Creative Performance
What's a good Hook Rate (3s)?
A good Hook Rate (3s) for a local business is 35.0% or higher. Percentage of video viewers retained past the first 3 seconds. An excellent Hook Rate (3s) — the top tier Karbon Agency grades client campaigns against — is 50.0% or higher, while 20.0% marks the minimum acceptable tier.
The three tiers Karbon grades against
| Tier | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | 20.0% | The floor. Below this, something is broken. |
| Recommended | 35.0% | The tier a healthy campaign should hit. |
| Excellent | 50.0% | Top-tier performance worth defending. |
Higher is better for this metric.
Why Hook Rate (3s) matters
The first 3 seconds determine everything. If the hook fails, no amount of great content afterward matters. This is the single most testable element in video ads.
Where does your Hook Rate (3s) land?
Karbon Agency grades every client campaign against these exact tiers, live on a dashboard — no guessing, no quarterly PDFs.