Instagram adds video view metric to entice advertisers

In the next few weeks, Instagram plans to show how many views a video gets on its platform, similar to YouTube. Instagram counts a view for a video as one that plays for more than three seconds, this means that when users scroll past a video it will not count as a view. This new feature will be of particular importance to brands, who want to measure how well their video ads are performing, and is part of Instagram's initiative to increase the number of advertisers on its platform, more metric tools are expected to be introduced. 

Your Instagram video from a day at the beach got a lot of likes, but how many people actually viewed it?

Instagram will soon tell you. In the next several weeks, you'll start to see the number of views below any videos you share.

Below videos in your stream you'll see the number of views, plus you can also see how many people liked the video and who they are. Instagram counts a view anytime a video plays for more than 3 seconds, so when you scroll past a video, it won't count.

Most of us won't care about how many people watch our videos, but brands and celebrities do. The view count will let them see how well their videos are doing with fans and potential customers, just like you can currently do on YouTube.

It's all part of Instagram's overall push to get more companies to advertise on the photo-centric social app, ever since began showing ads in 2013. Expect more tools and metrics like this one in the future that will lure in more companies to advertise and help you see your own photos' and videos' popularity.