Glossary · Storytelling
Hook
The hook is the opening moment of a video, usually its first few seconds, that gives a viewer a reason to keep watching.
Why it matters
In a feed that plays one video after another, people decide almost at once whether to stay. If the opening gives them no reason, the rest of the video is never seen.
A hook makes a promise. It might be a question the video will answer, a surprising picture, a result shown first, or a moment of tension. The viewer stays because they want to see that promise kept.
The promise has to be honest. An opening that oversells the story may hold people for a moment, but they leave as soon as they sense the video won't deliver, and they trust the next one less.
Some people scroll with the sound off, so a good hook works in pictures and on-screen words as well as in narration. The first image matters as much as the first line.
A short about a founder whose first shop failed doesn't open with her name and birth year. It opens on an empty storefront with a "closed" sign and the line: "Her first store lasted eleven weeks. Her second is still open."
How we use it
We write every opening twice: first the promise the video makes, then the first picture that proves it.
Last reviewed 15 October 2026.