I was wondering why Instagram views are dropping all of a sudden? Also, why carousels are performing more than reels now?

Organic reach is getting consistently limited because platforms want you to invest in paid marketing. They have so many ad channels and formats that they really dont want any content to perform that is not of a paid nature. Businesses are moving to carousels for paid advertising. As compared to leads from reels to leads from carousels, the latter is the winner. 

If I look at it like a social SEO expert, a sudden drop in Instagram views usually means the algorithm has shifted what it prefers or how it distributes content. Right now, it’s focusing more on meaningful engagement (saves, shares, time spent) rather than just quick views or likes. So even if your content looks the same, it may not be getting pushed as much unless people actively interact with it.

As for why carousels are outperforming reels, i think it's mostly because carousels keep users engaged longer. People swipe through multiple slides, sometimes even come back to re-read, which signals higher value to the algorithm. Reels, on the other hand, have become very competitive and saturated, so unless they hook attention instantly, they get skipped quickly.