How to Find Average Story Views on Instagram

Wondering how your Instagram Stories are really performing? Calculating your average story view is one of the most direct ways to measure what’s connecting with your audience and what isn’t. This article will show you exactly how to find this number, understand what it means for your account’s health, and use it to build a more effective content strategy.

Why Your Average Story View Matters More Than You Think

In a world of follower counts and vanity metrics, your average Story view number is a refreshing dose of reality. It represents the number of real, active followers who consistently tune in on an everyday basis. Unlike a follower count, it's not a number that can be easily inflated or faked. It’s a direct reflection of your community’s engagement and interest.

Tracking this metric is about more than just satisfying curiosity. It allows you to:

• Understand Your Audience: A rising average view count signals that your content is resonating. A sudden dip might suggest your recent posts aren't hitting the mark, prompting you to re-evaluate your strategy.
• Refine Your Content Strategy: By tracking your views alongside different content formats - like behind-the-scenes footage, Q&As, or product tutorials - you can pinpoint precisely what your audience loves to see.
• Spot Trends Over Time: Are your views higher on weekdays? Do seasonal topics cause a spike in engagement? Tracking your average over weeks and months reveals powerful patterns you can lean into.
• Measure Growth Accurately: As your follower count grows, your average Story views should ideally grow with it. If it remains stagnant, it might be a sign that you're attracting followers who aren't genuinely interested in your daily content.

The Manual Method: How to Calculate Your Average Story Views

Before you can start analyzing your numbers, you need to gather the data. This manual method takes a little effort upfront but gives you complete control over your analytics. To access these insights, you'll need an Instagram Business or Creator account.

Step 1: Gather Your Data

Your first task is to collect the raw view counts for each Story panel you've posted over a specific period. A 14-day or 30-day window is usually a good place to start, as it gives you enough data to form a reliable average without being too overwhelming.

Here’s how to find the numbers:

1. Navigate to your Instagram profile and tap on your bio picture to open your current Stories (if you have any live).
2. Swipe up on a Story to see the “Viewers” screen. At the top left, you'll see an eye icon followed by a number. This is the total number of unique accounts that have seen that specific Story. This metric is also known as Reach.
3. A single Story frame only lasts 24 hours. To find data for older posts, go to your profile page and tap the menu icon (☰) in the top-right corner, then select Archive.
4. At the top of the Archive screen, make sure "Stories Archive" is selected. Here you'll see a calendar and a visual log of all your past Stories.
5. Tap on any past Story, and swipe up to see its final view count (Reach).

Next, open up a simple spreadsheet in Google Sheets or Excel. Create two columns: "Post Date" and "Views (Reach)". Go through your Stories for your chosen date range (e.g., the last 30 days) and log the reach for every single Story panel you posted.

It’s important to log every panel. If you posted a five-part Story sequence on Monday, that’s five separate entries in your spreadsheet.

Step 2: Do a Little Simple Math

Once you’ve logged all your data, the hard part is over. The calculation itself is straightforward:

Total Views From All Stories / Total Number of Stories Posted = Your Average Story Views

Let’s walk through a tangible example. Imagine you posted 10 Story panels over a few days:

• Story 1: 450 views
• Story 2: 435 views
• Story 3: 410 views
• Story 4: 510 views
• Story 5: 495 views
• Story 6: 220 views
• Story 7: 380 views
• Story 8: 375 views
• Story 9: 350 views
• Story 10: 310 views

Total Views: 3,935
Total Number of Stories: 10
Calculation: 3,935 / 10 = 393.5 (or 394) average views per Story.

If you're using a spreadsheet, you can make this even easier. Simply list all your view numbers in one column (e.g., column B, from cell B2 to B31 for a month of data), and then use the `AVERAGE` function in an empty cell:

=AVERAGE(B2:B31)

This will automatically do the calculation for you. Update this spreadsheet every couple of weeks or once a month to get a clear, ongoing picture of your Story performance.

What "Good" Story Views Actually Look Like

Once you have your number, the next question is obvious: "Is this good?" The honest, and sometimes frustrating, answer is: it depends.

Forget Industry Averages - Focus on Your Average

Comparing your average view count of 400 to a mega-influencer's 40,000 is unproductive. Their audience is astronomically larger and at a different stage of community development. The most valuable benchmark is your own historical data.

