Skip to main content
Docs
Feature Requests Onboarding Trust Center Status Page

Community

Add Organic Views Breakdown to Instagram Business USER_INSIGHTS

Answered
Lisandro Nieto User

Connector name:
Instagram Business

Table name:
USER_INSIGHTS

Column to add:
ORGANIC_VIEWS

Ideally, an additional PAID_VIEWS column should also be included, while keeping the existing VIEWS column as total views.

API documentation link:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/instagram-graph-api/reference/ig-user/insights/

Feature request description:

The VIEWS column in the Instagram Business connector’s USER_INSIGHTS table currently returns total views, including both organic and ad-driven views. We need to report organic views separately.

Meta Business Suite already displays this breakdown as:

  • Total views

  • From organic

  • From ads

For example, for March 2026, the values displayed in Meta Business Suite were:

  • Total views: 40,987,512

  • From organic: 34,554,599

  • From ads: 6,432,913

The Fivetran USER_INSIGHTS.VIEWS value for the same period was 40,987,511, confirming that the existing column represents total views.

Support suggested subtracting Instagram ad impressions obtained through the Facebook Ads connector as an interim workaround. However, this only provides an approximation because ad impressions and Instagram views use different counting methodologies.

Please add an ORGANIC_VIEWS column to USER_INSIGHTS so that the organic value shown in Meta Business Suite can be synced directly and reported accurately. Ideally, a corresponding PAID_VIEWS column or an organic/paid breakdown should also be provided.

The new metric should be available at the same daily granularity as the existing VIEWS column and support historical syncs.

Additional details:

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Comments

3 comments

Date Votes
  • Official comment
    Lucas Alexander Fivetranner

    Hi Lisandro,

    Thank you for submitting your feature request.

    After investigating, we've found that the Meta Instagram Graph API does not currently expose an organic vs. paid breakdown for the views metric. Per the official API documentation (https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/instagram-graph-api/reference/ig-user/insights/), the views metric only supports two breakdown parameters: follower_type (follower vs. non-follower) and media_product_type (surface type, such as reel, post, story, or carousel). Neither of these separates organic views from ad-driven views, so there isn't an API parameter our connector could use to split the VIEWS column into organic and paid components.

    Fivetran relies on the Instagram Graph API to access this data; we're unable to sync an organic/paid split that the API doesn't provide.

    We actively monitor source API updates and will revisit this if Meta adds a breakdown option that isolates organic views in the future. 

    Let me know if you have follow-up questions.

    Thanks,
    Luke

  • Lisandro Nieto User

    Hi Luke,

    I reviewed the Meta API documentation you referenced. In the breakdown section, Meta states that media_product_type breaks down results by the surface where viewers viewed or interacted with the Instagram account’s media, and the documented response values include:

    • AD

    • STORY

    • REEL

    • CAROUSEL_CONTAINER and POST as subtypes of FEED

    Reference: https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/instagram-platform/api-reference/instagram-user/insights#breakdown

    Since AD is explicitly listed as one of the possible media_product_type values, could your engineering team test the views metric using the media_product_type breakdown and confirm whether the API returns a separate value for AD?

    If it does, Fivetran could expose that value in a separate table, row, or PAID_VIEWS column. An ORGANIC_VIEWS value could then be calculated as:

    organic_views = total_views - paid_views

    Alternatively, exposing the AD breakdown through the connector would allow us to perform this calculation ourselves.

    Could you please review this possibility with the engineering team before closing the request as unsupported by the API?

    Thanks, 
    Lisandro

  • Lucas Alexander Fivetranner

    Hi Lisandro

    You're right, thank you for correcting me and referencing the docs. The ad value from media_product_type appears to be what you need.

    I've reopened this and filed a ticket for engineering to test it against a live account. I can't give a timeline, but I'll follow up here once there's an update.

    Luke