Reach
Reach is the number of unique accounts that saw a piece of content or a profile at least once during a given period. Unlike impressions, it counts each person a single time no matter how often they viewed, which makes it the cleaner measure of how many people content actually touched.
Why it matters for creators
Reach is your discovery number: how many distinct people saw the work. The split Instagram shows between followers and non-followers matters most — non-follower reach means the platform is putting your content in front of new people, which is where growth comes from.
Reach on its own fades unless something follows it. A reel that reaches 100,000 people and leaves no comments, saves, or conversations behind was a moment, not a step. Pairing reach with an action — a keyword to comment, a story to reply to — turns some of those one-time viewers into people you can talk to again.