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Watch time - Instagram Glossary

Watch time is how long viewers spend on a video before leaving, usually reported as an average or as a retention curve. On reels it is the dominant ranking input: the proportion of viewers still watching at two seconds largely determines whether the post gets distributed further.

Retention is not uniform. The curve almost always shows a sharp cliff in the first two seconds, a gentle slope through the middle, and a small bump at the end if the video loops well. The cliff is where nearly all your losable audience is lost, and where nearly all editing effort should go.

Two structural techniques move it reliably. Cut the first frame to the most visually arresting moment rather than an establishing shot. And make the final second flow into the first, so the loop is seamless - a loop that plays twice doubles watch time without a single extra second of content.

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