Connect Meta once and report both surfaces from that single connection, keeping a platform breakdown so each can still be read separately. Treating them as two unrelated sources causes double counting, because Meta reports some figures across both placements rather than per network.
Why are they one connection and not two?
Because Meta treats them as one advertising and publishing system. A single campaign can place ads on both, and the reporting API answers for the account rather than for a network.
This is why NexPulse counts Meta as one source covering both Facebook and Instagram, rather than listing them separately. The connection is what the platform actually exposes.
Where does double counting come from?
From adding placement figures together as though they were separate campaigns. When one campaign runs across both surfaces, some metrics are reported for the campaign as a whole, and the per-placement rows are a breakdown of that total, not additions to it.
Reach is the usual casualty. A person who saw an ad on both surfaces is one person reached, and summing two placement rows counts them twice.
- Spend adds up cleanly across placements.
- Impressions add up cleanly.
- Reach does not — it is deduplicated across placements at the campaign level.
How do you keep the split without breaking the total?
Read the total from the campaign and the split from the placement breakdown, and never reconstruct one from the other. A report should show both, clearly labelled, rather than a single ambiguous number.
One practical note on the API: the publisher platform breakdown has to be requested month by month rather than as a single range with a daily increment, or reach comes back lower than it should.
What should an agency report actually show?
Whatever answers the client's question, which is usually not "how did Instagram do" but "did the money work". Lead with the combined result, then the split for anyone who wants it.
The split earns its place when the two surfaces genuinely behave differently — a creative that works in feed and not in stories, for instance. If they track together every month, the breakdown is noise.
Frequently asked questions
- Does NexPulse count Facebook and Instagram as one channel or two?
- One. Meta is a single connection covering both surfaces, which matches how the platform reports. The breakdown between them is available within that connection.
- Can I report on Instagram on its own?
- Within the Meta connection, yes, as a platform breakdown. A standalone Instagram integration separate from Meta is on the roadmap and is not available today.
- Why is my reach lower than the sum of the placements?
- Because reach is deduplicated. Someone who saw the campaign on both surfaces is counted once in the total and once in each placement row, so the rows will always sum to more than the total.