Despite the fact that Instagram stories only last for 24 hours, or perhaps because of this, they attract a lot of interest and generate a lot of engagement, which benefits influencers, users, brands, as we can see through Instagram stories statistics.
Whether you are a small company or a brand that is well recognized around the world, stories are one of the best ways to appeal to your customer base on Instagram, create a brand experience that is meaningful, and market your products.
However, don’t just take our word at face value, check out the following statistics and facts so that you can get the complete picture.
Key Statistics
- More than 900 million Instagram users use Instagram Stories every day.
- 86.6% of Instagram users post Instagram Stories every day.
- 60% of millennials view Instagram Stories or publish them.
- 30% of Instagram story activity consisted of a single frame a day in 2020.
- American brands allocate 31% of their budget for Instagram for ads on Instagram Stories.
- 61% of Instagram users used the ‘support small companies’ sticker in their Instagram Stories in just a month.
Top Instagram Stories Statistics
1. How Many People Use Instagram Stories?
Over 900 million people use Instagram Stories every day!
Of course, this statistic shows a huge increase since 2018, when Instagram stories had 400 million active users every day.
To compare, Instagram has more than 1 billion active users every month. 1/3 of the stories that are the most viewed on Instagram are posted by brands.
One in five Instagram Stories gets a direct message from audiences.
2. 70% of Instagram Stories Are Viewed with Sound
Statistics show that Instagram users like to watch Instagram stories with the sound on.
This information presents a really good opportunity for marketers to implement sound in their stories, so that they can create an immersive experience for their audience, and as a result, boost their engagement.
3. 96% of Marketers in America Plan on Using Instagram Stories in The Future
As well as this, when it comes to brands making the most of Instagram stories, statistics show that 50% of brands around the world make at least one Instagram story a month.
Instagram stories are third on the list of social media marketing tools and strategies used by companies in America.
4. 60% of Millennials Watch or Upload Instagram Stories
31% of millennials and 39% of Generation Z who are on Instagram create content that a lot of the time includes Instagram stories.
If you look at the statistics, when it comes to millennials on Instagram, stories are an appealing method of engagement.
When it comes to Instagram in general, 33% of users around the world are aged between 25 and 34 years old. 2/3 of Instagram users are under 35 years old.
5. 30% of Instagram Stories in 2020 Were Just One Frame
When it comes to uploading Instagram stories, just two in 10 stories had seven frames. 10% or less had more than 12 frames, and this is usually because brands lose 20% of their audience after the first frame.
This is why it is really important to grab the attention of your audience with the first frame, so that they are tempted to carry on to the next frame.
Of course, there are always going to be some people that drop off, but you don’t want too many that your marketing is ineffective.
6. Instagram Stories with 26 Frames Have a 2% Exit Rate
Of course, this is pretty good, and it shows that more and more people are getting used to the idea of using Instagram stories and viewing Instagram stories.
7. The Tap Forward Rate in 2020 Was 68%
One of the most common ways to navigate through an Instagram story is to tap through it.
Again, thinking about how many frames you’ve got with your Instagram stories, high tap-through rate shows that you’re doing really well.
In 2020, 68% of people tapped through to the next frame.
8. Instagram Stories’ Reach Rate Is Lower than Posts
Instagram stories are becoming more and more popular, but it is still more popular to post videos or images in your Instagram feed.
The reach rate for Instagram stories is between 1.5% and 6.2%, and this is compared to 12% to 25% for Instagram posts.
Of course, these rates are going to depend on things like the number of followers, as well as their flow. Naturally, when you’ve got more Instagram followers, this gap begins to get narrower.
9. Instagram Stories with Sports Have a 90% Finish Rate
This means that people who view Instagram stories that include sports-related content tend to tap through the entire set of frames, which is pretty impressive.
10. Accounts with 10K – 50K Followers Have a Reach Rate of 13.3%
The more followers you have, the fewer people are going to view an Instagram story from a person or a company. In fact, those with more followers had the lowest reach rates in 2020.
For profiles that had more than two million followers, the reach rate for their Instagram stories was 3.7%.
This shows that while you might not have too many Instagram followers right now, your engagement rate is potentially higher than those that have more followers.
Business Instagram Stories Statistics 2025
11. Gap’s Instagram Stories’ Campaign Had a Click-Through Rate of 73%
This is a big jump from their past campaigns where they didn’t include Instagram stories.
12. 58% of People Have Become Interested in A Company Through Instagram Stories
Engagement statistics for Instagram stories showed that 50% of people visit a website that they saw advertised through an Instagram story.
