Should your social posts move? Mostly, yes: online video is now the most common weekly media habit, and short-form video is what people say they're most likely to engage with on Instagram. But the data doesn't say static is dead. It says motion is expected, and the right format depends on where you post.
How much video do people watch?
According to GWI's survey of internet users aged 16 and over, in DataReportal's Digital 2026 report, 91% of adults online watched some online video in the past week. Online video tops GWI's ranking for regular media use.
91%
of adult internet users say they watched online video in the past week, more than any other kind of media.
That covers all online video, not just social media, and it's what people report rather than a measurement. But the platforms tell the same story. On Meta's earnings call in October 2025, Mark Zuckerberg said video time spent on Instagram was up more than 30% on the year before.
Do video posts get more engagement than images?
On Instagram, video and carousels both beat single images. In Sprout Social's 2026 survey of more than 2,300 consumers in the US, UK and Australia, short-form video (under 60 seconds) was the brand content people said they were most likely to interact with on Instagram.
52%
of social media users say short-form video (under 60 seconds) is the brand content they're most likely to interact with on Instagram.
What brands actually post bears that out. Socialinsider's Instagram benchmarks for Q2 2026 put average engagement by followers at 0.50% for carousels, 0.48% for Reels and 0.33% for single images, and engagement on static images fell 17% year on year. That's what brands posted rather than a controlled test, so it shows a pattern, not a cause.
Is static dead?
No. Look again at those numbers: carousels, which are still images, edge out Reels on Instagram. The format that's losing ground is the single image, not stillness itself.
And platforms differ. In the same Sprout Social survey, short-form video was the favourite on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, but only 27% chose it on LinkedIn, where more than half of users lean towards text posts. A good social plan uses each format where it works: motion for Reels and stories, carousels for explaining, text-led posts for LinkedIn.
Why does motion help?
Mainly attention. Research by Lumen, Havas and Brand Metrics, drawing on more than 9,000 brand lift studies, found that video ads "almost always get more attention than static ads", and that attention time was the best indicator of brand preference and intent. Marketers see it too: in HubSpot's 2026 State of Marketing survey of 1,500+ marketers, 48.6% named short-form video as the format with the biggest ROI, well ahead of long-form video at 28.6%. (That's marketers' own judgement, not measured returns.)
Motion doesn't have to mean filming. Back in 2018, Meta ran 49 studies with brands that added lightweight motion to still image ads and saw a positive outcome for 69% of them. It's an old figure about paid ads, but the idea holds: a post that moves a little often does better than one that doesn't move at all.
How to add motion without a film crew
Paying a motion designer for every post adds up: UK freelance motion designers average £385 a day, according to YunoJuno's 2026 rates report (more in what social media design costs). Most posts don't need one:
- Animate what you already have. Words that build in line by line, a logo that fades in, a slow zoom on a photo. A still post with simple motion is a short video.
- Design the motion once. Timing and easing are part of your brand, like fonts and colours. If everyone animates their own way, motion becomes another way to drift off brand (more on that in Consistent posting on social media).
- Export both. Make each post as a still and as a video, then use whichever suits the platform.
- Keep it short. The survey figures are about video under 60 seconds. Most brand posts need far less.
That's how BrandStudio works. Every template is designed with its animation built in, so your team exports the same post as a JPEG or an animated MP4, in every size, in the same time. Press play in the live demo to see it.
In short
- 91% of adult internet users watch online video every week (DataReportal and GWI, 2026).
- On Instagram, carousels (0.50%) and Reels (0.48%) out-engage single images (0.33%) (Socialinsider, Q2 2026).
- Static isn't dead: carousels lead on Instagram and LinkedIn users lean towards text (Sprout Social, 2026).
- Simple, on-brand motion is enough. Design it once and export every post as a still and a video.
Questions
Do videos get more engagement than images on social media?
On Instagram, Reels and carousels both beat single images. Socialinsider's Q2 2026 benchmarks put average engagement at 0.50% for carousels, 0.48% for Reels and 0.33% for single images. In Sprout Social's 2026 survey, 52% of users said short-form video is the brand content they're most likely to interact with on Instagram.
Should brands still post static images?
Yes, where they work. Carousels of still images lead Instagram engagement, and on LinkedIn more than half of users in Sprout Social's 2026 survey lean towards text posts. Single images are the format losing ground, so mix motion, carousels and stills by platform.
How can you make social media videos without a video team?
Start with simple motion: animated text, a logo reveal or a slow zoom on a photo. Templates with the animation designed in let anyone on the team export an on-brand MP4 in the same time as a still.