Free calculator
Hook rate calculator. Did the first three seconds stop the scroll?
Enter impressions and 3-second video plays to get your hook rate. Add ThruPlays to get hold rate, the share of hooked viewers who stayed. Free to use, and every formula is written out. We ask for a work email once, before the first result.
Hook rate = 3-second video plays ÷ impressions × 100
Your result
28.0%
of impressions watched past the third second
The maths
Take every number from the same ads and the same dates. A ThruPlay is a play to the end of a video shorter than 15 seconds, or to 15 seconds on a longer one.
Reading the number
What hook rate and hold rate tell you, and what they miss.
Hook rate judges the opening, not the ad
It covers the first three seconds and nothing after. A high hook rate with a low hold rate means the opening promised something the rest of the video did not deliver. Fix the middle, not the hook.
Compare against your own account
Hook rate moves with format, audience and placement, so another brand's number tells you little. Judge a new ad against your account's median over the last 90 days, for the same kind of placement.
A hook that stops the wrong people costs money
Curiosity openers can lift hook rate and lower sales. Read hook rate next to cost per result: when both climb together, the hook is stopping people who were never going to buy.
FAQ
Hook rate, answered.
What is hook rate?
Hook rate is the share of impressions where someone watched at least the first three seconds of your video ad. It shows whether the opening stops the scroll. A hook rate of 30% means 3 in 10 impressions became a 3-second play.
How do you calculate hook rate in Meta ads?
Divide 3-second video plays by impressions and multiply by 100. Hook rate = 3-second video plays ÷ impressions × 100. For 28,000 plays on 100,000 impressions, the hook rate is 28%.
What is hold rate?
Hold rate shows how many viewers kept watching after the hook. The usual version is ThruPlays ÷ 3-second video plays × 100: of the people the hook stopped, how many stayed. Some teams divide ThruPlays by impressions instead. That number is always lower, so say which one you use.
Is hook rate the same as thumbstop ratio?
Usually, yes. Both divide 3-second video plays by impressions. Some teams call it thumbstop ratio and others call it hook rate.
What is a good hook rate?
It changes with format, audience and placement, so no single number holds across accounts. Take the median hook rate of your video ads over the last 90 days, and treat ads well above it as the ones worth building on.
Can I see hook rate in Ads Manager?
Maybe. Meta's help centre now lists hook rate and hold rate as metrics, marked as still in development, so check Columns, then Customize columns, in your own account first. If they are not there, build them as custom metrics: 3-second video plays divided by impressions, and ThruPlays divided by 3-second video plays.
How do I improve my hook rate?
Change the first second, not the whole ad. Test a different opening line, a face or the product in the first frame, on-screen text that names the problem, or movement that starts at once. Keep the rest of the video the same, so the test tells you the hook made the difference.
Hook rate tells you an opening worked. It never says which kind.
Marxx tags every ad in your account by hook, angle, format and offer, and rolls spend and CPA up by those tags instead of by ad ID. You see which kinds of opening keep winning, and the next brief starts from them.