Video Creative Metrics Benchmarks 2026: Thumbstop, Hold & ThruPlay

This page consolidates cited public ranges from platform documentation, practitioner reports, and an independent web research pass (June 2026) across adlibrary.com, Vaizle, Billo, Sepia Lab, Zeely, eonik.ai, MHI Growth Engine, Affect Group, Dynamoi, Triple Whale, and Nielsen-derived completion compilations. We do not publish a single “industry average” without context.

Research process

1. Start from Meta’s official metric definitions (3-second views; the 15-second-or-completion ThruPlay threshold)
2. Pull third-party tier tables that name their formula and year (Sepia Lab’s 2026 hook-rate roundup is the best cross-vendor comparison we found)
3. Cross-check practitioner reports that publish ranges with segmentation (length, placement, or audience temperature)
4. Flag when two sources use the same metric name but different formulas (hold rate is the worst offender — see the definitions section below)
5. Drop any cell where no 2024–2026 source publishes the full segmentation — we note dropped cells explicitly rather than inventing numbers

Inclusion rules

• Every table row must name a source and the segment it applies to
• Meta ThruPlay ranges use Video Plays as the denominator (what Meta reports) unless a row notes otherwise — on Meta, autoplay keeps Video Plays ≈ impressions, so the bands hold either way; confirm your dashboard’s denominator before comparing
• Thumbstop / hook rate = 3-second video views ÷ impressions on Meta (Meta has no official hook-rate benchmark — Sepia Lab, 2026)
• Hold rate on this page defaults to 15-second video views ÷ 3-second video views unless a row explicitly notes a different formula

How to use this page

1. Pick your platform, length bucket, and audience temperature
2. Confirm your formula matches the cited source’s formula
3. Enter your metrics in the linked analyzers below
4. Compare range-relative verdicts — not raw leaderboard rankings
5. Document learnings in your creative testing framework

Official ThruPlay definition: a ThruPlay counts when a viewer watches a video to completion (videos under 15 seconds) or for at least 15 seconds (longer videos); Meta treats ~97%+ as completion. It does not count ad clicks — a common misconception worth unlearning. Source: Meta Business Help Center — About ThruPlay.

Because ThruPlay also fires on sub-15-second completions that a raw 15-second-video-views count never captures, pair ThruPlay with hold rate when diagnosing watch depth. See Hold Rate vs ThruPlay Rate.

Independent research (June 2026) across adlibrary.com, Vaizle, Billo, Sepia Lab, and MHI Growth Engine found four formulas all called “hold rate.” They are not interchangeable — a dashboard showing 45% and one showing 18% can describe the identical ad.

Why the numbers look “wrong” side by side: Vaizle’s ~45% “hold” and adlibrary’s ~18% “hold” can describe the same ad because ThruPlay counts sub-15-second completions in addition to 15-second-plus plays, inflating the numerator versus raw 15-second video views. MHI’s 35% on a 30-second ad means ~10.5 seconds average watch time — a third metric entirely.

Default on this page: segmented hold tables below use 15-second views ÷ 3-second views unless a row says otherwise. When a vendor dashboard shows 40%+, check whether it is the ThruPlay funnel definition before comparing to our 15–25% cold band.

Practitioner hook tiers (Meta, 3s ÷ impressions). Meta publishes no official hook benchmark; these tiers come from creative-analytics vendors. The first four rows are the cross-vendor comparison in Sepia Lab’s 2026 hook-rate roundup; the Zeely row is from Zeely’s own Meta hook-rate analysis.

TikTok hook benchmarks (2-second threshold — not Meta-comparable). TikTok hook rate uses 2-second video views ÷ impressions, so numbers run hotter than Meta 3-second rates for comparable attention. Source: Billo — Hook Rate to Hold Rate (Tuff Agency 11-account study cited therein).

