Two Ways to Analyze a Reel
There are two routes, and which one you take depends on whether the Reel is already posted. A Reel that is live on your account can be analyzed straight from your synced Instagram library in one click. A draft, or a Reel Instagram will not share, is analyzed by uploading the video file.
Both routes produce the same analysis: five scores, a predicted retention curve with the moments viewers are likely to leave, and a short list of fixes. The library route adds one thing an upload cannot: Instagram's own numbers for that Reel, shown beside the analysis.
Connect Instagram and Sync Your Library
Connect your Instagram Business or Creator account from Creative DNA and sync it. Your Reels appear in the Instagram library with the numbers Instagram reports for each one, such as views, likes, saves and average watch time, plus how much of each Reel the average view watched, which Retensis works out for you.
Older Reels may show fewer numbers, and that is Instagram's rule rather than a sync problem: "Insights for reels are available for reels posted on and after May 14, 2021. Insights are available to view for up to two years after the reel's original publish date."
Choose Analyze This Reel
Find the Reel in the library and choose Analyze this Reel. Retensis fetches the video from Instagram, runs the analysis and opens the result when it is ready. It uses one analysis from your plan, exactly like an upload.
If Instagram does not share the file for that Reel, usually because it uses licensed music, Retensis says so. Download the Reel from Instagram and upload it instead. A Reel you have already analyzed opens its existing analysis rather than being analyzed twice.
Read the Five Scores and the Retention Curve
Start with the lowest of the five scores: Hook, Pacing, Audio, Visual and Engagement potential. The lowest one is usually where the Reel lost the most, and its written feedback says what to change, not only that something is weak.
Then read the predicted retention curve. It shows, second by second, where viewers are likely to lock in and where they are likely to leave, with each significant drop tied to a timestamp and a reason. Treat it as a prediction of where the risk is, not as Instagram's measurement.
Compare Instagram's Real Skip Rate With the Prediction
Because a Reel analyzed from your library is linked to the Reel you published, the analysis also shows Instagram's skip rate for it, the share of views that left in the first 3 seconds, beside the skip rate Retensis predicted from the video alone. Under them it lists what actually happens in those first 3 seconds: the hook, what is said and what is shown.
If the real skip rate is well above the predicted one, the opening played worse in the feed than it looked in the edit, and the first frame or first line is the part to rewrite. Instagram Reels skip rate benchmarks covers what to aim for.
Turn the Findings Into Your Next Reel
An analysis is most useful before the next Reel, not after this one. Carry the fixes forward: the hook type that held, the pacing change the curve asked for, the opening the skip rate punished. When you plan the next one in the Viral Planner with Instagram connected, it writes for the audience you actually have.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Connect your Instagram Business or Creator account in Retensis, open your Instagram library in Creative DNA and choose Analyze this Reel. Retensis fetches the video from Instagram and runs the full analysis, so nothing is saved to your camera roll or uploaded by hand.
Instagram does not share the video file for some Reels, usually ones that use licensed music. For those, download the Reel from Instagram and upload it to Retensis instead. The analysis you get is the same either way.
No. Analysis from the library works on the Reels of the Instagram account you connect, and pasting an Instagram link is not supported. To study another creator's Reel, you need the video file itself.
Analyze the Reel from your library and the analysis is linked to the published Reel for you. It then shows Instagram's skip rate for that Reel beside the skip rate Retensis predicted, with what happens in the first 3 seconds. For a draft you analyzed before posting, confirm the Reel it became when your dashboard suggests it.
Find out why your Reels perform the way they do
Analyze any Reel from your connected Instagram library in one click and see Instagram's real skip rate beside our prediction, with the hook, pacing, audio and visual fixes Insights cannot explain. Free to start.
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