Instagram views

Instagram counts a view once a video is watched for a threshold duration. For Reels, that threshold is roughly three seconds. For Stories, it is any appearance of the frame. The exact rules shift, but the principle is stable: Instagram measures attention, not just exposure.

Views are the primary currency of Reels. The algorithm evaluates a new Reel against its own recent baseline — a post that outperforms your average view count gets wider distribution. This is why the same creator can see one Reel do 2,000 views and another do 2 million.

Paid view services push the first-hour baseline up so the algorithm has a higher "this is working" signal to respond to. They do not replace a good hook.