01
Why put a written line on a clip at all?
Because the decision to keep watching happens before the first sentence finishes, and usually without sound. A short line inside the frame carries the promise of the clip in the moment the thumb is still moving. You can rewrite it before the clip is produced, so it is a suggestion rather than a verdict.
02
What a hook line has to do in one second
| Job | Done by | Fails when |
|---|---|---|
| Say what this is about | The words themselves | It is a greeting or a title |
| Give a reason to stay | An open loop, not a summary | It answers itself |
| Be readable instantly | Short line, large type | It needs a second pass |
| Sit where nothing covers it | The top band | It is placed low |
| Work with the sound off | Text alone | It depends on tone of voice |
03
Five hook shapes that survive a muted feed
The contradiction: state the belief most of your audience holds, then signal that the clip disagrees. "Stretching before a run is overrated" works because a runner feels obliged to check whether they have been wasting ten minutes a day.
The number with a cost attached: "We lost 40% of our listeners in one week" beats "Our listener numbers dropped" because a figure tells the viewer the story has a size. The open question: "Which of these two pitches got funded?" asks the viewer to guess, and guessing is a small commitment to stay. The named stake: "If you rent, this changes your deposit" filters the audience down to the people who care and makes them care more. The mid-action start: "...and that is when the camera fell into the lake" drops the viewer into motion, which is why it only works on clips that deliver the lake.
04
Lines that look like hooks but lose the viewer
A greeting ("Hey guys, quick one today") spends the most valuable second on nothing. A channel name repeats what the profile already shows. A summary that gives away the ending ("Why I quit my job and moved to Lisbon") leaves no reason to watch the part that explains it.
Vague superlatives are the other trap. "This is insane" and "You won't believe this" have been used so often that viewers read them as filler. If you can swap the line onto a hundred unrelated clips and it still fits, it is not doing any work for this one. Rewrite it until it could only belong to the moment on screen.
05
Testing a hook without guessing
Keep the clip identical and change only the line. Post version A, wait until it has had the same number of hours in the feed that version B will get, then compare the share of viewers who stayed past the three-second mark rather than total views. Total views swing with timing and luck; the early retention figure moves with the hook.
Write down the losing line as well as the winner. After ten or so pairs, a pattern usually shows up for your audience in particular: some respond to numbers, some to questions, some to a blunt opinion. That pattern is worth more than any list of templates, because it was measured on the people who actually watch you.
06
Give the scroll a reason to stop
- Upload the video. The clips get cut and captioned as normal.
- Read the hook, change it if you like. One line across the top, fully editable.
- Check it, then produce. What you see while setting it is what you get.
Produce one clip with a hook and one without, then compare.
Questions people ask
- Can I write my own?
- Yes, it is editable before anything is final.
- Where does it sit?
- Across the top of the frame, above the subtitle area.
- Can I leave it off?
- Yes, hooks are optional per clip.
- Does it work in every shape?
- The layout follows whichever of the four you chose.
- Is it a paid feature?
- Hooks are part of the normal flow rather than a tier upgrade.