Case: swapping Reels for carousels lifted reach 41%

Case: swapping Reels for carousels lifted reach 41%
A skincare account (84k followers) ran an A/B over 60 days, n=48 posts split evenly.
— Reels cohort: median reach 9,200 (10.9% of followers)
— Carousel cohort: median reach 12,980 (15.4%)
— Delta driven by saves: carousels hit 3.1% save rate vs Reels 0.9%
Reels still won on raw new-follower count, but for an account monetizing existing audience, the carousel swap raised reach per post by 41%.
So what: when followers > reach is the bottleneck, optimize for saves, not plays. (n=48 posts, 60-day window)