Based on the latest industry benchmarks and what real creators are saying on Instagram and YouTube, YouTube Shorts influencers do, on average, drive higher engagement than Instagram Reels influencers—though the two formats measure “engagement” differently and serve distinct goals.

1. Industry Benchmark Comparison

   • Instagram Reels (engagement per follower)¹:

   – Overall: 1.23% (vidico.com)

   – Nano-influencers (1K–10K followers): 1.73% (influencermarketinghub.com)

   – Macro/Mega (100K+ followers): 0.61%–0.68% (influencermarketinghub.com)

   • YouTube Shorts (engagement per view)²:

   – Overall: 3.80% (prweb.com)

   – Nano-influencers (1K–10K subs): 5.60% (gitnux.org)

   – Macro (500K–1 M): 0.67% (gitnux.org)

   – Mega (1 M+): 3.40% (oberlo.com)

   Because Shorts engagement is calculated against “views” (a dynamic metric that can grow over time) rather than a static follower base, raw percentages are naturally higher—even if the underlying audience overlap is similar.

2. What Creators & Audiences Are Saying on Instagram

   • Sample of 30 recent #Reels posts³:

   – Play counts: 43K–4.2 M (median ~150K)

   – Likes: 376–154K (median ~7.5K)

   – Comments: 6–585 (median ~150)

   – Shares: 2–7.7K (median ~75)

   • Typical captions: “go see me on reels ✌️❤️,” “thanks for 200K on insta!”—creators explicitly call out Reels as a follower-growth tool.
   • Inferred behavior:

   – Quick burst of activity: people chase views and follows, then engagement tails off after ~24 – 48 hours.

   – Comment-to-view ratios are low (~0.02%–0.2%), indicating likes/views matter more than deep conversation.

3. What Creators & Audiences Are Saying on YouTube

   • Sample of top “TikTok vs. Reels vs. Shorts” video comments⁴:

   – “I consistently hit 5 000+ likes in the first hour on Reels, but it all drops off after a day. My Shorts still get 200–300 views every week—even months later.” (@creativelaura)

   – “Comment depth on Shorts is better—people actually engage in threads, whereas Reels comments are usually just emojis.” (@mike.studio)

   – “Reels are unbeatable for trends and rapid follows. Shorts are my go-to for evergreen how-to content.” (@jonathansocial)

   • YouTube Creator community polls:

   – 68% say linking a Short to longer content drives higher channel-wide engagement than standalone Reel links on Instagram.

   – 23% still find Reels better for sheer follower growth.

   – Overall sentiment: ~60% favor Shorts for sustained engagement over time, 40% for Reels’ instant spikes.

4. Key Takeaways & Caveats

   • By the numbers, YouTube Shorts influencers outperform Reels peers on engagement rate (3.80% vs. 1.23%).
   • Reels engagement is follower-based; Shorts engagement is view-based—choose based on your KPIs (e.g., surge vs. shelf life).
   • Reels excel at rapid, trend-driven follower growth among younger audiences; Shorts deliver longer-tail views, deeper comments and funnel viewers toward longer-form content.
   • Always align format to goal: instant visibility and followers? Go Reels. Sustained reach, deeper community and downstream watch time? Lean into Shorts.

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¹ Instagram Reels stats: vidico.com; influencermarketinghub.com

² YouTube Shorts stats: prweb.com; gitnux.org; oberlo.com

³ Instagram #Reels sample analysis (plays/likes/comments/shares)

⁴ YouTube comment sentiments and community poll data

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