We analyzed the industry leaders: 221 of the brands that set the pace in 10 categories, from fast food and apparel to sports leagues, automakers and sports betting. Here's how they actually performed on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube in Q3 2026, and what that means for your own numbers.
Key findings
- TikTok reach shrank from Q2 to Q3 while Instagram held steady. The typical brand's TikTok views per post fell 17%, with two in three brands (120 of 181) losing views. On Instagram, views per post slipped just 4%.
- Instagram delivered more views per post than TikTok in all 10 industries, often by a wide margin: about three times as many for food brands and 13 times for apparel.
- YouTube had the lowest engagement rate by views in all 10 industries, from 1.0% for financial services to 3.4% for automotive, the only industry above 2.1%.
- Engagement separates industries on TikTok far more than on Instagram. Engagement rate by views ranged from 1.7% to 8.0% on TikTok but only 2.3% to 3.5% on Instagram. Financial services brands ranked at or near the bottom on all three platforms.
- Boosting is concentrated in a few industries and platforms. About one in eight TikTok posts from food (13.3%) and apparel (12.9%) brands was boosted, and one in five YouTube posts from soft and energy drink brands (19.7%). No industry boosted more than 7% of its Instagram posts, and sports leagues boosted fewer than 1% of their posts on every platform.
- Sports leagues posted about 106 times a week on Instagram, 52 on TikTok and 38 on YouTube, and still had the top TikTok engagement rate (8.0%). Most consumer brands posted 2 to 8 times a week on TikTok and Instagram.
Dataset: Top 221 companies analyzed · 10 industries · TikTok, Instagram (feed and Reels), YouTube (videos and Shorts) · Q3 2026 (July 1 – September 30, 2026) · Last updated September 30, 2026
How to read these numbers
Every figure is the median brand in its industry, not a total. If an industry has 30 brands, we compute each brand's number and report the middle one, so a single giant account can't set the benchmark. The one exception is boosted posts, which pools every post in the industry. Where we give a range, it is the middle half of brands (25th to 75th percentile), which is the fairest answer to "what does normal look like here."
- Posts per week: posts published in the quarter, divided by 13 weeks.
- Views per post: the brand's median views per post.
- Engagement rate by views: the typical post's likes plus comments, divided by its views.
- Boosted posts: the share of all posts from the industry's brands that SocialPruf flags as likely boosted (paid).
Full detail is in the methodology.
TikTok benchmarks by industry
| Industry | Top companies analyzed | Posts / week | Views / post | Engagement rate (views) | Boosted posts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sports Leagues | 20 | 52.4 | 83,206 | 8.03% | 0.6% |
| Entertainment & Media | 14 | 16.0 | 61,683 | 6.37% | 3.0% |
| Automotive | 20 | 3.3 | 23,134 | 5.77% | 5.3% |
| Toys & Kids | 14 | 3.9 | 80,738 | 5.18% | 4.7% |
| Soft & Energy Drinks | 12 | 3.3 | 29,156 | 3.61% | 9.1% |
| Alcohol | 10 | 2.3 | 1,428 | 3.09% | 9.5% |
| Sports Betting & Gambling | 15 | 15.9 | 5,183 | 3.05% | 2.3% |
| Apparel | 31 | 5.7 | 16,240 | 2.76% | 12.9% |
| Financial Services | 17 | 2.3 | 2,076 | 1.91% | 10.3% |
| Food & Restaurants | 36 | 3.0 | 15,100 | 1.66% | 13.3% |
TikTok is where the gap between industries is widest. The top four industries earn engagement rates roughly three to five times higher than food and financial services brands, and all four boosted about 5% of their posts or fewer, while food, apparel and financial services brands each boosted more than 10%.
