# What is hold rate in video ads?

> Hold rate shows how many people keep watching your video ad after the hook. Formula, a worked example and fixes for a video that loses viewers.
- **Author**: Marxx
- **Published**: 2026-10-22
- **Category**: Creative metrics
- **URL**: https://marxx.ai/library-glossary/hold-rate

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Hold rate is the share of viewers who keep watching your video ad well past the opening. Hook rate tells you if the start works. Hold rate tells you if the rest of the video keeps people.

## The formula

Teams use one of two versions. Pick one and stay with it.

- **Hold rate = ThruPlays / impressions x 100**
- **Hold rate = ThruPlays / 3-second plays x 100**

A ThruPlay on Meta is a play of 15 seconds, or the whole video if it is shorter. The second version is cleaner, because it only counts people the hook already stopped.

## A worked example

Say a 30-second ad gets:

- 2,00,000 impressions
- 60,000 three-second plays (hook rate 30%)
- 15,000 ThruPlays

Hold rate (of hooked viewers) = 15,000 / 60,000 x 100 = **25%**

So 1 in 4 people who stopped watched to 15 seconds. The other 3 in 4 left between seconds 3 and 15. That is where to look.

## Why viewers drop off

- The video repeats the hook instead of moving forward.
- The product appears too late.
- A slow middle with no new information.
- Captions that are hard to read on a phone.

## How to raise hold rate

1. Cut every second that does not add something new.
2. Show the product in use by second five.
3. Change the shot every two to three seconds.
4. Give a reason to stay: "Wait for the result at the end."
5. In Ads Manager, open Columns, then Video engagement. Compare video plays at 25%, 50%, 75% and 95%, and cut where viewers fall away fastest.

## FAQ

### What is the difference between hold rate and completion rate?

Hold rate looks at a point mid-video. Completion rate looks at the end. A long ad can hold well and still have a low completion rate.

### Which matters more, hook rate or hold rate?

Fix [hook rate](/glossary/hook-rate) first. Nobody can be held who was never hooked.

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