Some view numbers on a creator profile come straight from the platform. Others are not public, so influData estimates them. On the profile, estimates have a ~ in front of the number, and the info icon next to each value tells you whether it is measured or estimated.
Measured: plays per reel and views on TikTok, YouTube and Twitch
Instagram shows how often each reel was played, and TikTok, YouTube and Twitch show the views of every video. For these values influData uses the public counts of the creator's recent content, so they are measured, not estimated. They show what is typical for the creator. A single post can still do much better or worse.
Estimated: views per story
Instagram does not publish how many people watch a story. Only the creator sees this number in their insights. influData therefore estimates story views from other data about the profile:
- the follower count (larger accounts reach a smaller share of their followers with stories)
- follower growth in the last month
- the Quality Score of the profile
- engagement and plays of the creator's reels
- the share of suspicious followers, if there is an audience analysis for the profile
The real view counts of the stories are not part of the estimate, because Instagram only shows them inside the creator's own account. We show the estimate as a range: the upper end is about twice the lower end. If the estimate is 1,000 views or less, the range shows 0 to 1K. The range is not a guarantee. Actual story views can be outside it.
Estimated: views per post
Instagram does not publish view counts for photo and carousel posts either. influData estimates the typical views of a post from the follower count, the engagement of the creator's recent posts and the Quality Score. In campaigns and content lists, each post gets its own estimate: a post with more likes than the creator's usual posts gets a higher estimate, one with fewer likes a lower one.
Estimates in campaigns
In campaigns, reels, TikTok videos and YouTube videos use their real views. Stories and photo or carousel posts use the estimates described above. For a story, that is the single estimate the range on the profile is built from. The campaign metrics tell you when a number includes estimates. If a creator shares their Instagram insights with you, use Upload Insights on the content piece. The real numbers then replace the estimate in your campaign.
How accurate are the estimates?
For a single creator an estimate can be far from the real value, for example when their followers watch stories much more often than usual. If exact numbers matter for a deal, ask the creator for a screenshot of their insights.