The Best Instagram Content Format for Any Account Size

Exclusive: New data shows social’s obsession with Reels might be missing the point

For the past couple of years, Instagram’s been pushing video, video, video. Just recently, Adam Mosseri said Reels — along with DMs — has driven a lot of the growth on Instagram over the last few year.

But Reels don’t always drive the most engagement… and sometimes, they don’t even provide the greatest reach.

Enter Carousels, which allow you to tell a story over multiple slides (up to 20 videos and/or photos). And build a deeper and loyal connection with followers. As it turns out, the bigger the account, the stronger Carousels perform.

And yet the data shows that Reels consistently dominate the content mix for brand accounts at almost every size.

I got an early sneak peek at a new benchmark study from Metricool and HypeAuditor which analyzed up to 70 million Instagram posts to understand which formats drive reach versus engagement, the most effective publishing cadence, and the best global times and days to post.

The Top Takeaway:

Reels are an effective path to reach audiences — to a point. Reels lead in reach for accounts with less than 50K followers. Carousels increasingly win on depth of engagement but also reach as accounts grow.

Last year, Adam Mosseri attributed Carousel’s success to:

• multiple slides means more interactions, which means — on average — more reach

• the algorithm gives your Carousel a second chance after it’s posted, resurfacing it to followers who previously swiped by

So, should you be posting Reels or should you be posting Carousels? It all depends on the size of the account. According to the 2025 Instagram Content Playbook:

• If you’re rocking with 10K to 50K followers, Reels deliver the highest median reach. This corresponds with the preferred posting format: Reels (47%).

• From 50K to 500K followers, Carousels (9.3K median reach) outperform Reels (8K median reach). Despite this, Reels remain the most frequent choice for brands, accounting for 57% of posts.

• It’s close to a tie for Images (63.8K median reach) and Carousels (63.7K median reach) for accounts with 500K to 1M followers. And yet, brands tend to post Reels more (61%).

• And for 1M followers and above, Carousels lead with the highest median reach. Brands still post Reels most (57%).

It’s wild. Brand accounts with 10K to 1M+ followers consistently over index on Reels — whether or not the format drives the most reach.

Q&A

It’s pretty common knowledge that Carousels drive engagement — but reach, too? I asked Stephan Pichlmeier, Metricool’s Growth and Digital Marketing Strategist, what’s with the collective Reels obsession and why aren’t marketers leaning in to Carousels?