If your average was 350 last month and it’s 394 this month, that is fantastic progress. Your goal shouldn’t be to meet an arbitrary industry standard but to consistently improve your own average over time. Growth is the only benchmark that truly matters.

The Reach Rate: A Better Way to Compare

If you do want a way to contextualize your performance, the Story Reach Rate is a much better metric than raw view numbers. It calculates what percentage of your total followers sees your average Story, which levels the playing field between accounts of different sizes.

Here’s the formula:

(Average Story Views / Total Followers) x 100 = Story Reach Rate (%)

Using our example from before:

An account with 394 average views and 2,000 followers has a reach rate of: (394 / 2,000) x 100 ≈ 19.7% - which is phenomenal!

An account with 394 average views and 20,000 followers has a reach rate of: (394 / 20,000) x 100 ≈ 1.97% - which is closer to average.

Here are some very loose guidelines for what Story reach rates can look like:

• 1-3%: This is fairly common, especially for larger accounts (50k+ followers) where the algorithm limits reach.
• 3-7%: This indicates a healthy, engaged audience that regularly checks in for your content.
• 7-15%+: This is fantastic. It means a significant portion of your followers are highly engaged with what you post day-to-day.

Again, treat these as guidelines, not rigid rules. The most important metric is still your own growth trajectory.

4 Simple Ways to Boost Your Average Story Views

Ready to improve your numbers? Instead of throwing content at the wall and hoping something sticks, you can use these proven strategies to drive more engagement and, consequently, more views.

1. Use Interactive Stickers Religiously

The Instagram algorithm pays close attention to how viewers interact with your Stories. Taps, replies, and engagement signal that your content is valuable, which encourages the algorithm to show it to more of your followers. The easiest way to generate these signals is by using Instagram’s built-in interactive stickers.

• Polls &, Quizzes: These are low-effort for your followers but provide a powerful engagement signal. Ask simple questions related to your niche or just something fun and relatable.
• Question Boxes &, "Add Yours": These are goldmines for content and community building. Use them to host Q&A sessions or start user-generated content threads.
• Sliders: These are quick, easy ways for your audience to give feedback with a simple swipe.

Aim to include at least one interactive element in your Story sequence every single day. This trains your audience to engage and keeps them actively participating rather than passively watching.

2. Break Up Your Content Format

Nobody wants to watch ten consecutive talking-head videos or tap through ten static image slides. Viewer fatigue is real. To keep your audience tapped in, mix up your content formats.

Try a mix of:

• Short Video Clips: Behind-the-scenes moments, quick tips, or a personal message.
• High-Quality Photos: A beautiful shot, a relatable screenshot, or a before-and-after image.
• Simple Text Slides: Use these to ask direct questions, share a quick thought, or break up longer video segments.
• User-Generated Content: Share a customer photo or a great comment you received.

This variety prevents your Stories from becoming predictable and keeps viewers engaged through your entire sequence.

3. Be Deliberately Consistent

Consistency trains your audience to expect and look for your content. If you post Stories erratically - five one day and none for the next three - you're not building a daily habit for your viewers. Committing to posting something every single day, even if it's just one or two frames, keeps you top-of-mind and top-of-feed.

Check your Professional Dashboard >, Total followers >, Most Active Times to see when your audience is most likely to be online, and try to post just before or during those peak hours to get the most initial traction.

4. Make Your First Story Count

The first Story slide you post each day often gets the highest number of views. If it fails to capture attention, many viewers will simply swipe away and miss the rest of your content for the day. That’s why your first frame should always be a hook.

Start with your most compelling video, your most intriguing question, or your most beautiful photo. Grab their attention immediately, and they’ll be far more likely to stick around for the rest of what you have to say.

Final Thoughts

Calculating your average Story views isn’t just an exercise in data collection, it’s about having a real conversation with your audience through content. By regularly tracking your reach and being mindful about what you post, you can turn your Stories from a fleeting feature into a powerful tool for community building and brand growth.

Manually logging numbers in a spreadsheet can get tiresome, especially as you start analyzing more data across different platforms. At Postbase, we built our analytics dashboard to give you these insights without all the manual work. We pull all your performance metrics into one clean, simple dashboard so you can quickly see what’s working, spot trends, and find actionable insights across every platform, freeing you up to spend less time in spreadsheets and more time creating.