Instagram Reels vs. TikTok Target Market The short-form video trend appears to be here to stay. In 2020, 73% of videos clocked in at two minutes or less and we’ll likely see videos get even shorter during 2021.
of 2020 and remained the most downloaded app in Q1 2021. The app currently has more than 689 million monthly active users, up from 500 million in 2019.
Study shows that 15 years ago, the average attention span for watching videos was 20 minutes and now it is 2 to 5 minutes. By creating bite-sized, snackable videos that are highly consumable, companies can get their message across quickly before audiences lose interest.
The folks at Wired nailed it when they described TikTok as “fast-paced and chaotic, combining elements of Spotify, Snapchat, Vine, and Twitch into a single social network.”
As TikTok, a platform strictly for micro-video content, skyrocketed in popularity, Instagram quickly worked to introduce its own version— Instagram Reels.
Sure the global pandemic certainly contributed to its booming popularity, but despite the controversy surrounding the app’s Chinese roots, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon.
Now the question is, which one should businesses use? To help answer that, below we break down the similarities and differences between Instagram Reels vs. TikTok.
Overview of Instagram Reels vs. TikTok Increased consumption of video on social media isn’t anything new, neither are platforms dedicated to short-form video. Anyone remember, Vine?
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But TikTok changed the game by becoming the most downloaded app
TikTok caused such a disruption in the social media industry that other platforms worked quickly to create similar versions. The most successful to date has been Instagram Reels which launched in August 2020. Rather than create an entirely separate platform, Instagram opted to add the functionality to its existing app which has been wildly successful in its own right with over 1 billion people using Instagram every month. Instagram itself was among the top five most downloaded apps last year.
