Meta has a lot of catching up to do: internal documents reveal how Instagram Reels is really doing compared to TikTok

There is no doubt that Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg feels threatened by TikTok. The short-video app has grown rapidly in recent years, and according to eMarketer, the average user in the United States spent nearly 40 minutes a day on the app last year, up to 10 minutes more than users spend on Instagram.

Mark Zuckerberg is betting the social media giant's short-term future on Instagram Reels, the short-video feature he's offering as the company's answer to rival platform TikTok.

The company's internal research shows that Meta has some catching up to do. Instagram users cumulatively spend 17.6 million hours a day watching Reels, less than one-tenth of the 197.8 million hours TikTok users spend each day on the platform, according to a paper reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that summarizes Meta's internal research.

The paper, titled "Creators x Reels State of the Union 2022," was published internally in August. It reported that Reels…