Free creator toolsHooks
Is my hook good?
Hook Checker for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts openings
Paste the first line of your video. See what kind of opening it is, how that kind did across 1,239 top videos we studied, and three other ways to open.
Hook Checker
Ready- Free
- No account
- Not stored
What you get back
ExampleYour first line
“This is the only way I cook rice now.”
It reads as
Bold claim
A strong statement the video then has to prove.
It claims you found the best way to cook rice, but not what goes wrong the other way, so a stranger has little reason to wait for the proof.
How top videos open, from our data
- of top videos open with a curiosity gap
- 28%
- The most common hook
- views for relatable callouts
- +19%
- Against the creator’s typical top video
- open with a question
- 1%
- Rare among top videos
From our team’s study of 1,239 top-performing videos by 18 creators, with more than 2.5 billion views combined. No creator is named. The full hook study.
A read on your first two seconds
Not a score. What kind of opening you wrote, how that kind did in real data, and better ways to open the same video.
01
What kind of hook it is
One of the nine kinds our team uses to break down top videos, named in plain words.
02
How that kind did
How often it opened a top video in our study, and how those videos ran against the creator’s normal.
03
Every kind, side by side
Where your kind sits next to the others, so you can see what ran furthest.
04
3 other ways to open
New first lines for the same video, each a different kind, ready to copy.
How it works
Paste your first line
What you say or put on screen in the first two seconds. Pick where it will go.
Say what the video is about
Optional. A few words help the rewrites fit your video.
Get the read
The kind, how it did in our study, what to tighten and 3 other ways to open.
Built by our team
What makes it worth using
Built on real data
Every figure comes from our study of 1,239 top videos, more than 2.5 billion views combined. Nothing is estimated by the AI.
No score
A grade out of 100 tells you nothing about what to change. This points at the words.
Honest about small samples
Some kinds were rare in the study. When one is, the result says so.
Free, and not stored
No sign-up and no email wall. What you type is read once and is not kept.
The nine kinds of hook, and how each did in our study
Our team classifies every top video we break down by how it opens. These are the kinds, with how often each opened one of the 1,238 videos we classified, and how those videos ran against the creator’s typical top video.
Curiosity gap
Opens a question in the viewer’s head and holds the answer back.
“I tried the one thing every barber told me never to do.”
Opened 28% of top videos. Ran +3%.
Pattern interrupt
Something unexpected in the first second that breaks the scroll.
Walking into a quiet library in full hockey gear.
Opened 18% of top videos. Ran -2%.
Bold claim
A strong statement the video then has to prove.
“This $4 tool replaced half my kitchen.”
Opened 17% of top videos. Ran -10%.
Relatable callout
Names a moment or feeling the viewer knows from their own life.
“When your boss says ‘quick call’ at 4:59.”
Opened 12% of top videos. Ran +19%.
High stakes
Something real to win or lose, set up right away.
“If this cake falls, I owe my sister $500.”
Opened 10% of top videos. Ran +5%.
Visual spectacle
An image you have to stop and look at before anything is said.
A car-sized pancake hitting the pan.
Opened 2% of top videos. Ran +33%. A small sample (28 videos).
Middle of the action
Starts in the middle of the action and explains later.
Opening mid-sprint, already being chased.
Opened 2% of top videos. Ran -1%. A small sample (20 videos).
Question
Asks the viewer a question directly.
“Have you ever wondered why airline food tastes different?”
Opened 1% of top videos. Ran -14%. A small sample (16 videos).
Controversy
Takes a side people will argue about.
“Pineapple belongs on pizza, and I can prove it.”
Opened 1% of top videos. Ran -30%. A small sample (16 videos).
Among top videos only, so these show which openings ran furthest, not which ones will work for you. The example lines are ours, not taken from any video in the study. The full study has the method.
How to write a hook for TikTok, Reels and Shorts
What our team checks first when we read an opening. The checker runs the same read on yours.
Say the thing, not that there is a thing. “Here are some tips” spends two seconds promising nothing. Name the one mistake, the one result or the one moment.
Make it work with the sound off. Most people decide before they turn the sound on. The first line should make sense as text on screen.
Promise only what the video pays off. A hook that the video does not keep loses people at the end, where it hurts most. Every rewrite the checker gives keeps to what you told it.
Show it in the first second if you can. The result, the mess, the stakes. A line and an image that say the same thing land faster than either alone.
After you post
A hook is a guess until your own page answers it.
Test one change at a time. Post the same kind of video with two different openings and see which one beats your normal. The Page Audit finds the posts that did and builds hooks from them.
No video yet? The Idea Generator writes ideas for your subject with the first line already written.
Questions people ask
Is my hook good?
Paste it into the checker. It names the kind of opening your line is and shows how that kind ran in our study of 1,239 top videos, then says what works, what to tighten and gives you 3 other ways to open. It does not give a score: a hook is good when a stranger knows what the video is and wants the end of it.
What is a hook in a video?
The first thing someone sees or hears, usually the first two seconds. It is the line you say or put on screen, and sometimes the first image. Its only job is to give a stranger a reason to keep watching.
What is the best kind of hook for TikTok and Reels?
In our study, the most common opening among top videos was the curiosity gap, at 28% of the 1,238 we classified. Among the common kinds, relatable callouts ran furthest, +19% against the creator’s typical top video. The best kind is still the one your video can honestly pay off.
Do questions make good hooks?
They were rare among the top videos we studied: 1% opened with a question, and those ran -14% against the creator’s typical top video. A small sample, but a question works best when the viewer cannot answer it in their head and scroll on.
Is this a hook generator?
Partly. It writes 3 other first lines for your video, each a different kind of opening. The difference is that it starts from your line and tells you how each kind did in real data, so you can choose instead of guessing.
Is it AI?
The kind it names and the lines it writes come from an AI model following our team’s instructions. The figures do not: every number comes from our own study, so the model cannot invent one.
Where does the data come from?
Our team’s analyses of 1,239 top performing videos from 18 creators, more than 2.5 billion views combined. Pooled and anonymized. The full study has the method.
What do you do with what I type?
It is sent to our AI provider once, to read your line and write the rewrites. We do not store it and it never reaches our analytics. Our privacy page has the detail.
Is the Hook Checker free? How many times can I run it?
It is free, with no account. Each person gets 5 runs a day, which keeps it free for everyone.
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How much could I make?
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Is my engagement good?
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What should I post?
Tell us what your page is about. Get video ideas with the first line written.
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How often should I post?
Tell us the time you have. Get a month of posting you can keep, in your calendar.
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When a brand gets in touch
Who made this. Ames Create is an independent creative studio. Working with creators on brand deals and on what to make next is part of what our team does every week, and this tool checks the same things we check. It is free at any size. How we work with creators
Last updated .