Creator Analytics for Brand Deals: Which Metrics Should You Share With Brands?
Which metrics brands care about, what each platform actually reports, and how to present your numbers honestly in pitches and post-campaign reports.
Brands can't see your insights. They see what you choose to show them. That's why the way you present analytics shapes whether you get the deal, and whether you get the next one after the campaign report lands.
This guide is about what to share with brands. For tracking your own audience, content and revenue in one place, see the creator analytics dashboard.
Quick answer
Share the metrics that match the brand's goal, taken from native platform insights, with the date range stated. For most pitches that means average views or reach per format, engagement (with the formula), saves and shares, and audience demographics (location, age, gender, language). For campaign reports add views, reach, watch time or retention for video, link clicks, profile visits and any code or sales data the brand shares. Not every metric exists on every platform, and definitions differ, so label everything and never alter or cherry-pick misleadingly.
The metrics brands may care about
| Metric | What it tells a brand | Useful for |
|---|---|---|
| Reach / accounts reached | How many unique accounts saw the content | Awareness |
| Views | How many times content was viewed (definitions vary by platform) | Awareness, pricing |
| Impressions | Times content was displayed (Instagram has replaced this with Views) | Awareness on platforms that still report it |
| Average views | Typical performance per post across a period | Pricing and forecasting |
| Watch time / average view duration | How long people actually watched | Video quality and attention |
| Completion / retention | How much of the video people watched | Whether the brand message was seen |
| Saves | People keeping content to return to | Consideration and intent |
| Shares | People sending content to others | Word of mouth and reach |
| Comments | Conversation and questions | Sentiment and interest |
| Engagement / engagement rate | Overall interaction relative to followers or reach | Audience quality (if calculated consistently) |
| Link clicks / sticker taps | People taking an action | Traffic and sales |
| Profile visits | Interest in you after seeing the content | Creator authority |
| Audience demographics | Location, age, gender, language | Audience fit |
| Codes / conversions | Sales or sign-ups attributed to you | Performance (usually from the brand's data) |
What each platform shows
Professional accounts get insights in the professional dashboard: views, reach, interactions (likes, comments, saves, shares), profile activity, link taps on Stories, follower and audience demographics. Since April 2025, Instagram reports Views as its main metric, replacing Impressions and Plays, so older screenshots aren't directly comparable with current ones. Reel insights also show watch time and, for many accounts, how much of the Reel people watched.
YouTube
YouTube Studio Analytics shows views, watch time, average view duration, audience retention, impressions and click-through rate, subscribers gained, traffic sources, and audience age, gender and geography (where there's enough data). For sponsors, average views in the first 30 days and retention around the sponsored segment are especially useful.
Post analytics show impressions, members reached, reactions, comments and reposts, plus viewer demographics such as job title, industry and location on many posts. For B2B brands, audience seniority and industry often matter more than size.
Other platforms
Snapchat, Pinterest, X and Reddit each report different metrics with different definitions. Pinterest, for example, emphasises impressions, saves and outbound clicks. Use each platform's own terms rather than forcing them into Instagram's categories.
Don't compare across platforms as if they're the same
A "view" on Instagram, a "view" on YouTube Shorts and a "view" on a long-form YouTube video are counted differently. Engagement norms also differ widely by platform and format. When you share multi-platform numbers, present each platform separately with its own definitions, and don't add them into a single "total views" figure without explaining it.
Which metrics to share in a pitch
- Awareness campaigns: average views and reach per format, audience demographics.
- Consideration or education: saves, shares, watch time, completion.
- Sales and traffic: link taps, profile visits, previous code or affiliate performance if you can share it.
- Launches and events: reach, shares, audience location.
- B2B: audience job titles, industries, seniority, comment quality.
If you quote an engagement rate, state which formula you used. Our engagement rate guide explains follower-based and reach- or view-based formulas, and engagement rate vs reach explains which to lead with for each campaign objective.
How to present analytics honestly
- Use screenshots from native insights, not third-party estimates, for anything you call a fact.
- State the date range and the metric name the platform uses.
- Use averages over a period, and mention outliers separately ("one Reel reached 1.2M; my typical Reel reaches 40–60K").
- Don't crop screenshots to hide context such as the date or the fact that numbers include paid boosts.
- Don't edit screenshots. Ever.
- If a campaign underperformed, say so and share what you learned.
Buying followers, views or engagement, joining engagement pods to inflate numbers, or editing screenshots might win a single deal, but brands and agencies increasingly check for these patterns, and being caught tends to end relationships across an agency's whole client list. See the brand-side view in how brands identify fake followers and fake engagement.
For the full post-campaign reporting process, including timing and what to include, see creator campaign reporting.
A post-campaign report template
CAMPAIGN: [name] · BRAND: [name] · CREATOR: [@handle] Content: [links] · Posted: [dates] · Data as of: [date] RESULTS (native insights, screenshots attached) Reel: views __ · reach __ · likes __ · comments __ · saves __ · shares __ · avg watch time __ Stories: views per frame __ · link sticker taps __ · replies __ Profile visits during campaign window: __ CONTEXT Compared with my average Reel (last 90 days): views __x · saves __x AUDIENCE RESPONSE Themes in comments: [questions about price, shade range, availability…] WHAT I'D DO NEXT TIME [one or two honest observations]
Brands measure campaigns across all their creators, so a clear, consistent report makes you easy to rebook, and a strong report becomes a creator case study for future pitches. For the brand's side of measurement, see influencer marketing KPIs.