How to write a hook that stops the scroll

Why the first second is everything

Short-form feeds are a firehose. Every platform decides whether to push your video based on early retention — if people bounce in the first second or two, the algorithm stops showing it. The hook isn't decoration; it's the single biggest lever on reach.

A good hook does one job: it opens a loop the viewer needs to close. It promises something — a payoff, an answer, a surprise — that's only resolved by watching on.

Hook formulas that work

Most high-performing hooks fall into a few repeatable patterns. Steal these and fill in your topic:

• Curiosity gap: "Nobody talks about this one thing that…"
• Bold claim: "You're doing X completely wrong."
• Stakes: "This mistake cost me a year."
• Pattern interrupt: open mid-action, or with a number — "Three signs that…"
• Direct callout: "If you do X, watch this."

Write ten, pick one

Your first hook is rarely your best. Write ten variations for the same clip and choose the sharpest — shorter, more specific, higher stakes. If a hook needs setup to make sense, it's too slow.

To skip the blank page, our free Viral Hook Generator writes eight hooks for any topic in seconds. Paste your idea, grab the best one, and use it as your opening line or on-screen text.

Put the hook on the clip

The strongest hooks live in two places at once: spoken in the first line and burned on screen as a headline. Nova does both automatically — it finds the most viral moment in your long video and burns a hook headline right onto the vertical clip, so the scroll-stopper is baked in.