TikTok photo carousels vs. videos: what the data says about engagement
By Harmony Crafted · · 5 min read
Is it worth posting photo carousels on a video-first platform? Metricool's annual TikTok Benchmark Study looked at a large sample of TikTok accounts and posts. Its findings favour carousels on engagement rate, with important caveats.
Metricool (2024): 87,600 accounts
Metricool's third annual TikTok Benchmark Study analysed 87,600 personal and professional accounts, 1,001,817 videos and 73,388 images and carousels posted between May and October 2024 (source). It reported:
- Videos receive almost 60% more interactions than images and carousels.
- But images and carousels surpass videos' engagement ratio by more than 25%: they reach a smaller audience, and that audience interacts more.
- Accounts post images and carousels far less often than videos, on average barely once a week.
How to read these numbers
- Engagement rate ≠ total reach. The study shows images and carousels reaching a smaller audience that interacts more; it does not show carousels reaching more people.
- Videos still lead on raw interaction count (Metricool). If total interactions and distribution are your goal, video remains strong.
- Selection effects. Fewer carousels are posted, and the accounts that post them may differ from typical video posters. These are observational comparisons, not controlled experiments.
- Check your own account. Compare your own carousels with your own videos over the same period; benchmarks are averages, not guarantees.
Measure it on your own account
CarouselStats' carousel analytics takes a TikTok username and reports views, likes, comments, saves and engagement rate per carousel, highlights posts above the creator's median, and extracts on-slide text with OCR so you can see which hooks perform. You can also download carousels you want to study.
Related: carousel design tips.