Meta is retiring Reach, Impressions and Engagement. This is in Meta Business Suite’s overall account performance reporting, including Page Insights and content-level dashboards.
These changes affect how Facebook and Instagram account performance is measured at a combined level.
They are being replaced with three new, more consistent metrics:
- Viewers (closest equivalent to Reach)
- Views (replacing Impressions)
- Interactions (replacing Engagement)
This KPI metric update from the Meta reporting changes creates a unified measurement system across posts, Reels, Stories and video formats and offers a more reliable view of how people actually see and interact with content.
Important: Paid Ads Manager Reporting Is NOT Changing
These Meta metric updates do not currently affect reporting inside Ads Manager.
Paid campaigns will continue to use:
- Reach
- Impressions
- Engagement
Because Meta Business Suite now uses new definitions at account level, while Ads Manager keeps the legacy definitions, it becomes more difficult to directly separate organic and paid performance within Business Suite’s overview metrics.
This distinction matters for accurate year-on-year KPI reporting and for understanding how to interpret combined performance figures in 2025 and beyond.
The Shift from Legacy Metrics to Viewers, Views and Interactions
Meta has retired Reach, Impressions and Engagement and replaced them with a simplified, more consistent measurement framework.
These new metrics aim to give advertisers a clearer understanding of how people actually see and interact with content across Facebook and Instagram.
Here’s what each one means and how they may affect the numbers you’re used to seeing.
Impressions to Views
Views replaces Impressions in most placements. It counts every time your content appears on someone’s screen, including repeat views by the same person.
What this means for you:
- This metric gives a clearer sense of total exposure, especially for formats where people may naturally see content more than once.
- View totals may appear slightly higher than historic Impressions because Meta now captures more viewing instances.
Reach to Viewers
Viewers is Meta’s replacement for Reach, but this change has only been applied to Facebook Overview reporting so far. Instagram is expected to follow closely as Meta continues rolling out the new framework across all surfaces.
There has been a problem with Meta’s reported figures for reach being inflated by feed rendering – meaning it was counting posts not visible to a user.
Viewers is intended to measure how many unique people actually saw a piece of content, giving a clearer sense of how many people viewed your content. This will be a lower number than reach – and for some types of content this can be up to 35% lower/
What this means for you:
- On Facebook, Viewers has now replaced Reach in standard reporting.
- On Instagram, you may still see the legacy Reach metric until Meta completes the change for this platform.
- You will notice a reduction in absolute numbers from Reach to Viewers. This doesn’t indicate a change in performance, it reflects a change in what is being measured.
Engagement to Content Interactions
For overall reporting, interactions is the updated version of Engagement, but it’s more selective. It records only meaningful, intentional actions: likes, reactions, comments, shares and saves.
Passive behaviours, like someone watching a video without interacting, no longer count.
What this means for you:
- Interaction numbers will often look significantly lower than previous Engagement figures, but this does not mean performance has dropped.
- The new metric is simply stricter and focuses on quality actions rather than any form of activity.
Why Meta Updated the Metrics
The previous measurement system had small but important variations across content types. The new framework provides:
- Consistent definitions across posts, Reels, Stories and video
- Clearer understanding of real user actions
- Better insight into genuine attention and engagement quality
For marketers, this means more dependable evaluation, but it also means that comparisons with past metrics require care.
How the 2025 to 2026 Changes Affect Year-on-Year Reporting
Because definitions have changed, direct comparisons between 2024 and 2025 social media metrics are no longer valid.
You’ll need a structured approach that separates legacy and new systems.
Compare Metrics Only Where Definitions Allow
- Views can be cautiously compared with Impressions – these are very similar metrics.
- Viewers cannot be directly compared with Reach; the numbers will be lower by 5-35%.
- Interactions cannot be directly compared with Engagement, the interactions measurement is expected to be very much lower than engagements.
Present Year-on-Year in Two Distinct Sections
To avoid misinterpretation:
- Performance under legacy metrics (up to end of 2024)
- Performance under new metrics (2025 onwards)
Include a note stating that Meta changed its measurement framework in 2025.
What ExtraDigital Is Doing for Clients
ExtraDigital is supporting clients throughout the change in Meta reporting KPIs by:
- Normalising older datasets where appropriate
- Updating dashboards and reporting structures
- Briefing internal and external stakeholders
- Aligning strategy with Interactions rather than legacy Engagement
- Revising performance targets based on updated definitions
As ExtraDigital Marketing Manager Nikki Collins explains:
“It is important to interpret metrics correctly when a platform changes its reporting. We help clients understand the new system so they can report accurately and with confidence.”
Our priority is accuracy, transparency and reliable reporting throughout 2025 and 2026.
Speak to us and we will help your brand and your team move smoothly through these metric changes.