Instagram benchmarks by industry
Instagram figures combine feed posts and Reels.
| Industry | Top companies analyzed | Posts / week | Views / post | Engagement rate (views) | Boosted posts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entertainment & Media | 14 | 40.5 | 562,352 | 3.54% | 1.0% |
| Sports Leagues | 20 | 106.2 | 502,410 | 3.51% | 0.5% |
| Sports Betting & Gambling | 14 | 55.2 | 32,288 | 3.49% | 0.8% |
| Toys & Kids | 15 | 8.2 | 350,750 | 3.47% | 1.4% |
| Automotive | 21 | 6.7 | 214,238 | 3.42% | 2.9% |
| Food & Restaurants | 36 | 4.8 | 45,708 | 3.04% | 4.4% |
| Apparel | 32 | 7.2 | 221,556 | 2.89% | 3.7% |
| Alcohol | 28 | 3.6 | 17,912 | 2.88% | 3.8% |
| Soft & Energy Drinks | 12 | 5.1 | 176,162 | 2.39% | 5.4% |
| Financial Services | 24 | 4.5 | 10,650 | 2.33% | 7.0% |
On Instagram, engagement by views sits in a narrow band (2.3% to 3.5%), so it separates industries less than it does on TikTok. Views per post vary far more, from 10,650 for financial services brands to 562,352 for entertainment and media.
YouTube benchmarks by industry
YouTube figures combine long-form videos and Shorts.
| Industry | Top companies analyzed | Posts / week | Views / post | Engagement rate (views) | Boosted posts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive | 21 | 3.0 | 13,034 | 3.38% | 7.3% |
| Entertainment & Media | 14 | 11.7 | 32,240 | 2.05% | 4.5% |
| Toys & Kids | 13 | 12.8 | 67,927 | 1.84% | 8.0% |
| Sports Leagues | 20 | 38.2 | 38,640 | 1.77% | 0.9% |
| Sports Betting & Gambling | 10 | 6.2 | 2,155 | 1.70% | 0.1% |
| Apparel | 27 | 2.8 | 3,274 | 1.67% | 13.0% |
| Food & Restaurants | 19 | 1.4 | 2,568 | 1.54% | 13.7% |
| Soft & Energy Drinks | 11 | 2.5 | 19,593 | 1.43% | 19.7% |
| Alcohol | 8 | 0.7 | 387 | 1.36% | 10.7% |
| Financial Services | 21 | 3.7 | 578 | 1.00% | 7.2% |
YouTube engagement rates run below TikTok and Instagram in every industry in this table, which is normal for the platform: people watch far more than they like or comment. The bigger story is boosting. Soft and energy drink brands boosted about one in five of their YouTube posts (19.7%), the highest share of any industry on any platform, followed by food (13.7%) and apparel (13.0%). Sports leagues and sports betting brands boosted fewer than 1%.
Food & restaurant social media benchmarks
Food and restaurant brands have the lowest TikTok engagement of any industry (1.66% by views) and boosted more of their TikTok posts than any other industry (13.3%).
- TikTok: Top 36 companies analyzed, 3.0 posts a week, 15,100 views per post, 1.66% engagement by views (typical range 1.41% to 2.78%), 13.3% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 36 companies analyzed, 4.8 posts a week, 45,708 views per post, 3.04% engagement by views, 4.4% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 19 companies analyzed, 1.4 videos a week, 2,568 views per video, 1.54% engagement by views, 13.7% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: food brands boost about one in eight posts on TikTok and YouTube, but fewer than one in 20 on Instagram. Boosted posts tend to earn fewer likes and comments per view, which pulls the engagement rate down. If you're comparing yourself to a food competitor, check how many of their posts are boosted before treating their view counts as a creative win.
Apparel social media benchmarks
Apparel brands boosted about one in eight of their TikTok (12.9%) and YouTube (13.0%) posts, but only 3.7% on Instagram.
- TikTok: Top 31 companies analyzed, 5.7 posts a week, 16,240 views per post, 2.76% engagement by views (typical range 1.59% to 3.57%), 12.9% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 32 companies analyzed, 7.2 posts a week, 221,556 views per post, 2.89% engagement by views, 3.7% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 27 companies analyzed, 2.8 videos a week, 3,274 views per video, 1.67% engagement by views, 13.0% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: apparel brands pay for reach on TikTok and YouTube far more than on Instagram, so a competitor's TikTok and YouTube view counts can say as much about media budget as about content.
Alcohol brand social media benchmarks
Alcohol brands get the smallest reach per post of any industry on TikTok and YouTube: their typical TikTok post drew about 1,400 views and their typical YouTube video under 400. Their typical Instagram post drew about 18,000.
