Guide
Everything after second 3 of your ad is invisible to the people who swiped at second 2. The hook isn't part of the creative — for most viewers, it is the creative.
TikTok's delivery system watches early retention. When viewers hold past the opening seconds, the algorithm reads the ad as worth distributing and your costs drop; when they swipe, distribution throttles and CPMs climb. A weak hook doesn't lose you one viewer — it taxes every impression after.
The most common hook killer is the slow open: logo animation, brand intro, establishing shot. The second is front-loading context — explaining who you are before showing why anyone should care. The third is polish: footage that reads as "ad" in the first frame triggers the learned swipe reflex. Save the brand for the end; viewers reward ads that entertain first and sell second. For patterns you can copy, see 12 ad hook examples that stop the scroll. If you already write strong email subject lines, those proven curiosity gaps are reusable — subject line vs. ad hook covers what carries over and what doesn't. Once the hook line is sharp, drop it into the rest of the spine with our video ad script template. And remember the hook line only gets read if the frame stops the scroll first — what makes an ad scroll-stopping covers the visual event that has to win before your words do.
Writing three hook variants takes an hour. Knowing which one holds attention used to take a paid campaign. Now you can upload each cut to PreTestAds and compare Hook Strength — predicted viewer engagement in the first 3 seconds — before spending anything. Pick the strongest hook, check where attention drops later in the ad, fix it, then launch. See TikTok ad testing for the full workflow, or how the scoring works.
Upload your ad and see your Hook Strength — up to 8 free credits.
Test Your Hook Free1–3 seconds. Viewers decide whether to keep watching almost immediately, so the hook must land before second 3. If your brand intro, logo, or buildup comes first, most viewers never see what follows.
Good hooks create an open loop the viewer needs closed: an unexpected visual, a bold claim, a direct question, or motion that breaks the feed's pattern. The common thread is immediate tension — something started that the viewer wants to see finished.
Upload your ad to an engagement-prediction tool like PreTestAds. The Hook Strength metric measures predicted viewer attention in the first 3 seconds, so you can compare hook variants and pick the strongest before spending on distribution.