Reach

Why it matters in a negotiation

Reach is the figure a brand uses to estimate how many new people see its product, so it is usually the first question in a brief. A small but new audience is worth more than a large one that has already seen you three times this week.

How it is used

Ask for the average reach per post over the last 30 days, not the reach of the post that performed best. In the quote, separate organic reach from reach extended with paid media: the second is charged as a separate right.

A case with figures

If one Reel reaches 18,000 accounts and another reaches 4,000, the reach you show is neither of the two: it is the average of your recent posts. That figure sets the estimated impressions and, from there, the CPM.

Where it gets confused with other terms

Followers, reach and impressions are the same audience seen at three levels of repetition. Followers are the theoretical ceiling; reach counts the distinct accounts that actually showed up; impressions count every appearance, including the fifth time the same person saw the post. The expensive mistake is quoting the reach of your best-performing piece as if it were the account average: a brand buying three posts expects three times the average, not the number from the day something took off. Reach also gets confused with frequency, and that mix-up moves the price — 50,000 impressions across 20,000 accounts is a reach of 20,000 at a frequency of 2.5, and a brand buying new audience discounts for that repetition.

Figures from the 2026 report

From the report's references: an Instagram lifestyle account — 42,000 followers, 3.3 % engagement — has a suggested rate of $540 per delivery. At a $14 CPM, that $540 covers roughly 38,500 impressions (540 ÷ 14 × 1,000). If real reach were half of that, 19,250 accounts, the brand would be paying to show the piece twice to the same people: same invoice, half the new audience. To hold the same value at half the reach, either the rate drops to $270 or the piece has to double its interaction. That calculation, not the follower count, is what belongs in the call.

Where the figure comes from

Rates and CPMs come from the 42 platform × niche references in the 2026 CPM report, which ships the full CSV and explains the method. Your own reach does not come from here: it is read from the platform's analytics over the last 30 days. To check this example, download the CSV, filter Instagram and lifestyle, and compare the suggested rate column with the $540 quoted above.

How to check it in your account

1. Check whether reach counts unique accounts or impressions. The gap between the two is frequency, and it is the first question any media buyer asks.
2. Look at whether reach includes followers or only new people. A campaign at 90% followers has high reach and almost no acquisition.
3. Check the window: reach over 24 hours, 7 days or 28. The platform changes the figure without changing the piece, and the report has to say which one it uses.
4. Review whether reach grows with paid media and how much of that growth is yours. Amplified reach is charged as a permission and reported separately.
5. Check the reach of your last ten pieces before promising one. The average is the defensible figure; the best result is an anecdote.
6. Check whether the brand counts reach from the platform's own report or from a third-party tool. Two tools rarely agree, and the difference is not a performance issue but a measurement one.

The line in the quote

Reach turns into cost per person: 540 for 40,000 accounts reached is 1.35 cents per person, or 13.50 per thousand against CPM. That figure lets a brand compare your piece with a media campaign and decide which is worth it, without arguing about price in the abstract. When the brand asks to 'reach 100,000 people', the budget comes from organic reach plus amplification. If your average is 25,000, 75,000 are missing and that is paid media, not a content promise: quote it as a permission or decline. In a proposal, reach is written as an estimate with its base: 'average of the last ten pieces, 24,000 accounts'. Without the base, any number is a guarantee and any result below it is a breach. If reach has to be reported weekly, agree the source on day one. Changing tools mid-campaign makes the trend meaningless and invites the question of why the numbers no longer add up.

A case that went wrong

A creator promised 100,000 reach for a launch campaign. The piece did 31,000 and the brand withheld 40% of the invoice, citing the email where the figure was promised. It was not in the signed proposal: it was in a message written at eleven at night, and that was enough.

Red flags in the proposal

Lines that show up in a sponsorship proposal and how to answer them when they concern this term.

• "With 40,000 followers we reach the whole world"

  Followers are a ceiling, not an audience: not everyone sees every post, and many see several. Ask for the 30-day reach and compare it with the figure being sold to you. If the gap is wide, the price is negotiated on reach, not on the profile counter.

• "Here's the reach of the Reel that went viral"

  Ask for the 30-day average and unique reach, not the best-performing piece. If there is only one number, make it come with a period: reach without a time window cannot be compared with anything and can inflate any proposal.

• "We reached 500,000 people in the campaign"

  Ask whether those are impressions or distinct accounts, and across how many pieces. Half a million impressions spread over ten posts can be a reach of 80,000 people; that difference decides whether the rate is fair or padded with repetition.

In the calculator

The calculator uses these metrics with market references per platform and niche: followers, engagement and CPM. Changing any of the three moves the suggested rate, and the breakdown stays visible before you export the quote.

How your rate is calculated

The engine starts from the estimated impressions, applies the CPM of the platform and the niche, adjusts for engagement and for audience location, and adds the multipliers for usage rights, exclusivity and number of deliverables. The result is three figures —floor, suggested and premium— with the full breakdown before you export the quote.