13. 4 Million Marketers Used Instagram Stories in 2019
According to statistics, 4 million companies in the world in 2019 were using Instagram stories to incorporate their Instagram marketing campaign.
14. Marketers in America Allocated 31% of Their Instagram Marketing Budget for Instagram Stories
This is an impressive number, considering how many other features you can make the most of on Instagram.
It shows that people are becoming more and more interested in viewing Instagram stories and basing their buying decisions on what they see in these Instagram stories.
Snapchat Stories vs. Instagram Stories Statistics 2025
15. 17% of People Prefer Instagram Stories
This is actually the same as the number of people that like to watch snippets on Snapchat, but what’s interesting is that Facebook actually has the highest reach when it comes to stories, with 70%.
16. Snapchat Has 46 Million Users in America
Of course, this statistic might impress you, but it actually is half of the number of people using Instagram in America.
17. 59% of Instagram Users Are 18 to 29, While 77% of Snapchat Users Are 18 to 24
Obviously, Snapchat has a younger demographic, which is potentially why it is easier for them to add new features and attract their audience.
18. After Instagram Reels Were Released in Brazil, Users on Instagram Increased by 4.34%
Instagram decided to launch a new feature, Instagram reels, based on its competition, TikTok, which allowed people to pair music with a short video.
Reels on Instagram are limited to 15 seconds.
Brazil was the testing ground for this particular feature, and statistics like this show that it is becoming a strong feature in its own right and competing close on the heels of TikTok.
19. 61% of Instagram Users Used the ‘support Small Brands’ Sticker on Their Instagram Stories in A Month
This goes to show that the trend of supporting small businesses is continuing to go strong.
What is an Instagram Story?
Instagram stories is a feature that first came onto the scene back in 2017, and ever since then, it has been an essential part of the Instagram platform.
As far as Instagram stories are concerned, you can use them to post videos and photos that will disappear after 24 hours.
Not even a year after Instagram stories made its debut, there were already 200 million active users every day, which surprisingly, is only the beginning.
Instagram decided to create Instagram stories as a way to compete with the rising popularity of Snapchat and considering this was their goal, they succeeded at it pretty well.
How many people check their Instagram Stories daily?
Instagram stories already had 400 million uses every day in 2018, compared to Snapchat who only had 191 million.
Over the next few months, Instagram stories increased to 500 million active users every day. We don’t think that there are any signs that it is slowing in popularity.
As a result, you won’t be surprised to learn that ransom businesses have flocked to Instagram to make the most of Instagram stories.
This should be an essential part of your Instagram marketing strategy so that you can reach more of your target demographic, and attract attention to your products, profile, services, and website.
So, how are we able to understand how engaging Instagram stories are?
We can do so through statistics.
Instagram Stories Analytics Stats 2024
Instagram stories have a number of engagement metrics and statistics that you need to learn about in order to understand how viewers are going to interact with your content.
Tap Forward
This is how many viewers have tapped to the right to skip the story that they are currently on, so that they can take a look at the next one.
Tap Back
This analytic identifies how many times someone taps to the left, so they can go back to the previous Instagram story video.
Exit
This analytic works out how many times people have exited stories by swiping down.
Replies
This analytic works out how many times viewers swipe up to send a response or comment on a story that they are looking at.
They can also use a swipe up feature to access another page or website that has been linked in the Instagram story.
Replies are really good, but it is the one alert that won’t have a lot of data. This is because not many companies have responses to their Instagram stories.
These are some pretty important actions that the user can take when they are looking at an Instagram story, but here are another couple of important elements that you need to think about when you were trying to track your Instagram story analytics.
Impressions
A lot of people won’t really know what this is because they see it on Instagram insights and they ask themselves ‘what exactly are Instagram impressions?’
Let us break it down for you. This analytic works out how many views the story has received, including rewatches.
This means that if someone has watched a story 10 times, all ten of these views are going to count towards the total number of impressions.
Reach
This is different to impressions, and it tracks how many different accounts have viewed your Instagram story.
Of course, this means that even if an Instagram profile has viewed your Instagram story 10 times, only one of the views is going to count towards this number.
When you have a bigger reach, this means that your brand exposure is going to do really well.
All of these analytics need to be on your radar when you are thinking about Instagram insights, and Instagram statistics in general.
There are a few more nuances and details when it comes to Instagram story analytics, but these are definitely the basics that you need to be aware of if you want to be successful with your Instagram story strategy.
20. One-Third of Instagram Stories That Are Most Viewed are Uploaded by Brands
This is a pretty impressive Instagram statistic and shows just how popular brand Instagram stories are among users.
