Instagram has introduced many features over the years but hardly any as groundbreaking as stories. Despite their limited online lifespan, or perhaps because of it, they attract interest and generate engagement, benefitting users, influences, and marketers, as evidenced by Instagram stories stats.
Whether you are a lesser-known company or a well-recognized brand, stories are one of the top ways to approach your customers, create a meaningful brand experience, or advertise your products. But don’t just take our word for it, check out the stats and facts below to get the full, well, story.
Instagram Stories Stats (Editor’s Choice)
- About 500 million users utilize Instagram stories on a daily basis. (Statista)
- Approximately 86.6% of Instagram’s users post stories every day. (EarthWeb)
- Roughly 60% of millennials publish or watch Instagram stories. (Better Marketing)
- In 2020, more than 27% of story activity consisted of just a single frame per day. (RivalIQ)
- In 2020, the tap forward rate for Instagram stories was 68%. (Marketing Charts)
- US marketers allocate around 31% of their Instagram budget for ads on stories. (eMarketer)
- 61% of users posted Support Small Business Sticker in their stories in just a month. (EarthWeb)
All About Instagram Stories
1. About 500 million people use Instagram stories on a daily basis.
This number marks a tremendous increase from 2018 when Instagram stories had 400 million daily active users, statistics on Instagram stories confirm. For reference, Instagram has over one billion monthly active users.
One-third of the most viewed stories are posted by businesses. One in five stories meanwhile gets a direct message from viewers.
(IZEA, Statista)
2. About 70% of Instagram stories are viewed with the sound on.
Statistics show that most users turn on the Instagram story sound. This information presents an opportunity for advertisers to implement sound in their stories to create a more immersive experience for potential customers and boost engagement as a result.
(Media Kix)
3. In the US, 96% of marketers plan on using stories in the near future.
In addition to that, when it comes to brands using Instagram stories, statistics reveal that 50% of brands globally make at least one story per month. As a matter of fact, Instagram Stories reached the third spot on the list of social media marketing tools and strategies used by marketers in North America.
(Skai)
4. Roughly 60% of millennials publish or watch Instagram Stories.
Moreover, 31% of millennials and around 39% of Gen Z who use Instagram, in general, create content on it which often includes stories. In fact, if we look at the stats, for millennials on Instagram, stories are an attractive form of engagement for this generation. Overall, this social media platform has 31.5% of global users aged between 25 and 34 years old. Over two-thirds of its users are 34 and younger.
(Better Marketing, Statista)
5. In 2020, more than 27% of story activity consisted of just a single frame per day.
When it comes to story posting on Instagram, only two in 10 stories had seven frames. Further, only 10% or less had over 12 frames. Typically, this is because the brand loses 20% of the audience after the first frame, according to Instagram stories usage statistics. Therefore it’s important to grab the attention of the viewers with the opening segment and prevent them from abandoning the story circle. There will always be some who will fall off, yet not as many if the first frame is good enough.
(RivalQ, EarthWeb)
6. Insta stories with over 26 frames have a 2% exit rate.
This is calculated by dividing exits from each frame by the total frame impressions. In the case of a single frame story, it’s 8%, Instagram stories statistics suggest. As we go further into the story, this rate declines reaching 2% for 26-frames stories or longer. For reference, the average number of frames per story decreased from 7.7 in 2019 to 7.4 in 2020. In addition to that, the average number of stories per week fell from three to 1.9 in the same period.
(Marketing Charts)
7. In 2020, the tap forward rate for Instagram stories was 68%.
Tapping to watch Insta stories is one of the most common ways to navigate through them. A high tap rate confirms this, with an average 80% tap forward rate for stories having 25 frames. It’s lowest for the first frame (68%), and increases as the user moves toward the last frame. Therefore, research confirms that the second frame is ideal for uninterrupted content.
(Marketing Charts)
8. Instagram stories vs posts stats show that the reach rate for the former is lower.
Instagram story’s reach rates vary between 1.2% and 5.4%, compared to 9-20% for posts. Typically, these rates would depend on the number of followers and their flow. With more followers, the Instagram stories vs posts reach gap begins to close.
(RivalQ)
9. Instagram stories featuring sports have a spectacular 90% completion rate.
All considering that is an extraordinary percentage. Following sport-related stories, entertainment accounts saw the biggest growth in 2020, rising to 88% compared to the year before (81%), according to stats on Instagram stories use.
(Marketing Charts)
10. Profiles with 10,000-50,0000 followers have 13.3% reach rates.
The higher the number of followers, the fewer people are going to watch an Insta story from a certain company or a person. In a study of 920 accounts, those with higher follower counts had the lowest reach rates in 2020. For most accounts with two million or more followers, the story reach rate was 3.7%. Alternatively, the completion rate increased across all story lengths.
(Marketing Charts)
Instagram Stories Business Stats
11. Gap’s campaign from 2018 registered a 73% higher click-through rate than in earlier years.
All thanks to throwing Instagram stories into the mix. If we compare earlier campaigns and the use of a combination of posts and Instagram stories vs posts alone, the company saw a significant difference. For example, there was a 17-point lift in ad recall, as well a 4-point rise in message association for Instagram stories.
