal times. However, there were some noteworthy recommendations:

1. Timing Across Platforms: The team suggested that synchronizing your Instagram posts with updates on other platforms could enhance overall engagement and brand visibility.
2. Content Quality: Instagram emphasized that sharing content not originally created by you, content with watermarks from other apps, engagement bait, and generally low-quality posts could harm your reach.
3. Reel Length: Specifically, Reels over 90 seconds were noted to have a detrimental effect on distribution.

The Question of Reel Length

This raises an intriguing question: “Why does Instagram allow Reels longer than 90 seconds if they don’t perform well?”

Currently, the in-app creation limit for Reels is 90 seconds, but users can upload longer clips. Instagram has been testing Reels up to 3 minutes and even 10 minutes. However, the recommendation against posting longer Reels suggests these experiments have not been particularly successful.

Implications for Content Strategy

These insights are crucial for shaping your content strategy on Instagram. Adhering to the 90-second limit for Reels could improve your reach and engagement.

Monetization and Subscriptions

Mosseri also touched on creator monetization challenges and the difficulty in establishing a fair and sustainable creator program. He mentioned subscriptions as a promising revenue stream, albeit relevant to a limited number of creators.

In summary, keeping your Reels under 90 seconds and focusing on high-quality, original content without external watermarks can help optimize your Instagram performance.