- TikTok: Top 10 companies analyzed, 2.3 posts a week, 1,428 views per post, 3.09% engagement by views (typical range 2.68% to 4.70%), 9.5% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 28 companies analyzed, 3.6 posts a week, 17,912 views per post, 2.88% engagement by views, 3.8% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 8 companies analyzed, 0.7 videos a week, 387 views per video, 1.36% engagement by views, 10.7% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: reach per post is small for alcohol brands on every platform, which fits the strict advertising rules they work under. TikTok restricts paid alcohol ads in many markets, Meta and YouTube limit them to adults of legal drinking age, and the industry's own marketing codes add further limits on who brands can target. About one in ten of their TikTok and YouTube posts was still boosted, but that comes from a handful of brands: four of the 10 on TikTok and three of the eight on YouTube. Most alcohol brands boosted nothing on either platform, so benchmark against the specific competitors you care about, not just the category.
Sports league social media benchmarks
Sports leagues have the highest TikTok engagement of any industry (8.03% by views) and post far more than anyone else.
- TikTok: Top 20 companies analyzed, 52.4 posts a week, 83,206 views per post, 8.03% engagement by views (typical range 5.64% to 10.05%), 0.6% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 20 companies analyzed, 106.2 posts a week, 502,410 views per post, 3.51% engagement by views, 0.5% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 20 companies analyzed, 38.2 videos a week, 38,640 views per video, 1.77% engagement by views, 0.9% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: leagues post highlights as they happen, and it works: high volume doesn't dilute engagement or views per post, and they boosted fewer than 1% of their posts on every platform. This is the benchmark for what an organic-first, high-cadence strategy looks like.
Financial services social media benchmarks
Financial services brands have the lowest Instagram engagement by views (2.33%), the smallest reach per post on Instagram, and boosted more of their Instagram posts than any other industry (7.0%).
- TikTok: Top 17 companies analyzed, 2.3 posts a week, 2,076 views per post, 1.91% engagement by views (typical range 1.40% to 2.06%), 10.3% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 24 companies analyzed, 4.5 posts a week, 10,650 views per post, 2.33% engagement by views, 7.0% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 21 companies analyzed, 3.7 videos a week, 578 views per video, 1.00% engagement by views, 7.2% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: a few hundred to a few thousand views per post is normal for a bank, card or fintech brand. Set goals against these numbers, not against consumer brands, or every report will look like a miss.
Automotive social media benchmarks
Automotive brands have the highest YouTube engagement of any industry (3.38% by views) and the third-highest on TikTok (5.77%).
- TikTok: Top 20 companies analyzed, 3.3 posts a week, 23,134 views per post, 5.77% engagement by views (typical range 3.63% to 9.91%), 5.3% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 21 companies analyzed, 6.7 posts a week, 214,238 views per post, 3.42% engagement by views, 2.9% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 21 companies analyzed, 3.0 videos a week, 13,034 views per video, 3.38% engagement by views, 7.3% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: car brands post modestly and still earn strong organic engagement on TikTok. On YouTube, where they lead every industry on engagement, they boosted 7.3% of their posts, more than on TikTok or Instagram.
Toys & kids brand social media benchmarks
Toys and kids brands have the fourth-highest TikTok engagement of any industry (5.18%) and boosted few of their TikTok and Instagram posts (4.7% and 1.4%).
- TikTok: Top 14 companies analyzed, 3.9 posts a week, 80,738 views per post, 5.18% engagement by views (typical range 3.21% to 7.07%), 4.7% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 15 companies analyzed, 8.2 posts a week, 350,750 views per post, 3.47% engagement by views, 1.4% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 13 companies analyzed, 12.8 videos a week, 67,927 views per video, 1.84% engagement by views, 8.0% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: toys brands get big reach and strong engagement on TikTok and Instagram with very little boosting, which makes them the strongest organic benchmark among consumer categories there. YouTube is different: 8.0% of their YouTube posts were boosted, most of them from a single brand.
Sports betting & gambling social media benchmarks
Sports betting brands post about 55 times a week on Instagram, more than any industry except sports leagues, and 16 on TikTok, but get far fewer views per post.
