Defining Revenue Objectives and Guardrail Metrics for Instagram Reels

You own Instagram Reels as its product manager. Set out the monetization goals you would give the product and how you would track progress against them. ```hint Revenue has a price Every extra unit of Reels revenue can cost something from viewers, creators or advertisers. Decide how your goals would expose that cost before you pick a number to grow. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should the goals cover only ads shown in Reels, or also creator-driven revenue such as partnership ads and subscriptions, and the cost of creator payouts? - Is Reels judged on its own revenue or on what it adds to Instagram overall, given that viewing time can move between Feed, Stories and Reels? - What time horizon do the goals cover, and which company-level revenue or engagement targets must they roll up to? - How much short-term Reels watch time, if any, is leadership willing to give up for revenue? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Where Reels sits in Instagram's strategy and why that shapes how hard to push monetization - The revenue levers available on Reels and a breakdown of revenue into drivers specific teams can move - One clearly defined primary goal metric, with input metrics that teams own - Guardrails for viewer engagement, creator supply and advertiser results, and a method for choosing target values - Handling cannibalization between Reels and the rest of Instagram, and validating the goals through experiments and holdouts ### Follow-up Questions - An ad-load test raises Reels revenue but slightly lowers watch time per user. How do you decide whether to ship it? - How would you set a numeric target for your primary metric with no prior-year baseline? - How should creators share in Reels revenue, and how would that change your goals?