(Instagram)
12. Nearly 58% of people have become more interested in a brand/product they saw on stories.
Instagram stories engagement stats further show that 50% of people visited the website to purchase a particular product they saw on stories. After all, this is what the aim of every marketer is.
(Hootsuite)
13. In Q4 2019, the number of advertisers on Story Ads was 4 million.
According to statistics from Facebook, out of the total number of advertisers (7 million), some 3 million were using stories on all three platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger to advertise. Instagram sponsored stories had higher engagement rates so it’s no wonder that the platform wants to exploit this significant growth potential and has been working on ideas that will provide more engagement with this segment.
(TechCrunch)
14. In the US, marketers allocate around 31% of their Instagram budget for ads on stories.
Instagram stories vs feed statistics meanwhile show that much more is spent on feeds (69%). Some marketers, however, suggest a slightly more balanced Instagram story vs feed approach — namely, dividing the budget allocated for advertising on Instagram into one-third for stories and two-thirds for feed. In fact, many apply similar principles in their Instagram marketing strategies.
(eMarketer)
Instagram Stories vs Snapchat Stats
15. 17% of people prefer to watch stories on Instagram, while 13% of people watch them on Snapchat.
While it seems that more people love to watch stories on IG, none of these two had the biggest share based on the results from the research. Although Snapchat first launched the story format and Instagram followed, Facebook has the highest reach with 70% of people saying they preferred to watch stories on this platform. These results come from a survey conducted in the US on a sample of 275 consumers.
(Hubspot)
16. Snapchat has around 46 million active users in the US, less than half of Instagram’s.
Instagram meanwhile has 121 million US active users. Statistics on the number of people watching Instagram stories further show that this platform is more popular — about 70% of all Instagram users watch and post stories. That leads us to about 85 million people who watch Instagram stories in the US.
(Content Cal, WP Dev Shed)
17. Roughly 59% of Instagrammers are in the 18-29 age group, while Snapchat has a 77% of users aged 18-24.
Although similar, the demographics of the two also vary in some aspects. Snapchat is mainly a Gen Z platform, while Instagram seems to be particularly popular with millennials. Then, Snapchat puts a bigger emphasis on direct messaging and a personal feel and is popular among friends, unlike Instagram which is good for public sharing with a wider group of people.
(Content Cal)
Instagram Story Trends
18. After Cenas/Reels was released in Brazil, Instagram users increased by 4.34%.
Instagram launched Reels based on TikTok, allowing users to pair music with short videos. Like stories, reels are limited to 15 seconds. Brazil was the original testing ground for this product. Instagram stories stats show that it’s already becoming a strong competition for its main rival TikTok, especially in terms of influencer marketing.
(Influencer Marketing Hub, Sprout Social)
19. 61% of users posted Support Small Business Sticker in their stories in just a month.
Although stickers have been in the stories for a while now, Instagram tends to add new ones continuously. Given the current challenges small businesses face amid the ongoing pandemic, Instagram wanted to add a new sticker aiming to support them. Users can click on a sticker to take action. For instance, restaurants could use it to promote their menus, others could help fundraise for a specific cause.
(EarthWeb)
The Bottom Line
So what are the latest stories on your Instagram profile? Most probably they range from those of friends enjoying their summer on the beach to companies promoting their new services. But by looking at the Instagram story stats, we can say one thing for sure. Although some enhancements might come along the way to build on this feature, the relevance of the stories on this platform doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon.
FAQs
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When did Instagram stories come out?
The company released Instagram Stories in August 2016. Despite being criticized for ‘copying’ this feature from Snapchat, Instagram owned it and claimed it to be a version of Snapchat for adults, something allowing brands to post more, while at the same time keeping spam out of feeds.u003cbru003e(The Nina)
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How long do Instagram stories last?
Based on Instagram stories statistics, compared to posts, this feature has an expiration date of 24 hours as opposed to posts that stay on. So, unlike the posts, stories will go away after this period of time, unless the users save them to Highlights.u003cbru003e(Instagram)
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How many seconds are Instagram stories?
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Does the Instagram story show how many times it was viewed?
Based on the stats about Instagram stories, it’s easy to check how many people viewed your story, you simply have to swipe up. The list of the names of people will pop up. Although you can see how many people viewed it and who they are, you can’t check how many times one person viewed it. u003cbru003e(Nerds Chalk)
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How much time do people spend watching Instagram stories?
Most estimates put the average time spent by users under 25 years old watching Instagram Stories at around 32 minutes. On the other hand, those older spent 24 minutes per day. Time spent on the platform before the Stories feature was around 15-21 minutes. Instagram stories stats meanwhile show that the time spent on stories is significantly higher than the time spent on Snapchat. For reference, users under 25 years old spent over 30 minutes on the app, while those older spent about 20 minutes. u003cbru003e(Mediakix)
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How many people view Instagram stories a day?
Over 500 million people post and watch stories daily.u003cbru003e(Statista)
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How many Instagram stories is too many?
According to some Instagram stories stats, users should try to avoid posting more than 7 times per day on their stories. Simply because many people from the audience won’t bother to go through until the end if there are many videos and pictures on your story circle. However, the maximum number of stories you can have at the same time in 24 hours (confirmed by Instagram) is 100. u003cbru003e(Mashable, Serve Me the Sky Digital)
