Instagram Insights Metrics Deprecation (April 21, 2025) and Views Integration - Updated

Update: As per the Meta’s announcement, several Instagram insights metrics were deprecated on April 21, 2025. You can find more information in the Meta’s changelog.

The good news is that we found a way how to mitigated the impact by remapping available data from other metrics into the existing analytics tool.

Post-deprecation summary and next steps

Video Views (Post Level)

New Definition
This metric now reflects media views at the post level, filtered for video content only.
Scope - what is included
- Instagram posts with video media type
- Reels
- Stories with video media type
What’s Staying the Same
Historical data for video views has been preserved.
From April 21, 2025
This metric will be counted as media views filtered for videos.
Limitations
- Instagram Carousels
  Video views are not supported for carousel posts, even if a video is attached. This is due to platform limitations.
- As of January 8, 2025, the original metric for video views on carousels was deprecated.
- To ensure data consistency, we will clean the database and mark video views as N/A for all carousels created after January 8, 2025.

Video Views (Profile Level)

New Definition (Planned)
Will reflect media views at the profile level, filtered for Reels only.
Status
This metric is not yet available due to technical issues that require further development.
Will be added to Emplifi as a new metric, previously didn’t exist for IG.
ETA
Estimated to be released in June 2025.
Historical Data
Will not be available due to API limitations.

Impressions (Post Level)

Definition
Equivalent to media views at the post level.
Historical Data
Preserved and unchanged.
From April 21, 2025
Will be tracked as media views at the post level.

Impressions (Profile Level)

Definition
Equivalent to media views at the profile level.
Historical Data
Preserved and unchanged.
From April 21, 2025
Will be counted as media views at the profile level.

If the impressions values are not available from before April 21, 2025 (whether due to a bug or because a profile was connected to suite recently (after the deprecation)), we can manually rebuild older impressions (from before April 21) with media views.

However:

We cannot retrieve original impressions from API in such a case because the field has been deprecated and Meta no longer provides it.
We also do not have the original impressions values saved in our database due to the fact that the profile was connected to Emplifi after the deprecation.

Media Views (Post Level)

Definition
This is the primary post-level metric for views on Instagram.
Historical Data
Has been downloaded and is available starting from approximately July 2024.

Media Views (Profile Level)

Definition
This is the primary profile-level metric for views on Instagram.
Historical Data
Has been downloaded, but availability varies by profile:
- Some profiles started in August 2024
- Others became available during the autumn months
- A few may be available even later

Usage tips

For cross-platform comparison reporting use-case, we recommend that you use impressions and video views.
For single platform (Instagram only) reporting use-case, we recommend that you switch to media views.

The rest of this article appears as originally published prior to the deprecation. Expand the following section to learn abou the scope of the deprecation itself.

Click to expand

Overview

Meta’s decisions impacts all Meta’s partners who rely on Meta’s APIs, including Emplifi and all our competitors.

https://vimeo.com/1071900861/4b8c8fd863?share=copy

The following Meta metrics will be impacted:

Profile level

impressions
This Meta metric will be replaced by views mapped into impressions.
- profile impressions rolling window (specific breakdown of data 1/7/28 days from the impression metric provided by Meta)
  This specific aggregated breakdown will be deprecated with no replacement

Post level

plays
This metric (in Emplifi represented as initial video views) will be deprecated.
clips_replays_count
Zero impact - we are not using this metric in Emplifi products.
ig_reels_aggregated_all_plays_count
This metric (in Emplifi represented as video views for reels) will be replaced by views mapped into video views.
impressions
This metric will be replaced by views mapped into impressions.

Historical data

intial video views and profie impressions by 1/7/28 days charts/metrics will be deprecated without replacement. We will keep these metrics/charts in emplifi for 3 more months - in order to allow users download/export historical data. After 3 months we will remove those charts/metrics completly.
Historical data for impressions and video views metrics/charts will be kept until the deprecation date - April 21, 2025. After that, data from views will be mapped into do impressions and video views.
We will start using the views metric on the day of deprecation - therefore this metrics will not match the data shown by the native metric on Instagram (discrepancy will be introduced). Use media views to see the exact data as represented in native version of views.

Media views metric

Instagram started to provide the views metric on both the post and the profile level. We plan to integrate it as Media views within Emplifi analytics products as a part of our Instagram metric deprecation efforts.

Media views metric plans:

Primary metric for Instagram views integration (currently exists in Content hub and Dashboard for Snapchat and X (post level)).
Integration of Instagram views (post level) into existing Media views post level across all analytics products (Dashboard, Content hub, Unified Analytics, Custom metrics, Emplifi public API).
Integrate Instagram views (profile level) into new Media views profile level metric across all analytics products (Dashboard, Unified Analytics, Emplifi public API).
We will download all historical data available in API to ensure Media views in Emplifi match views in native API as close as possible. Based on our investigation, it seems that historical data for new Views (profile level) metric in Instagram API are starting August 20, 2024 onward. Once the metric is implemented, we will run rebuilds to ensure we provide all data that is provided via Instagram API.

For more information, see Instagram Media views.

Impact

Deprecation of the metrics listed above will impact all analytical features of the Emplifi platform.