- TikTok: Top 15 companies analyzed, 15.9 posts a week, 5,183 views per post, 3.05% engagement by views (typical range 1.48% to 3.68%), 2.3% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 14 companies analyzed, 55.2 posts a week, 32,288 views per post, 3.49% engagement by views, 0.8% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 10 companies analyzed, 6.2 videos a week, 2,155 views per video, 1.70% engagement by views, 0.1% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: betting brands match the sports calendar with high volume. Views per post are modest, but their Instagram engagement by views (3.49%) is the third-highest of any industry.
Entertainment & media social media benchmarks
Entertainment and media brands get the most Instagram views per post of any industry (562,352) and the second-highest TikTok engagement (6.37%).
- TikTok: Top 14 companies analyzed, 16.0 posts a week, 61,683 views per post, 6.37% engagement by views (typical range 5.37% to 8.80%), 3.0% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 14 companies analyzed, 40.5 posts a week, 562,352 views per post, 3.54% engagement by views, 1.0% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 14 companies analyzed, 11.7 videos a week, 32,240 views per video, 2.05% engagement by views, 4.5% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: like sports, entertainment brands have a steady supply of content (clips, trailers, cast moments) and post at volume without losing reach, and they boost little: 3.0% of their TikTok posts, 1.0% on Instagram and 4.5% on YouTube.
Soft & energy drink social media benchmarks
Soft and energy drink brands boosted about one in five of their YouTube posts (19.7%), the highest share of any industry on any platform.
- TikTok: Top 12 companies analyzed, 3.3 posts a week, 29,156 views per post, 3.61% engagement by views (typical range 1.19% to 5.02%), 9.1% of posts boosted.
- Instagram: Top 12 companies analyzed, 5.1 posts a week, 176,162 views per post, 2.39% engagement by views, 5.4% of posts boosted.
- YouTube: Top 11 companies analyzed, 2.5 videos a week, 19,593 views per video, 1.43% engagement by views, 19.7% of posts boosted.
Takeaway: drink brands' YouTube view counts lean heavily on boosting, and about one in 11 of their TikTok posts is boosted too. On Instagram, where they boosted 5.4% of posts, their engagement by views (2.39%) is the second-lowest of any industry.
TikTok vs Instagram vs YouTube
YouTube had the lowest engagement rate by views in all 10 industries. Between TikTok and Instagram it depends on the category: TikTok came out ahead in six of the ten industries, by the widest margin for sports leagues (8.03% against 3.51%), while Instagram came out ahead for food, apparel, financial services and sports betting brands.
Instagram delivered more views per post than TikTok in all ten industries, and the gap is large. Food brands' typical Instagram post drew about three times the views of their typical TikTok, and apparel brands' about 13 times.
YouTube is the lowest-cadence platform for most brands. Alcohol brands posted less than one video a week, food brands about one and a half and apparel brands under three, while sports leagues posted 38 a week and toys brands about 13.
Paid vs organic reach by industry
The boosted posts column is the part of this data you can't get from a platform's native analytics for any account you don't own. On TikTok it splits cleanly into two groups:
- Boost little (about 5% of posts or fewer): sports leagues (0.6%), sports betting (2.3%), entertainment (3.0%), toys and kids (4.7%), automotive (5.3%).
- Boost heavily (about one post in ten or more): food and restaurants (13.3%), apparel (12.9%), financial services (10.3%), alcohol (9.5%), soft and energy drinks (9.1%).
The low-boost group includes all four industries with the highest TikTok engagement: sports, entertainment, automotive and toys brands sit between 5.2% and 8.0%. The heavy-boost group sits between 1.7% and 3.6%. Sports betting is the exception, boosting little with engagement around 3%. Part of the gap is likely mechanical, because boosted posts tend to earn fewer likes and comments per view and drag the rate down. But it means a brand that boosts often can post large view counts and weak engagement at the same time, and a raw view comparison against that brand is misleading.
Instagram is where brands boost least: no industry boosted more than 7% of its posts there, and five of the ten boosted under 3%. On YouTube, soft and energy drinks (19.7%), food (13.7%) and apparel (13.0%) boosted the most, while sports leagues and sports betting brands boosted under 1%.
To see which of a competitor's posts are boosted when you benchmark them, see how to track organic social media performance across any account.
