Instagram has a reputation as a network of photos, travel and food. If you sell consulting to businesses, it looks off-topic. But Meta itself describes it as a network of video, private messages and recommendations, and that shift concerns you.
We read what Meta, Instagram and Pew Research say about it on 15 October 2026.
Who is on Instagram?
Instagram has passed 3 billion monthly active users, according to announcements by Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri on 24 September 2025. Mosseri said most of the growth comes from private messages, Reels and recommendations.
For Europe, Meta publishes a figure under the Digital Services Act: about 297 million active users in the European Union in the first half of 2026, according to Social Media Today (article of 30 August 2026). Meta counts logged-in accounts that opened the app in the previous 30 days. It does not break the figure down by country.
On who the audience is, Pew Research surveyed American adults from 5 February to 18 June 2025:
- 50% of adults use Instagram;
- 80% of 18-29s, 62% of 30-49s, 40% of 50-64s, 19% of those 65 and over;
- 58% of college graduates, against 41% of those with a high school education or less;
- 60% of households earning $100,000 or more a year, against 41% of those under $30,000.
These figures are American. They say Instagram is young, but also more used by the most educated and best-off.
How does vertical video live there?
A reel can run up to 20 minutes, but only those of three minutes or less are recommended to new audiences. That limit was raised from 90 seconds to 3 minutes in January 2025, when Instagram wrote that creators of all sizes had an equal chance of reaching new audiences. In its creators’ FAQ, Instagram says it recommends the content it thinks each person will enjoy, and that the more non-followers a reel reaches, the better its chance of gaining followers.
Two tips from that same FAQ matter to you:
- original content gets the best reach, and reposting other people’s work can limit distribution;
- relevant hashtags help you reach more people, irrelevant ones hurt.
In September 2025 Mosseri also announced a test of a setting that lets people choose the topics recommended in Reels. In other words, whoever lands on your video has increasingly told Instagram they care about your subject.
Why it suits an expert who sells knowledge
You reach people who do not know you. That is the Reels promise: a recommendation to strangers, without them following you. For a consultant whose network is running dry, that is what is missing.
You meet the buyer another way. The decision-maker you target also scrolls Instagram in the evening. A clear 40-second answer does more there than a profile.
Private messages do the rest. Mosseri names messages among the growth drivers. Someone who reacts to your reel writes to you: the conversation starts there.
What works, what does not
What works: one idea, said to camera, with captions, starting with the answer. What works less: a webinar clip cut at random, a horizontal video, a hook that announces a subject without covering it.
The limits are real. Instagram does not say how many of its users are professionals, and the share of younger users is high. If your clients are over 50, Pew counts 40% of 50-64s as users, less than half the 85% YouTube gets. And a reel is quickly lost in a feed: it makes you known; it rarely convinces alone.
Instagram in one table
| Criterion | Instagram Reels |
|---|---|
| Owner | Meta |
| Audience | 3 billion monthly users (September 2025); 297 million in the EU (H1 2026) |
| Format | vertical 9:16 video |
| Length | up to 20 minutes; 3 minutes to be recommended to new audiences |
| Discovery | recommendations, Reels tab, Explore, followers, messages |
To compare with the other short formats, read Shorts, Reels, TikTok: what are the differences?.
What if one conversation went out on every network?
A reel is the same vertical video as a Short or a LinkedIn post. Dailies Studio records your video calls, held in French or English, and cuts up to eight captioned shorts out of each call. It publishes them on the day and at the hour you planned, on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, LinkedIn and TikTok, with three post texts proposed for each network that you pick and edit, then shows you the statistics of each post.
The other networks have their own article, in the Insights index: YouTube, Facebook, Threads, LinkedIn and TikTok. To understand the product, read what Dailies Studio is; to start with a conversation, book a 30-minute call.
The essentials
- Instagram has 3 billion monthly users, and about 297 million in the European Union.
- A reel can last 20 minutes, but only those of three minutes or less are recommended to strangers.
- Original content is distributed better than reposts.
- In the United States, 80% of 18-29s and 40% of 50-64s use it: the audience is young.
- Instagram publishes no professional share: it is a shop window, not a sales channel.
Sources
Pages read on 15 October 2026.
- TechCrunch, Instagram now has 3 billion monthly active users, 24 September 2025.
- Social Media Today, European Union figures, 30 August 2026.
- Instagram, record a reel, Finding success on reels in 2025 (21 January 2025) and the creators’ FAQ.
- Pew Research Center, Social media use, survey of 5 February to 18 June 2025.