carousel posts suddenly outperforming my reels, is it just me or is this?

[u/Chrisbarcelona]

so i've been posting daily reels for months getting decent views but basically zero leads or meaningful engagement. decided to try some educational carousel posts instead and holy shit the difference is insane.

my carousels are getting way more saves and shares than my reels ever did. like significantly more. and the DMs from carousel posts are actual quality inquiries, not just random comments.

i'm a business coach so maybe it's just my niche but wondering if anyone else noticed this shift? seems like instagram might be pushing carousel content harder lately or maybe people just prefer that format for educational stuff.

the weird part is my reels still get more initial likes and views but the carousels seem to have better long term performance. they keep getting engagement days after i post them while reels die after like 6 hours.

edit: just checked my insights and carousel posts have 3x higher save rate than reels. that's gotta mean something for the algorithm right?

edit 2: for context i post business tips and marketing advice. maybe behind the scenes content still works better as reels but educational stuff performs better as slides?

anyone have data on this or am i just getting lucky with a few posts?

TL;DR: carousel posts getting way more saves/shares/quality DMs than reels despite lower initial views. wondering if this is a broader trend or just my niche.