Reels & Stories: Why They’re Outperforming Static Ads on Meta in 2025
Social media continues to evolve at pace, and so does the way audiences consume content. Static image ads, once the backbone of Meta advertising, are increasingly struggling to compete with faster, more immersive formats.
Today, Reels and Stories are shaping how audiences engage with brands across Instagram and Facebook.
At Route, we’re seeing these placements deliver significantly stronger engagement and efficiency across many campaigns. As attention spans shorten and Meta’s algorithms continue to prioritise video, Reels and Stories have become essential tools for brands looking to maximise return on ad spend.
In this blog, we explore why Reels and Stories outperform static ads, what makes them so effective within Meta’s ecosystem, and how brands can leverage these formats to drive measurable performance into 2026.
What Are Reels & Stories?
Instagram launched Reels in August 2020, introducing short, music-backed video clips designed to compete with TikTok’s rapid growth. What began as a 15-second creative tool has since evolved into a cornerstone of Instagram’s identity.
Reels now account for a significant share of user attention, representing around 35% of total time spent on Instagram. As consumption has increased, so has distribution. Instagram’s algorithm prioritises Reels across the Explore page, the Reels tab and in-feed recommendations, giving short-form video greater visibility than traditional static posts.
Stories, meanwhile, continue to play a critical role in how users engage with brands. Their full-screen, ephemeral nature creates a sense of immediacy that feels more personal and less disruptive than traditional ad formats.
What’s Driving the Shift to Short-Form Video?
A clear signal of where Meta is heading comes directly from the platform itself. Instagram is currently testing a Reels-first home experience, where some users open the app directly into a full-screen Reels feed instead of a mixed post view.
This shift isn’t cosmetic – it’s strategic.
When platforms redesign their core experiences, they also redefine how attention flows and how media is rewarded. Short-form video is no longer just a feature inside Instagram; it is the experience. As users spend more time consuming Reels, brands that invest in native, vertical video are simply meeting audiences where they already are.
Why Reels and Stories Win Attention
Reels consistently outperform static image ads across reach and engagement, making them a powerful asset for brands looking to grow audiences and drive interaction.
Short-form video encourages storytelling, personality and authenticity in a way that static creative rarely can. Research continues to show year-on-year growth in video consumption, with Reels now accounting for around 50% of all engagement on Instagram.
Stories complement this by offering time-sensitive, full-screen placements that feel intentional rather than interruptive. Because users actively choose to tap into Stories, engagement is often more deliberate, making them particularly effective for driving traffic, product discovery and conversions through links and tags.
Together, Reels and Stories form the backbone of modern Meta consumption, supporting awareness, engagement and performance across the funnel.
Reels,Stories & Paid Media Performance
Beyond engagement, Reels play a crucial role in how Meta’s optimisation engine works.
Paid social success on Meta is driven by behavioural signals. The more data the platform receives about how users interact with ads, the better it becomes at finding and converting the right audiences.
Reels naturally generate a wider range of high-quality signals than static formats, including:
- Shares and saves
- Rewatches and comments
- Profile visits and link clicks
Each of these actions signals relevance to Meta’s algorithm, accelerating optimisation and improving delivery efficiency. Research has also shown that ads placed alongside organic Reels content can drive up to 20% higher unaided brand awareness.
This creates a clear performance chain reaction:
Higher engagement → stronger signals → faster optimisation → lower costs → better results
In practice, this often leads to improvements across key paid media metrics:
- CPM (Cost per Thousand Impressions): More efficient auctions due to sustained attention
- CTR (Click-Through Rate): Dynamic creative encourages exploration
- CPC (Cost per Click): Stronger engagement supports more efficient traffic
- CPA (Cost per Acquisition): Better audience quality lowers conversion costs
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Improved efficiency across the funnel drives stronger returns
Reels and Stories are now among the most scalable and cost-effective formats available on Meta in 2025.
Why Route Agency
Since 2016, Route has delivered award-winning, data-led media strategies across digital and offline channels. Our work has been recognised by:
- UK Paid Media Awards
- Northern Digital Awards
- Global Digital Excellence Awards
Across paid social campaigns, our team consistently sees Reels and Stories outperform static formats across engagement, CTR, CPC and CPA. That’s why we recommend Reels-first strategies for brands looking to drive sustainable performance on Meta.
Key Takeaways
Reels and Stories align directly with how audiences consume content today: fast, vertical, mobile-first and designed for moments rather than minutes.
That behavioural shift is reflected in performance. Short-form placements often outperform static ads across reach, engagement and efficiency because they feel native to the feed and hold attention for longer.
As Meta continues to prioritise Reels, brands investing in strong short-form creative benefit from faster optimisation, lower costs and stronger returns, particularly when Reels are paired with Stories to balance discovery and reinforcement.
Route Agency has the expertise to help brands adapt quickly, repurpose assets effectively and build Reels-first campaigns that drive meaningful engagement and ROI.Ready to transform your Meta advertising? The Route team is here to help.