Deep dive: Video Ad Hook Optimization guide · Thumbstop rate glossary · How to read hook metrics in Meta Ads Manager

Alternate hold definition — ThruPlays ÷ 3-second views (Vaizle / Billo / Motion via Sepia Lab). Same creative often reads ~2× higher here because ThruPlay also counts sub-15-second completions, not just raw 15-second views:

Watch-depth hold (avg play time ÷ length) — MHI Growth Engine 2026 benchmarks by video length:

Hold rate isolates body performance: if thumbstop is strong but hold is weak, re-cut seconds 3–15 before touching the opener. Practitioner framing: Billo — Hook Rate to Hold Rate · Glued.me — Hook vs Hold guide.

Full segmented analysis: 2026 ThruPlay benchmarks blog · ThruPlay interpretation guide · Hold rate glossary

Platform definitions

• Meta Business Help Center — About ThruPlay

Independent research roundup (June 2026)

• Sepia Lab — Hook Rate Benchmarks 2026 — cross-vendor Meta hook tiers (Motion, Vaizle, AdManage.ai, Billo); placement table (Feed/Reels/Stories); notes no Meta-official hook benchmark
• adlibrary.com — Hook Rate (2026) — tier table (15–45%+); Reels 30–40% good band; kill floor below 15%
• adlibrary.com — Hold Rate (2026) — 15s÷3s cold band 15–25%; p75÷3s band 8–15%; kill floor <10% at 15s
• MHI Growth Engine — Hook Rate on Meta Ads (2026) — placement bands (Feed 20–30%, Reels 15–25%, Stories 12–22%); Reels vs Feed heuristic
• get-ryze.ai — Meta Video Ad Benchmarks 2026 — cold hook 25–35%; kill if <15%
• Vaizle — Hook Rate & Hold Rate (Jan 2026) — hook ~20–25%; hold = ThruPlays÷3s at ~40–50%
• Billo — Hook Rate to Hold Rate (Jun 2026) — Meta avg hook ~24%; Tuff 11-account TikTok avg 30.7%; ThruPlay÷3s hold reporting
• MHI Growth Engine — Hold Rate for DTC Video Ads (Feb 2026) — watch-depth hold (avg play time ÷ length) by video length
• Zeely — Boost Meta Hook Rate — practitioner tiers (<15% weak, 20–25% solid, 30%+ strong)
• Madgicx — Custom Metrics in Meta Ads — hook/hold custom column formulas; Number vs Percentage format pitfalls
• Benly.ai — Ad Creative Benchmarks 2026 — cross-platform hook medians (12k+ ad sample); no Meta vertical placement splits

Practitioner benchmark reports (2024–2026)

• Affect Group — Key Meta Ads Video Metrics Explained — 15–30s cold prospecting ThruPlay 18%–28%; cold band 15%–25%
• Dynamoi — Meta Ads Manager Metrics for Music Campaigns — vertical-specific ThruPlay tiers (25%+ good, 35%+ great)
• Triple Whale — Facebook Ads Benchmarks 2025 — aggregate ThruPlay/VTR ~29%; sub-15s vs longer splits
• Amra & Elma — Video ad completion rate statistics — Nielsen-derived completion data (79.4% sub-15s)

Hook → hold funnel framing

• Glued.me — Hook Rate vs Hold Rate
• FunnelInsiders — Thumbstop Ratio analysis — TSR alone weakly predicts ROAS (R²≈0.003 in cited cross-account study)

Internal cross-links

• Thumbstop rate glossary · Hold rate glossary · ThruPlay rate glossary
• How to read video metrics in Meta Ads Manager

adlibrary.com’s 2026 hold guide argues the shape of the retention curve matters more than a single hold percentage. Pull quartile columns from Ads Manager (`video_p25`, `p50`, `p75`, `p100` watched actions) or use Motion / Triple Whale frame analytics when available.

Mid-roll dead zone (seconds 8–15) is the most common cold-traffic failure mode in practitioner audits: high-retention creative changes visual information every 1.5–2.5 seconds through the middle; low-retention creative holds one shot 4–6 seconds. See Madgicx custom metrics guide for hook/hold column setup in Ads Manager.