<b>Reel view half-life is 52 hours; TikTok is 9 days</b>

<b>Reel view half-life is 52 hours; TikTok is 9 days</b>

Half-life = time for a post to reach 50% of its eventual total views.

— IG Reels ~52h ███
— IG Feed ~28h ██
— TikTok ~9d ████████████
— YouTube Shorts ~6d ████████

TikTok's search-and-FYP recirculation keeps content alive far longer, which changes how you should pace measurement. Reading Reels results at 24h overstates failure; reading TikTok at 48h understates success.

So what: set platform-specific read windows — never judge all formats at the same hour.

Benchmark: n=2,100 posts, cumulative-view curves, 2024.