Engagement rate is total interactions divided by audience size, times 100. On Instagram and TikTok, divide by followers. On YouTube, divide by views on the video. A good rate is roughly 3% on Instagram, 7% on TikTok and 5% on YouTube, though it falls as an account grows.
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Add the interactions on a post, meaning likes plus comments plus shares or saves, then divide by the audience size and multiply by 100.
The argument is always about the denominator. Instagram and TikTok are conventionally measured against follower count, because that is the audience a brand is paying to reach. YouTube is measured against views, because subscribers there are a poor guide to who actually watches.
Mixing the two is the most common mistake. A YouTube rate calculated against subscribers will look dreadful next to an Instagram rate calculated against followers, and the two numbers were never comparable.
On Instagram, under 1% is below average, 1 to 3% is normal, 3 to 6% is good and above 6% is excellent. On TikTok the bands run higher: under 3% is weak, 3 to 7% normal, 7 to 12% good. YouTube sits in between at roughly 2, 5 and 10%.
Rates fall as accounts grow. A creator with 5,000 followers holding 8% is ordinary. The same 8% at 500,000 followers is remarkable, and worth more than the raw reach difference suggests.
It is a ratio of two numbers, both of which can be bought. Engagement pods, comment rings and follower purchases all move it, and none of them move whether a creator will represent your brand well.
It also says nothing about the content. Two creators in the same category with identical rates can be a studio production with two dermatologists in scrubs and a bare face on a sofa with a clip on microphone. If your brief asked for unfiltered, only one of them fits, and the ratio cannot tell you which.
Use it to filter out the obviously dead accounts. Do not use it to choose between the survivors.
Virlia watches every video frame by frame and ranks creators on what they actually do, with the evidence attached.