Thumb-Stop Ratio
Thumb-stop ratio measures how well a creative stops the scroll: the share of viewers who pause on or engage with an ad relative to those it reaches. For video it often equals the 3-second-view rate; for static images it reflects the proportion that arrests attention long enough to register the message instead of being scrolled past.
What it captures
Social feeds are an endless scroll, and the thumb-stop ratio answers the most basic question: did the creative interrupt that motion at all? It is the entry gate of the funnel. A low ratio means the ad is invisible in practice, regardless of how good the offer or landing page is.
Relationship to hook rate
For video, thumb-stop ratio and hook rate are often used interchangeably (both built on early-seconds views). The terms diverge mainly in emphasis: hook rate frames it as the strength of the opening, while thumb-stop frames it as scroll-interruption and extends conceptually to static images.
Improving it
Thumb-stop performance is driven by the opening frame or image: bold visuals, pattern interrupts, human faces, motion, and UGC-style native looks all tend to lift it. Because what stops one audience bores another, testing many distinct creative concepts is the reliable path to a high thumb-stop ratio, tying it directly to creative variety and fatigue management.
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