This means that users are actively checking out Instagram stories from brands, and they are really enjoying them, and while this might be a bit surprising at first, it completely makes sense when you realize that 90% of Instagram users follow a business page, and two out of three individuals believe that Instagram helps them interact with brands better, so that they can learn more about their product or service.
21. 70% of Generation Z View Instagram Stories
Naturally, Instagram stories are pretty popular among the younger generation, and while we’ve talked about the impact that Instagram stories have on millennials, let’s talk a little bit about the impact that Instagram stories have on Generation Z.
In fact, Generation Z is one of the largest demographics when it comes to Instagram story viewership, sitting at 70%.
It is the second highest group of users on Instagram after millennials, but interestingly, they find Instagram stories to be one of the most popular features on the platform.
This is an important Instagram stories statistic to keep in mind when you’re thinking about how your brand can increase its exposure.
22. Brand Stories Get 15% to 25% of Viewers to Swipe Up
One thing that you’ll probably already know about Instagram is that you can only post one link in your bio which is well known by people that use Instagram a lot.
However, what’s great about Instagram stories is that this is the only other place on Instagram’s platform where you can include a link that people can check out.
If your Instagram profile has more than 10,000 followers, you will be able to make the most of the swipe up feature with Instagram stories, where you can encourage your audience to swipe up to check out your website, a product that you have recently launched, or a service that you offer.
According to statistics, brand stories get 15% to 25% of viewers to swipe up.
23. 86.6% of Instagram Users Post Stories
Obviously, these Instagram Stories stats show just how popular Instagram stories are, and as a result, more than 80% of Instagram users make the most of the Instagram stories feature.
Not as many people are viewing Instagram stories, but it is clear that a lot of people have jumped on the Instagram stories bandwagon and are having fun with it.
24. 36% of Businesses use Instagram Stories for Promotion and Marketing
As we have mentioned throughout this resource, it is clear that Instagram stories is a great marketing technique if you’ve got a brand on Instagram.
Of course, Instagram stories are great to share the behind-the-scenes of your day, or even snaps of your holiday with your friends and family, but what’s really interesting is that businesses are using Instagram stories for promotion and ads more and more.
Instagram offers story ads as well but in general, we believe that you should be incorporating Instagram stories into your business content, no matter what you are trying to achieve with your marketing strategy.
It is very common to show Instagram users content that is beyond Instagram, so that you can funnel traffic to a website or somewhere else of your choice.
25. When a User Sees an Ad for a Company on Instagram, 50% are More Interested
This is a really important Instagram stories statistic because it indicates its users are highly likely to engage with different businesses and brands through the platform, and Instagram stories can really help promote your product or service.
It also shows how popular Instagram stories have become, and how widely accepted they are amongst Instagram users.
26. Instagram Story Ads Accounted for 35% of Total Ad Impressions
As we mentioned earlier, 50% of people are more interested in a brand once they have seen an ad on Instagram, and when it comes to Instagram story ads, they make up almost half of the total Instagram ad impressions, sitting at 35%.
Of course, this means that they have a pretty strong impact.
27. 29% of Total Ad Spend was on Stories
29% of the total Instagram ad spend is on stories, which shows that more and more businesses are cottoning onto the fact that Instagram stories is a highly effective feature for getting more people interested in your product or service.
28. Ads That Don’t Perform Well are 1.3 Seconds Longer Than Those That Do
Of course, based on the culture that we now live in, people want to quickly be able to access a lot of different benefits and information, and this has been shown through statistics.
When an Instagram story is longer, it isn’t going to perform as well than one that is shorter. Of course, this comes down to just a few seconds, but each second counts for a lot.
An Instagram story that is 2.8 seconds per slide is going to do better than one that is 4.1 seconds per slide.
29. 4 Million Marketers Used Instagram Stories in Q4 2019
The total number of marketers back in 2019 using Instagram stories was 4 million, which again shows that a lot of companies out there are placing a lot of emphasis on Instagram stories, and their ability to help them connect more with their audience.
30. 70% of Marketers Plan to Spend More Money on Instagram Videos
This is a pretty impressive number by itself, but there are other statistics that suggest that almost 96% of American-based marketers are focusing their investments and efforts on their Instagram stories.
31. Instagram Stories Account for 24.92% of All Content
Of course, there are many different kinds of content on the Instagram platform, but when it comes to Instagram stories they make up for 24.92% of all content.
Beyond this, you’ve got Instagram live, shoppable posts, Instagram reels, IGTV, and more.
32. Brands Usually Lose 15% of Their Audience After the Second Slide
Brands don’t have a lot of time to convince their audience to interact with their content on Instagram, as these Instagram stories statistics show.
