Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reported an increase in the number of daily reel views to 180 billion, surpassing the 140 billion reported in the second quarter of 2023.
Zuckerberg estimates that the format has an annual revenue rate of $10 billion, putting it in direct competition with TikTok. In turn, TikTok generated approximately $9.9 billion in revenue in 2022 and projects to reach $13.2 billion in advertising revenue this year.
Meta attributes the success of reels to its understanding of the user through discovery algorithms. The format has seen massive growth over the past five years, becoming the dominant social media platform among 18-24-year-old groups.
Advertisers are also showing a preference for this format over the virality of TikTok, due to the stability and predictability it offers. Some consider TikTok to be more volatile and require more resources to keep up with trends, so they prefer to invest in a platform that guarantees long-term growth.