What’s a hook?
A hook is the first two or three seconds of a video ad. A good hook makes a sale. It sells someone mid-scroll on watching the rest, and the thought you want in their head is “oh, this is for me.”
What’s a hook rate?
Hook rate is 3-second video plays divided by impressions. Meta counts a play at 3 seconds, or at 97% of any video shorter than that, and ignores replays. Meta Ads Manager has no hook rate column, so build one as a custom metric and format it as a percentage.
What a good hook rate looks like?
Meta (cold traffic), one creative
| Hook rate | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Under 15% | Kill it. Reshoot the open. |
| 15-20% | The open can’t stop a scroll. Recut the first 3 seconds before you spend more. |
| 20-25% | Par. Fine while CPA holds. |
| 25-35% | Healthy. |
| 35-45% | Elite. Strangers giving you retargeting-level attention. |
Cold feed sits at 25-35%, retargeting at 35-45% Reels and Stories a few points under feed because the swipe is faster in full screen. Account-wide, most accounts land between 18% and 28%. So a blended 22% is not a failure, it’s the middle of the pack dragged down by retargeting frequency and weak placements. Judging a blended number against the per-creative bands is the fastest way to scare yourself for no reason.
TikTok
TikTok counts a play at 2 seconds, so the bar is shorter and the number is bigger for the same video. Under 20% is weak, 20-30% average, 30-40% good, 40%+ excellent.
The gap with Meta is mechanical, not a sign the ad works better there. Benchmark inside one platform.
Verticals, briefly
Beauty and skincare clear 35-40% because a swatch is arresting at scroll speed. General DTC ecom runs 25-35% cold. B2B and high-consideration sit 5-10 points under DTC. Past those three, published data thins out fast, and your own account average at a similar video length is the only benchmark worth trusting. A 22% that replaces an 18% control is a win whatever the beauty brands are posting.
A hook rate alone tells you nothing
Put it next to hold rate (ThruPlays over 3-second plays; 20-25% is healthy cold, under 18% is a body problem). Then read the pair.
Low hook, healthy hold means the concept works and the open doesn’t. Cheapest fix on the list: recut the first 3 seconds from footage you already have. No new shoot.
Healthy hook, low hold is the sneakier one. The open is bait the body can’t pay off. Keep the hook, rebuild seconds 4 to 15, and check that the promise in line one is answered by second six.
Both low means the concept missed. Brief a new angle, don’t re-edit the old one, and cap what it’s allowed to burn while you decide.
Both healthy with flat CTR means you’re entertaining people for free. Look at the CTA, the offer and the end card.
Was fine, now sliding? If a creative did 30% three weeks ago and does 22% today with frequency past 2.5, the ad didn’t get worse, the audience has seen it. That’s a cadence problem, not a creative one.
One rule before all of this
Don’t read hook rate under 2,000 impressions per creative, and expect it to keep moving until 5,000-10,000. A kill call at 500 impressions is a coin flip in a suit.