They’ve got to make sure that that first slide is intriguing enough for viewers to keep tapping through, otherwise, they’re going to drop off after the second story frame.
33. 61% of Instagram Users Used a Support Small Business Sticker in a Month
This stat shows that there are a lot of people using the support small business sticker, and it also shows that people, in general, are struggling thanks to COVID.
34. IGTV Engagement is Down by 75.6%
This stat shows that even though IGTV did really well when it was first launched a couple of years ago, other features and formats have since surpassed it.
IGTV was created to let users post videos that were more than a minute long, and sometimes, they were up to 60 minutes long.
People are still watching IGTV, but it certainly isn’t as relevant as Instagram stories are.
35. The Average Instagram User Spends 28 Minutes Watching Instagram Stories Every Day
Before Instagram launched their Instagram stories feature, people weren’t spending as much time on the Instagram platform.
However, after they did, this encouraged people to stay on their app for longer and interact with more Instagram profiles.
36. Influencers Make Between $43 and $721 for Instagram Stories
Instagram influencers are a big part of the Instagram platform in general, and they have managed to make quite a bit of money from being on the social media sharing app.
However, influencers aren’t just making money from their feeds, they are also making money from Instagram stories.
When you look at influencer marketing, you can expect to pay anything between $43 and $721 depending on reach, follower count, and a few other factors.
Of course, this is something that you would talk about with the influencer that you are working with.
If you are trying to become an influencer, then this is the general rate that you can expect when you are trying to collaborate with a brand.
37. 50% of Influencer Marketing Campaigns Were Conducted Through Instagram Stories in 2020
2020 really was the year when influencer marketing and Instagram stories seemed to take off.
Based on statistics, almost all marketers on Instagram made the most of Instagram stories to share their influencer marketing campaigns with their audience.
38. 71% of Companies are on Instagram
Businesses and brands are truly beginning to understand just how essential it is to make the most of Instagram as well as other social networks to establish a reputation and show that they are accessible to potential customers.
So, unless you have been living under a rock, it is highly likely that you have social media, and you use it almost every day. Brands understand this prevalence and are trying to capitalize on it.
39. 90% of Instagram Users Follow At Least One Business Page
Of course, more and more brands are jumping on the Instagram bandwagon and trying to make the most of this platform to interact with their audience a bit more.
As a result, more than 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business page on Instagram.
This shows how important it is that you have a presence on Instagram at all, especially if you want to indicate that you are a trustworthy brand that is hoping to build a bridge between your product and service, and your community.
40. Retention Rate for Instagram Stories was Down 34% for Brands Who Had More Than 200K Followers
We don’t really know why this is, but you do need to keep in mind that accounts that have a lot of followers don’t lose a lot of viewers even with a drop like this, so it might not necessarily have an impact on their overall success.
41. Story Reach Varies Based on Industry
Of course, not all industries are the same, and when it comes to statistics, there are certain industries that are going to do better when it comes to their presence on Instagram than others.
For example, sports content has better reach and better completion, than other industries out there.
When it comes to entertainment, it is slightly less than sports, but it is still doing pretty well.
42. Instagram is the Most Followed Account on the Platform
This statistic probably comes as no surprise, but Instagram’s own profile is the most followed profile on Instagram, with 433 million followers.
43. The Most Popular Instagram Stories Filter is Stereoscopy
Instagram stories didn’t always come with filters, but these days they do, and it is tough to imagine what life was like without them.
Of course, there are a lot to choose from, but through statistics it has been shown that the most popular filter for Instagram stories is Stereoscopy.
44. The Most-Used Giphy Sticker in 2018 was the Heart Love Sticker
One of the most popular Giphy stickers that people used on their Instagram stories in 2018 was the Heart Love.
45. Instagram Ads Reach 1.16 Billion People
This is a pretty impressive stat and shows just how powerful marketing on Instagram can be.
There’s absolutely no question that Instagram has huge potential when it comes to marketing, including Instagram stories.
46. The Reach Rate of Instagram Stories is 2% to 9% compared to 13% to 27% for Regular Posts
This means that regular posts are still pretty effective when thinking about how your brand is going to reach more people.
47. Instagram Had 95 Million Fake Profiles in 2020
This shows that there are quite a few bots on the Instagram platform, which end up costing companies almost $1.3 billion a year.
48. 30% of Story Activity Includes Just One Frame
You don’t necessarily have to feature more than one frame on your Instagram stories to get the reach that you want, in fact, 30% of story activity every day on Instagram includes just one frame.
