Hook Rate
The share of viewers who keep watching past the first few seconds of a video ad — a measure of how well the opening holds attention.
Definition
Hook rate measures how many people continue watching past the opening of a video, often defined as the percentage who reach the 3-second mark relative to those who started (or who were served) the ad. The exact cutoff varies by platform and by how each team defines a 'view'.
Why it matters
Hook rate isolates the performance of your opening from the rest of the ad. A low hook rate points to a weak first few seconds; a strong one means your hook is doing its job and the rest of the funnel — body, offer, call-to-action — is what to optimize next.
How it applies to UGC ads
Because hook rate is so sensitive to the opening, it's the metric teams watch when A/B testing hooks. Re-rolling fresh openings quickly — for example with UGCABC — lets you compare their hook rates and keep the strongest one.
Related terms
Hook
The opening few seconds of a video ad, designed to grab attention and stop the viewer from scrolling past.
ReadThumb-Stop (Scroll-Stopper)
Creative compelling enough to make someone physically stop scrolling their feed — the goal of a strong opening visual.
ReadCTR (Click-Through Rate)
The percentage of people who click an ad out of everyone who saw it — clicks divided by impressions.
ReadAd Fatigue
The drop in performance that happens when an audience sees the same ad so often that it stops responding to it.
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