Unified Analytics

The following Unified Analytics widgets or sections of a board are impacted:

Profile level

Social profiles -> Instagram -> Profiles summary
- Instagram profiles overview
  - Impressions column will be affected because the underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions..
Social profiles -> Instagram -> Overview
- Profile impressions
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Profile impressions trend by rolling window
  - Entire board section (all 3 rolling window metrics) will be deprecated without replacement.
Social profiles -> Instagram -> Time comparison
- Profile impressions trend by rolling window
  - Entire board section (all 3 rolling window metrics) will be deprecated without replacement.
Social profiles -> Instagram -> Profile vs. profile
- Profile impressions trend by rolling window
  - Entire board section (all 3 rolling window metrics) will be deprecated without replacement.

Post level

Social profiles -> Cross-platform -> Overview
- Number of impressions - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions by platform - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions trend - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Social profiles -> Cross-platform -> Overview -> Time comparison
- Number of impressions - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions by platform - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions trend - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Social profiles -> Cross-platform -> Overview -> Profile vs. profile
- Number of impressions - partial impact (2 widgets - p.1 and p.2)
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions trend - partial impact (2 widgets - p.1 and p.2)
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Average impressions - partial impact (2 widgets - p.1 and p.2)
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Social profiles -> Cross-platform -> Overview -> Multicomparison
- Number of impressions - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Social profiles -> Cross-platform -> Content performance
- Top content by interactions - partial impact
  - Impression metric: Values for IG platform for each post will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Social profiles -> Instagram -> Overview
- Impressions
  - Entire board section (3 widgets) will be affected as the underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Social profiles -> Instagram -> Overview -> Time comparison
- Number of impressions
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions trend
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions per media type
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Social profiles -> Instagram -> Overview -> Profile vs. profile
- Number of impressions - (2 widgets - p.1 and p.2)
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions trend - (2 widgets - p.1 and p.2)
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Average impressions - (2 widgets - p.1 and p.2)
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Social profiles -> Instagram -> Overview -> Multicomparison
- Number of impressions
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Social profiles -> Instagram -> Content performance
- Top content by interactions
  - Impression metric for each post will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Video views by type
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into video views.
- Video views trend
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into video views.
Social profiles -> Instagram -> Story engagement
- Number of story impressions
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Story impressions by media type
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Story impressions by media type trend
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Top stories by engagement
  - Impression metric for each post will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Campaigns & labels -> Cross-platform overview
- Video views - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into video views.
- Number of impressions - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions by platform - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions by platform trend - partial impact
  - Values for IG platform will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Campaigns & labels -> Instagram
- Video views
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into video views.
- Number of impressions
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Impressions by media type
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- Video views trend
  - Underlying metric will be deprecated.
  - Solution: Will be replaced by Views mapped into video views.

Dashboard

Profile level widgets

Impressions will be replaced by Views (profile level )mapped into impressions.

Post level widgets

Video views will be replaced by Views mapped into video views.
Content impressions will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Content
- Displayed metrics for cards
  - video.viewCount -> Video view count will be replaced by Views mapped into Video Views (in front end represented by Video view count).
  - insights.videoViewsOrganic -> Views - Organic will be replaced by Views mapped into Video Views (in front end represented by Views-Organic).
  - insights.impressions -> Total impressions will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions (In front end represented by Total Impressions).
  - insights.impressionsByPaidNonPaid.unpaid -> Organic impressions will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions (in front end represented by Organic Impressions).
Also impacted are Custom metrics that can be added for each post. See the deprecated Custom Metrics section below.

Content hub

Profile level

N/A for Content hub

Post level

Feed

Initial video views
- Will be deprecated (no replacement).
Video views
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into Video Views.
Organic video views
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into Video Views (in front end represented by Organic video views).
Impressions
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Organic impressions
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions (in front end represented by Organic impressions).

Feed Post Detail - Post Insights (only shown for Reels)

Impressions
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
Video Views -> Organic
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into Video Views (in front end represented by organic).

Feed Post Detail - Custom Metrics

See the Custom Metrics section

Table View

Initial video views
- Will be deprecated (no replacement).
Video view count
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into Video Views (in front end represented by Video view count).
Views - organic
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into Video Views (in front end represented by Views-organic).
Total impressions
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions (in front end represented by total impression).
Organic impressions
- Will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions (in mfront end represented by Organic impressions).

Public API

https://api.emplifi.io/

Profile level

V1 → Profile Metrics → Instagram Metrics:
- insights_profile_impressions_by_day will be replaced by Views (profile level) mapped into impressions.
>= V2 → Profile Metrics → Instagram Metrics:
- insights_impressions will be replaced by Views (profile level) mapped into impressions.
- insights_impressions_7_days will be deprecated (no replacement).
- insights_impressions_28_days will be deprecated (no replacement).

Post level

Aggregated post metrics
- insights_video_views >= V1 will be replaced by Views mapped into video views.
- insights_impressions >= V1 will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- insights_initial_video_views >= V3 will be deprecated (no replacement).
Posts → Instagram posts
- insights_video_views >= V1 will be replaced by Views mapped into video views.
- insights_impressions >= V1 will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions.
- insights_initial_video_views >= V3 will be deprecated (no replacement).

Custom metrics

Profile level

Custom metrics only supports post level metrics.

Post level

Meta deprecated metric	Custom Metric affected
`plays`	`insights_initial_video_views`	will be deprecated (no replacement)
`ig_reels_aggregated_all_plays_count` Mapped as: `video_views`	`insights_video_views`	will be replaced by Views mapped into video views
	`insights_impressions_or_video_views`	will be replaced by Views mapped into video views
`impressions`	`insights_impressions`	will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions
`impressions`	`insights_impressions_or_video_views`	will be replaced by Views mapped into impressions