Contents
- A ThruPlay is counted when the video is watched in full, or for at least fifteen seconds for longer videos.
- It's Meta's most demanding video-view metric, and therefore the most meaningful.
- To read with the hook rate, which measures the hook of the first three seconds.
Definition
A ThruPlay is a complete video play, or of at least fifteen seconds when the video exceeds that duration.
Formula
ThruPlay rate = ThruPlays divided by impressions.
Worked example
A twenty-second video gets 42,000 three-second plays and 6,300 ThruPlays. One person in seven who started the video reached the end of the fifteen seconds: the hook works, the development loses the audience. The work is on the middle of the video, not its opening.
Orders of magnitude
ThruPlay rates vary enormously by format and placement. What matters is the comparison between your own creatives, on the same placement.
The most common mistakes
- Confusing it with the three-second play. The latter is counted as soon as a video starts, often on autoplay.
- Judging a short video on ThruPlay alone. Under fifteen seconds, a ThruPlay equals a full view, which is far less demanding.
- Optimizing on ThruPlay on a conversion campaign. You then pay for views, not sales.
Where to find the metric
In Meta, the ThruPlays and Cost per ThruPlay columns, with quartile views to locate the drop-off. On Google Ads, the closest equivalent is the billed YouTube view.
Frequently asked questions
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