On the other side of this, less than 10% have more than 12 frames on their Instagram stories.
49. 68% of Millennials in the UK Have Looked at Stories on Instagram
This means that Instagram is definitely the most popular platform when it comes to looking at Instagram stories, compared with Snapchat, which has a similar feature but has a reach rate of 49%. Facebook is down at 44%.
50. In 2018, Instagram Stories from Brands Had an Average Reach of 5.96%
What’s really interesting is this is the second-lowest reach rate from the statistic. This means that there are a lot of brands and businesses out there competing for reach.
Compare this to stories in the entertainment industry that had an average reach rate of 6.96%. Then, you’ve got the sports industry, where Instagram stories had an average rate of 10%.
What’s New in Instagram Stories
The thing about Instagram stories is that Instagram is always updating this feature to include new additions and functions so that you can stay up to date with new things that is happening on Instagram.
Some of the most popular updates lately have been filters, music, and swipe-up shoppable posts.
One of the biggest updates to the feature was the Instagram swipe-up tool, because it gave brands and businesses a huge amount of opportunity to funnel people to their service or product, meaning that they could make their sales process a lot more streamlined, and likely to succeed.
Other updates include an overhaul of the available fonts and text options, as well as how you access the story camera, and fun filters that you can use in your Instagram stories.
Instagram likes to keep things on the downlow, but you definitely should keep an eye out for Instagram’s next release because Instagram is always trying to make the user experience better.
Instagram Story Tips
Now that we have gone through spoken about statistics that can help you as a brand work out where your efforts should lie, let’s take a look at some helpful Instagram story tips so that you can do really well with your next marketing strategy.
You might not think that hashtags are relevant when it comes to Instagram stories, but the opposite is actually true.
They are still a really important aspect to your content strategy whether this is a new Instagram feed, or on your Instagram stories.
When you use hashtags on Instagram stories your content is going to be seen by more people and might even be featured as part of that hashtag feed.
When finding the right hashtags for your Instagram stories make sure that you aren’t choosing the most popular hashtags because too many posts that use a hashtag is going to minimize the chances of it being seen, and it’s not going to attract targeted viewers that actually care about your content.
At the end of the day, you want to get noticed by the right users, so if you’re using a generic hashtag, you’re not going to be able to do this.
Use a Template
What’s really fun about the Internet is that there are a lot of third-party apps out there that can help you personalize your Instagram stories, so that you can make them more aesthetically pleasing, and even make them fun when it comes to engagement in general.
You can create templates on third-party apps, which is helpful if you are a brand and you are wanting to make your Instagram stories look a bit more professional.
You can also give you your users a unique and fun way to engage on Instagram.
Choose the Right Colour for Your Instagram Stories
No matter how far Instagram gets as a platform, it is always going to be a visual platform, which is why it’s really important for you to choose the right color and aesthetic for your brand’s image.
We suggest that you choose a custom color for your Instagram stories, so that you can keep your content on-brand, and make sure that it stands out amongst the crowd.
You can choose a custom color by holding down the default colors, which is going to make a big color scale appear on your screen, where you can slide and select the colour that you are trying to find.
Mention Other Instagram Profiles
Giving a shout out to other Instagram profiles is going to be really effective when it comes to increasing your reach on Instagram.
This is because they are then going to reshare your story on their story, which is going to help you get seen by a brand-new audience.
This is essential for Instagram story success because it’s going to take your Instagram story a lot further than what you could have achieved if you did everything on your own.
Do Your Market Research
You might feel confident in your own marketing strategy, but at the end of the day, the more work you put into market research, the better off you’re going to be.
The thing about Instagram Stories statistics is that they can give you a lot of relevant information when it comes to what Instagram stories can offer you and knowing what kind of content is going to perform the best based on your target demographic.
There are a number of really good ways to get insights into what your viewers and followers like, what they don’t like, and what they’re looking for when they view your Instagram stories.
We suggest that you look at your Instagram analytics as you post more stories, and you also look at what your competition is doing, so you can see what’s working for them, and what isn’t.
Final Thoughts
When was the last time you looked at an Instagram story on your Instagram profile?
We are willing to bet it was a few minutes ago, and we feel confident that it was at least in the last hour.
The bottom line, as these Instagram stories statistics for 2025 show, is that they are a popular Instagram feature, and they are definitely here to stay, as more and more people see them as an integral part of the social media sharing app.
They are also an excellent opportunity for marketers to contact and communicate with their audience directly and encourage new clients to go and check out what’s going on with their website.
Either way, Instagram stories are a very fascinating aspect of Instagram and can tell us a lot about how Instagram works in general.
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