What's a good Hook Rate (3s)?
Karbon Agency's target for Hook Rate (3s) is 35.0% or higher. That is Karbon's own grading target, not a published industry average. Percentage of video viewers retained past the first 3 seconds. Excellent is 50.0% or higher (Karbon target), and the minimum acceptable tier is 20.0% or higher (Karbon target).
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The three tiers Karbon grades against — and where each comes from
| Tier | Value | What it means | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | 20.0% | The floor. Below this, something is broken. | Karbon target |
| Recommended | 35.0% | The tier a healthy campaign should hit. | Karbon target |
| Excellent | 50.0% | Top-tier performance worth defending. | Karbon target |
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.
Karbon target
No independent public benchmark exists for Hook Rate (3s) as Karbon measures it. The tiers above are Karbon Agency's own grading targets for local-business campaigns, not an industry average, and we don't cite one we haven't found.
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.