How to write video hooks that stop the scroll

Step by step

1. Name who the video is for

   The fastest hook is a callout: "Homeowners in Austin", "If you run a cafe", "New gym members". The right viewer stops because the video names them. The wrong viewer scrolls, and that is fine.

2. Lead with the result or the surprise

   Open on the outcome, the number or the claim that sounds wrong. "This lawn was brown on Monday" works better than "Today I want to show you". Never greet the viewer or explain what the video is about.

3. Say it and show it in the first frame

   Put the hook as bold text on screen from the very first frame, and say the same words out loud. Keep the text to six words or fewer, so it reads in one glance.

4. Start on movement

   The first frame should already move: a pour, a step, a door opening, a hand on the product. A still opening frame looks like an ad that has not started yet.

5. Make the next three seconds pay it off

   A hook earns a stop, and the next beat earns the watch. Show the first proof right after the hook: the before shot, the first number, the first step.

6. Test three or four hooks on one video

   Keep the body the same and change only the first two seconds. Post the versions a few days apart, or run them as separate ads, and keep the one that holds viewers longest.

Hook types that work

• Callout: name the viewer, their city or their problem. "Are you a homeowner in South Florida?"
• Result first: show the finished lawn, the clean car or the full room before the work.
• Number: one specific figure on screen, large. "20,000" or "3 days".
• Bold claim: a sentence the viewer wants to check. "Your code is slow for one boring reason."
• Mistake: "Stop washing your car like this." People stay to see if they make it.
• Question with a known answer: "Which planet has the most moons?" The viewer guesses and waits.

What kills a hook

• A logo, an intro card or a slow fade at the start.
• "Hey guys" or "In this video". Start on the point.
• Text that is too small to read on a phone, or sits under the app buttons.
• A hook the video never pays off. Viewers leave and the platform learns from it.
• Long sentences. If the hook needs a comma, it is too long.

How Vidova makes one

Tell your AI video team what you sell and who it is for. It writes the hook and the script, plans each shot, and builds the video on a real timeline with your own clips and photos, or with visuals it makes: generated pictures and video clips, titles, counters and stock footage. It adds word-by-word captions and checks the cut before it hands it to you.

Ask for several hook versions of the same video, and your team makes each one with its own opening line, text and first shot. It can also open on an effect on a person, such as a freeze frame with a spotlight or text behind the person. You change any part by asking in plain words.

Frequently asked questions