In 2025, Instagram wasn’t just a social platform. For millions, especially younger audiences, it had become their first encounter with global events.
For Al Jazeera English, that shift carried weight. If people are understanding the world through their feeds, then serious journalism must live there without losing depth, accuracy or humanity. Our objective was not simply growth. It was relevance with responsibility.
We set out to transform Instagram into a living extension of our newsroom: a place where complex international stories could be explained clearly, contextualized responsibly, and experienced through the voices of our correspondents across the world.
We focused on expanding beyond our core audience, strengthening trust through on-the-ground reporting, and building formats that encouraged people to pause, save, share and return.
We weren’t chasing trends. We were proving that global journalism can thrive and lead inside an entertainment-driven algorithm.
At its core, our mission was simple: make verified, human-centered reporting impossible to scroll past.
Our brand voice on Instagram is grounded in one principle: credibility with humanity.
In 2025, we published 14,874 posts which was slightly fewer than the previous year. This was deliberate. We shifted from volume to intentional storytelling.
Reels as human entry points
Reels became our strongest discovery tool:
• 3.15B Reel views
• 148.2M Reel engagements
• 6.07% reach engagement rate (highest-performing format)
But numbers only tell part of the story.
Reels allowed correspondents to speak directly to audiences like in our flagship show episode of Start Here during their stint in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Here, we reinforced our accountability role in real time.
Reels were not entertainment - they were access to events on the ground.
Visual Journalism that travels
Carousels became our explainer backbone, achieving a 5.5% reach engagement rate. In Reporter’s Notebook: Maram Humaid’s Returning to Gaza, viewers experienced frontline reporting through lived perspective. Posts like Gaza in 2025 – year in review, Visualizing 12 Days of the Israel–Iran Conflict, The Hajj Explained Visually , Palestinians suffering worst olive harvest in collective memory transformed complex geopolitical developments into structured, savable storytelling.
These weren’t static slides. They were tools for understanding.
Coverage as Community
During major news cycles, we built evolving story ecosystems rather than isolated posts.
Our coverage of Gaza included the following:
This layered approach allowed audiences to move from breaking news to human impact to analysis - all within the platform.
Scale with Responsibility
Across 2025 we generated:
• 5.72B content impressions (+24.15%)
• 6.05B media views (+45.3%)
• 232.34M engagements
• 1.78M new followers (+55% growth rate)
As our content reached more people around the world, our average reach engagement rate settled at 4.16%. When you dramatically expand your audience, percentages naturally shift. Our priority wasn’t protecting a metric — it was making verified reporting accessible to more people.
Instagram often rewards spectacle. We chose consistency.
We chose context over noise, clarity over outrage.
Our differentiation isn’t volume or virality alone.
It’s credibility.
And that credibility is what sustains our presence.
2025 marked our most expansive year on Instagram.
We grew to 7.12M followers, adding 1.78M new followers which was a 55% acceleration in growth rate. June alone delivered 581K new followers, driven by sustained multi-format coverage during peak global events.
We delivered:
• 6.05B total media views
• 5.72B content impressions
• 232.34M engagements
Reels drove global discovery, with 3.15B views and the strongest reach engagement rate at 6.07%. Carousels sustained deeper learning and save behavior. Correspondent-led posts strengthened recognition and trust.
But the most meaningful outcome isn’t a single metric.
It’s that verified, international journalism reached billions of people inside a platform dominated by entertainment and audiences chose to follow.
We expanded beyond our core base without diluting our standards.
We scaled reach without abandoning rigor.
We built community not through personality, but through presence.
Al Jazeera English’s Instagram presence is not simply large.
It is trusted, global, and mission led.
