What is hook rate on Meta Ads? Formula, benchmarks and setup.
Hook rate is the percentage of people who watch at least the first 3 seconds of your video ad after it appears in their feed. Some teams call it thumb-stop rate. It answers one question: did your opening make people stop scrolling?
On Reels and Stories, people decide in about a second whether to keep scrolling. If your first frame doesn't earn attention, nothing else in the video matters, because almost nobody sees it.
The hook rate formula
Hook rate = (3-second video plays ÷ Impressions) × 100
Say an ad got 1,00,000 impressions and 27,000 three-second plays. Its hook rate is 27%.
Use impressions, not reach, as the denominator. Impressions count every time the ad was shown, so the ratio reflects every chance the ad had to hook someone.
What is a good hook rate?
These are working bands that experienced media buyers use. They aren't official Meta figures, and they shift by industry, placement and audience temperature.
| Hook rate | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Under 20% | The opening isn't stopping anyone | Rework the first 3 seconds completely |
| 20–25% | Below average | Test new first frames and opening lines |
| 25–30% | A solid baseline for most accounts | Keep testing variations |
| 30–40% | Strong | Scale, and check hold rate next |
| 40% and above | An exceptional pattern-interrupt | Study what worked and reuse the idea |
Compare against your own account median first. A 22% hook rate might be a win in a B2B category where most ads sit at 15%. Retargeting audiences usually hook higher than cold audiences because they already know you.
How to track hook rate in Meta Ads Manager
Meta has started adding a native hook rate column (more on that here). Until it appears in your account, build it as a custom metric:
- In Ads Manager, click Columns, then Customize columns.
- Click Create custom metric.
- Name it "Hook rate".
- Set the formula to 3-second video plays ÷ Impressions.
- Set the format to Percentage and save it to your column preset.
Share the preset with the ad account so everyone reports the same number.
How to read hook rate properly
- Check it per ad, not per campaign. Campaign averages blend winners and losers into one meaningless number.
- Wait for enough data. Judge an ad after a few thousand impressions, not a few hundred.
- Break it down by placement. An ad can hook well in Feed and badly in Reels. That points to a format problem, not a weak hook.
- Pair it with hold rate. A high hook rate with a weak hold rate means the opening works but the story loses people. See our hold rate guide.
Five reasons a hook rate is low
- The first frame is a logo, a slow fade or a blank background.
- Nothing moves in the first second.
- The ad looks like an ad, not like content people choose to watch.
- There are no captions, and most people scroll with sound off.
- The opening line talks about your brand instead of the viewer's problem.
For fixes and examples, read 8 video ad hooks that stop the scroll.
Is hook rate the same as CTR?
No. Hook rate measures whether people watched the first 3 seconds. CTR measures whether they clicked. An ad can have a high hook rate and a low CTR.
Does hook rate apply to image ads?
No. It needs video play data. For static ads, use CTR and engagement rate instead.
How do I calculate hook rate on TikTok?
TikTok reports 2-second views, so the TikTok version is 2-second views ÷ impressions. Don't compare it directly with a Meta hook rate based on 3 seconds.