As concerns and security issues around TikTok arise, its rival Instagram Reels is getting a series of updates aimed at creators. Meta announced that it’s improving its Reels section, making it easier for content creators and brands to give them the freedom needed to get their message across. With this latest update, creators will be able to see the top trending songs on Reels. They will be able to see how many times the audio has been used and then tap it to use it themselves or save the audio for later. Creators will also be able to see what the top trending topics and hashtags are on Reels.

Creators are also going to get access to new Reels insights to better understand how their content is performing. First, Instagram is adding a new “total watch time” metric that captures the total amount of time a reel was played, including any time spent replaying the reel. Second, creators are going to get access to a new “average watch time” metric that captures the average amount of time spent playing a reel, calculated by dividing watch time by the number of total plays.

This new update is very similar to the TikTok model and will encourage content creators to post more on Instagram ideally. If this does succeed, more users could be drawn to Instagram over TikTok thus increasing the popularity of the app. Short-form videos are people-driven and meant to be authentic and give people a sense of creative freedom. Advertisers should be on the lookout to see if these Reels changes are successful and be prepared to pivot some dollars if it is so.