Ad glossary
Hold rate
The share of viewers who keep watching a video ad past the opening, often measured with ThruPlays against impressions or 3-second plays.
Hold rate measures how well a video ad keeps attention after the opening seconds. Where hook rate tells you whether people stopped scrolling, hold rate tells you whether they stayed. Like hook rate, it is an industry term rather than a standard Meta metric, so definitions vary between teams.
How to calculate it
Two common versions are:
- Hold rate = (ThruPlays ÷ impressions) × 100
- Hold rate = (ThruPlays ÷ 3-second video plays) × 100
At the time of writing, Meta counts a ThruPlay when a video is watched to completion or for at least 15 seconds. Some teams use 50% or 75% video watch metrics instead.
Worked example (made-up numbers): an ad has 20,000 impressions, 5,000 three-second plays and 1,000 ThruPlays. Using the second definition, hold rate = (1,000 ÷ 5,000) × 100 = 20%.
Why it matters
People who watch more of a video are more likely to hear the full message, see the product in use and reach the call to action. A low hold rate after a strong hook often means the ad loses momentum: a slow middle section, a mismatch between the opening and the rest, or too much talking before the product appears.
How to improve it
- Get to the product and the core benefit quickly.
- Cut pauses and repetition, and tighten the edit.
- Use captions and visual changes to keep the pace up.
- Structure the script so each section creates a reason to keep watching.
Last reviewed Oct 27, 2026