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About this tool
Turn a short video length into a frame-accurate hook beat sheet built around each platform's view, skip and completion thresholds.
The Hook Retention Timing Planner converts a short video's runtime and frame rate into a beat sheet anchored to each platform's own measurement thresholds — the point a view is credited, the point a skip button appears, and the point a completion or ThruPlay is counted. Meta counts a video view at 3 seconds and a ThruPlay at 15 seconds or completion; TikTok reports 2-second and 6-second views; YouTube skippable in-stream shows the skip button at 5 seconds and credits a paid view at 30 seconds. Editors and paid-social creatives use it to place the hook, the pattern interrupts and the CTA on exact frames rather than by feel.
Open Hook Retention Timing Planner on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Every beat comes back in seconds, frame index and non-drop-frame MM:SS:FF timecode at your chosen rate, from 23.976 to 60 fps.
Beats are pinned to each platform's own view and ThruPlay definitions, so the payoff lands before the metric fires rather than after it.
A 6-second cut on a 30-second credit threshold, or a hook eating half the runtime, is flagged instead of silently producing a useless sheet.
Under 3 seconds, and on TikTok closer to 2. Meta credits a video view after 3 seconds of playback and TikTok reports a 2-second view as its first metric, so the promise has to be stated and captioned inside that window. On YouTube Shorts a play counts immediately, which moves the real test to roughly the 10-second mark instead.
A ThruPlay is credited when a Meta video is played to completion or for at least 15 seconds, whichever comes first. That means a 12-second video can only earn a ThruPlay by being watched all the way through, while a 60-second video earns one at the 15-second mark — which is why cuts shorter than the threshold need a different creative plan.
At 5 seconds on skippable in-stream ads, and the paid view is credited at 30 seconds or at completion for ads shorter than 30 seconds. Those two numbers set the whole structure: brand and payoff before 5 seconds, and a reason to stay through to 30.
Hook rate is views at the platform's view mark divided by impressions; hold rate is views at the completion threshold divided by views at that view mark. For example, 4,200 three-second views on 10,000 impressions is a 42% hook rate, and 900 ThruPlays from those 4,200 is a 21.4% hold rate — a 9% view-through rate overall. A weak hook rate is a first-frame problem; a weak hold rate is a middle-of-the-video problem.