Hook rate calculator
Paste two columns from Meta Ads Manager, 3-second video plays and impressions, and get the hook rate with the formula next to it. Add ThruPlays, 25% plays, link clicks and spend for hold rate, watch rate, CTR and cost per play, then see which reported 2026 band the result falls in. Free, no signup.
Column names checked against Meta Ads Manager on October 10, 2026.
Hook rate
Read both numbers at the ad level, for the same ad and the same date range. The Video engagement column preset exposes the play columns.
Hook rate
23.0%
3-second video plays ÷ impressions × 100
Below the baseline. Under 25% is generally treated as needing a rebuild rather than a tweak. It is below the 35% threshold many performance teams use as the point at which an ad earns more budget.
Bands are reported 2026 ranges across third-party creative-analytics sources, not Meta-published rules, and they vary by source, placement and vertical. Compare within one placement and one vertical. The hook rate benchmark guide names the sources.
Add the rest of the video columns
Optional. Hold rate, 25% watch rate, CTR and cost per play from the same ad and date range.
A 23.0% hook rate is under the 25% working baseline, which reported ranges treat as a rebuild rather than a tweak. Testing several different openings side by side finds a new first frame faster than editing this one.
See the creative testing workflowThe hook rate formula
Hook rate is the share of people served a video ad who were still watching after three seconds. Take the ad's impressions for the period you care about, take the number of plays that lasted at least three seconds in the same period, divide the second by the first and multiply by 100.
Hook rate = 3-second video plays ÷ impressions × 100
Hold rate = ThruPlays ÷ 3-second video plays × 100
25% watch rate = video plays at 25% ÷ impressions × 100
CTR = link clicks ÷ impressions × 100
Cost per 3-second play = amount spent ÷ 3-second video plays
Three details change the answer. Use the ad level, not the ad set or campaign, because a campaign aggregates ads with different hooks. Use one date range for both columns. And use impressions, not reach: an impression is each time the ad was served, and the three-second play is counted per serving, so the two match. The hook rate formula guide walks through each one.
Where each number sits in Ads Manager
Meta does not ship a column called hook rate. Open Ads Manager at the ad level, set the date range, and choose the Video engagement preset in the Columns menu. It exposes every play column this calculator uses.
| Ads Manager column | Used in | Required |
|---|---|---|
| 3-second video plays | Hook rate numerator, hold rate denominator, cost per play | Yes |
| Impressions | Denominator for hook rate, 25% watch rate and CTR | Yes |
| ThruPlays | Hold rate, cost per ThruPlay. A ThruPlay is a play to completion or to 15 seconds, whichever comes first | Optional |
| Video plays at 25% | 25% watch rate | Optional |
| Link clicks | CTR | Optional |
| Amount spent | Cost per 3-second play, cost per ThruPlay | Optional |
Meta documents what counts as a video play in the Meta Business Help Center, and the counting rules differ by placement and by whether sound is on. Reels, Stories and Feed start the three-second clock under different conditions, so compare hook rates within one placement, or break the ad down by placement before you judge it.
What is a good hook rate on Meta?
Reported 2026 benchmark ranges across creative-analytics sources put roughly 25% as a working baseline, 30 to 40% as good, and 40% or above as elite. Many performance teams use 35% as the point at which an ad earns more budget. Below 25% is generally treated as needing a rebuild rather than a tweak.
| Hook rate | Band | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25% | Below the baseline | Under 25% is generally treated as needing a rebuild rather than a tweak. |
| 25 to 30% | Working baseline | Roughly 25% is the reported working baseline; the good band starts at 30%. |
| 30 to 40% | Good | 30 to 40% is the band reported as good for Meta video ads. |
| 40% and above | Elite | 40% or above is reported as elite. |
Source: Third-party creative-analytics sources, 2026. Those are third-party reported ranges, not Meta-published rules, and they vary by source, placement and vertical. Hook rate is a triage metric, not a success metric: it tells you whether the opening earned attention, and nothing about whether the ad earns money. The hook rate benchmark guide covers where the bands come from and where they mislead.
Read hook rate and hold rate together
Hook rate and hold rate read together tell you which part of the ad failed, which neither does on its own. A high hook rate with a low hold rate means the opening promised something the rest of the ad did not deliver.
| Hook rate | Hold rate | Likely diagnosis |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Low | The opening is not stopping anyone. Rebuild the first frame. |
| High | Low | The opening over-promises relative to what follows. Bait, not hook. |
| Low | High | The content works for those who reach it. The first frame is the constraint. |
| High | High | Attention is not your constraint. Look at the offer, the landing page or the audience. |
Published hold rate benchmarks disagree mainly because some sources divide longer views by 3-second plays and others divide by impressions. The calculator shows both so you can match whichever convention a source used.
What to do with a low hook rate
- Change what is on screen at frame one, not what is said at second two. Motion, a face, or the product in use beats a logo or a title card.
- Remove the ramp. Openings that establish context before showing anything lose the impression during the establishment.
- Make the first frame legible without sound. Sound-off is the default state, so a hook carried entirely by a voiceover is not a hook.
- Test five genuinely different openings, not five colour variants of one. Change the first three seconds, keep everything else fixed, and run the variants side by side. The Meta creative testing workflow turns that into a repeatable process, and the first three seconds hook formulas give you distinct openings to start from.
Frequently asked questions
What is the hook rate formula?
Hook rate is 3-second video plays divided by impressions, multiplied by 100. If an ad was served 40,000 times and 9,200 of those views lasted at least three seconds, the hook rate is 9,200 divided by 40,000, which is 23 percent. Both inputs come from the same ad and the same date range.
What is a good hook rate for Facebook and Instagram ads?
Reported 2026 ranges put roughly 25 percent as a working baseline, 30 to 40 percent as good, and 40 percent or above as elite. Under 25 percent is generally treated as needing a rebuild rather than a tweak, and many performance teams use 35 percent as the threshold at which an ad earns more budget. These are third-party reported ranges, and they vary by source, placement and vertical.
How do I calculate hook rate in Meta Ads Manager?
Open Ads Manager at the ad level, set the date range, and choose the Video engagement column preset. Read the 3-second video plays column and the Impressions column for the ad, divide the first by the second and multiply by 100. Meta does not ship a ready-made hook rate column, so the division is yours, or paste the two numbers into this calculator.
What is the difference between hook rate and hold rate?
Hook rate measures the opening: 3-second plays divided by impressions. Hold rate measures whether the rest of the video kept people. This calculator divides ThruPlays by 3-second plays and also shows the figure divided by impressions, because published hold rate benchmarks use both denominators and the two conventions produce numbers that differ by a factor of three or more.
Is thumb-stop ratio the same as hook rate?
Usually yes. Most sources define thumb-stop ratio exactly as 3-second plays divided by impressions, which is the hook rate formula under a different name. Some use 2-second continuous plays instead. Before comparing your number with a published figure, check which play column and which denominator that source used.
Test more openings instead of guessing one
Paste a product URL and AdRiseLab builds ad concepts from different hook types and angles, in feed, square and vertical formats, so the next test has several first frames to compare. You review every concept, and nothing reaches Meta until you approve.
Cancel any time.