Reach

Reach is the number of distinct people (or accounts) who saw a piece of content at least once. Unlike impressions, a person who sees the same post five times counts once.

Every platform estimates reach rather than measuring it perfectly: the same human on two devices, or logged out, can count twice. Treat it as a good estimate of audience size, not a census.

The classic confusion is with impressions. Reach counts people, impressions count displays, so impressions are always equal to or higher than reach. A post with 1,000 reach and 3,000 impressions was seen about three times per person, which usually means it was revisited or reshared.

In practice, reach answers "how many people did this touch" and matters most for awareness goals. If your goal is action, pair it with clicks or replies: a large reach that produces nothing is a billboard in the desert.

Related terms: Impressions · Engagement rate · Share of voice