The OwlScran Creator Index
Creator engagement benchmarks, measured from live media kits.
Compiled by the OwlScran team from connected-account data.
Abstract
As of the 10 July 2026 edition, across 43 live OwlScran media kits with connected social accounts, the median TikTok engagement rate is 6.5% of views (middle half: 4.9% to 10.2%, n = 36), and the median Instagram engagement rate is 7.2% of accounts reached (middle half: 4.7% to 9.7%, n = 35).
These figures are measured from connected-account data and recomputed nightly. Engagement is counted per view or per account reached, not per follower, and a figure is published only once at least 30 creators contribute to it.
Figures
Table 1. Summary statistics
| Platform | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engagement rateshare of views (TikTok, YouTube) or accounts reached (Instagram, Facebook) | ||||
| TikTok | 36 | 4.9% | 6.5% | 10.2% |
| 35 | 4.7% | 7.2% | 9.7% | |
| YouTube | 23 | withheld † | ||
| 2 | withheld † | |||
| Followersfollowers per creator | ||||
| All platforms | 43 | 14,528 | 35,039 | 80,248 |
| TikTok | 36 | 3,749 | 12,542 | 23,136 |
| 35 | 9,514 | 24,001 | 61,358 | |
| YouTube | 23 | withheld † | ||
| 2 | withheld † | |||
| Typical post performanceaverage views or accounts reached per post | ||||
| TikTok | 36 | 1,081 | 7,479 | 50,536 |
| 35 | 2,996 | 11,157 | 44,404 | |
| YouTube | 23 | withheld † | ||
| 2 | withheld † | |||
† Cell suppressed: fewer than the minimum cohort of creators contributed, so no figure is published [3]. Withheld never means zero.
Methodology
How the index is built
1. Cohort
The cohort is every OwlScran creator with a live media kit and at least one connected social account. Stats sync straight from Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook, so there is no self-reporting and no survey. Creators who have not finished connecting their accounts are excluded.
2. Metric definitions
Engagement rate is average likes and comments per post, divided by average views (TikTok, YouTube) or average accounts reached (Instagram, Facebook). It measures how the people who actually saw a post responded. It is not the older follower-based rate, which divides by follower count, so the two are not comparable. Post performance is each creator’s average views or accounts reached per post, taken over their recent posts.
3. Estimation
Each figure is the sample median with the interquartile range [2]. Quantiles use linear interpolation (type 7 in the standard taxonomy [1]), the same default as R and NumPy. We report medians rather than means because creator metrics are heavy-tailed: one very large account would move an average a long way, but barely moves a median.
4. Suppression
A cell is published only when enough creators contribute to it. This follows the k-anonymity principle [3]: small cohorts could make a published figure traceable to individual creators, so cells below the minimum are withheld entirely. We never estimate, interpolate or backfill a missing value.
5. Freshness
Connected accounts resync and the index recomputes every night. The page refreshes daily and each edition states the date it was computed.
6. Limitations
The cohort is creators who chose to use OwlScran, not a random sample of all creators, so treat these figures as benchmarks for active, monetising creators rather than for every account on each platform. Platforms also define reach and views differently, so cross-platform comparisons are indicative rather than exact.
References
- [1]Hyndman, R. J. and Fan, Y. (1996). Sample quantiles in statistical packages. The American Statistician, 50(4), 361-365. doi:10.1080/00031305.1996.10473566
- [2]Tukey, J. W. (1977). Exploratory Data Analysis. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-07616-5.
- [3]Sweeney, L. (2002). k-anonymity: a model for protecting privacy. International Journal of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems, 10(5), 557-570. doi:10.1142/S0218488502001648
Cite this page
Quote any figure with its edition date and sample size. This page is the canonical source: it always shows the current edition, and the figures refresh nightly.
The published figures are licensed CC BY 4.0: you are welcome to reuse them with credit to OwlScran and a link to this page. CC BY 4.0
OwlScran Ltd (2026). The OwlScran Creator Index: engagement and audience benchmarks from live creator media kits. https://www.owlscran.com/creator-benchmarks (edition of 10 July 2026).
Questions
About these benchmarks
What is a good TikTok engagement rate?
In the 10 July 2026 edition of the OwlScran Creator Index, across 36 live OwlScran media kits, the median TikTok engagement rate is 6.5% of views, and the middle half of creators sit between 4.9% and 10.2%. If your rate is above 6.5%, you are ahead of half of the real creators in the index. We measure engagement per view, not per follower.
What is a good Instagram engagement rate?
In the 10 July 2026 edition of the OwlScran Creator Index, across 35 live OwlScran media kits, the median Instagram engagement rate is 7.2% of accounts reached, and the middle half of creators sit between 4.7% and 9.7%. If your rate is above 7.2%, you are ahead of half of the real creators in the index. We measure engagement per account reached, not per follower.
What is a good YouTube engagement rate?
We do not publish a YouTube figure yet: fewer than 30 creators currently contribute YouTube data to the index, and we never estimate a number we have not measured. The cell unlocks automatically once enough creators with connected YouTube accounts join OwlScran.
How is the engagement rate calculated?
Engagement rate is average likes and comments per post, divided by average views (TikTok and YouTube) or average accounts reached (Instagram and Facebook). This measures how the people who actually saw a post responded to it. It is not the older follower-based rate, which divides by follower count, so the two are not directly comparable.
Where does this data come from?
Every figure is computed from creators who connected their real social accounts to OwlScran. Stats sync straight from the platforms, so there is no self-reporting and no survey. We publish medians and interquartile ranges only, a cell needs at least 30 creators before it appears, and no individual creator's numbers are ever disclosed.
Why is a figure missing?
A missing figure means fewer creators contributed to that cell than our minimum of 30. We withhold the cell entirely rather than publish a weak or identifiable number. Missing never means zero.
How often do these benchmarks update?
Creator stats sync from the platforms and the index recomputes every night. The published page refreshes daily, and each edition states the date it was computed.
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