How to use these benchmarks
- Find your industry row and compare medians, not totals. If your engagement rate by views is above the industry median, you're doing better than half of your category. Above the top of the typical range puts you in the top quarter.
- Compare like with like on paid reach. If your competitors boost often and you don't, your views will look smaller and your engagement higher. Check the boosted posts column first.
- Set goals you can defend. Use the typical range as the band for a realistic target, and the top of it as a stretch goal. We walk through this in how to set social media goals you can defend.
- Build your own competitive set. Industry medians are a starting point. For a tighter benchmark, track the specific competitors you're measured against. Here's how to track competitor accounts without authentication.
Methodology
All figures come from SocialPruf's data on public posts across Instagram (feed and Reels), TikTok and YouTube, for brands tracked in Q3 2026 (July 1 – September 30). No account access or brand-supplied data was used. Views are SocialPruf-reported views.
- Sample: 221 leading brands in 10 industries. A few accounts that were misfiled or were not brands (individual creators, fan accounts, duplicates, and brands from other categories) were removed before calculation.
- Medians, not totals: each industry figure except boosted posts is the median across brands, and the typical range is the 25th to 75th percentile. Per-post figures use each brand's median post, so a few heavily boosted posts don't set the number.
- Engagement rate by views: the typical post's likes plus comments, divided by its views.
- Boosted posts: of every post the industry's brands published in the quarter, the share SocialPruf flags as likely boosted. Unlike the other figures, this pools all of the industry's posts rather than taking the median brand, so brands that post more count for more. SocialPruf flags a video as likely boosted when it passes 50,000 views with an unusually low engagement rate for its format: under 1% on TikTok, under 0.5% for Reels and Shorts, and under 0.35% for long-form YouTube videos. Instagram feed photos and carousels are never flagged. Posts published by other accounts, such as creator collaborations, are not counted.
- YouTube: includes both long-form videos and Shorts.
- Timing: posts published in late September have had less time to collect views, so quarter figures skew slightly low.
- Quarter-over-quarter changes: compare only brands that posted regularly in both quarters, using each brand's median views per post. For TikTok, we compared posts from July and August with posts from April and May, so every post had at least a month to collect views.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good engagement rate for food brands on TikTok?
The median food and restaurant brand earned a 1.66% engagement rate by views on TikTok in Q3 2026, the lowest of the 10 industries we measured. The middle half of food brands fell between 1.41% and 2.78%, so anything above about 2.8% puts a food brand in the top quarter.
What is a good engagement rate on TikTok?
It depends heavily on industry. In Q3 2026 the median brand's TikTok engagement rate by views ranged from 1.66% for food and restaurants to 8.03% for sports leagues. Six of the 10 industries landed between 1.7% and 3.6%; only sports leagues, entertainment, automotive and toys brands were above 5%.
What is a good engagement rate on Instagram?
By views, the median brand in every industry we measured earned between 2.33% and 3.54% on Instagram in Q3 2026. Entertainment and media brands were at the top of that range and financial services brands at the bottom.
What is a good engagement rate on YouTube?
The median brand's YouTube engagement rate by views ranged from 1.00% for financial services to 3.38% for automotive in Q3 2026, counting both long-form videos and Shorts. YouTube engagement runs lower than TikTok and Instagram in all 10 industries.
How often do brands post on social media?
Most consumer brands posted 2 to 8 times a week on each of TikTok and Instagram in Q3 2026. Sports leagues posted far more, about 52 times a week on TikTok and 106 on Instagram, and sports betting and entertainment brands also posted dozens of times a week.
How many brand posts are boosted?
It varies widely by industry and platform. In Q3 2026 about one in eight TikTok posts from food (13.3%) and apparel (12.9%) brands was flagged as boosted, and one in five YouTube posts from soft and energy drink brands (19.7%). Sports leagues boosted fewer than 1% of their posts on every platform, and no industry boosted more than 7% of its Instagram posts.
Which industry has the highest engagement on social media?
Sports leagues had the highest TikTok engagement rate by views (8.03%) in Q3 2026, followed by entertainment and media (6.37%) and automotive (5.77%). On Instagram, entertainment and media brands had the highest engagement rate by views (3.54%).
