Watch time
Watch time is how long viewers spend watching a video, in total or on average — one of the strongest signals short-video platforms use to decide who else sees it.
Average watch time relative to the video’s length matters more than raw minutes: a 25-second video watched for 20 seconds beats a 90-second video watched for 25.
Shorter videos with one idea make high average watch time easier.
Related terms
Completion rate — Completion rate is the share of viewers who watch a video to the end.
Hook rate — Hook rate is the share of people who keep watching past the first few seconds of a video — commonly 3-second views divided by impressions.
Hook — A hook is the first one to two seconds of a short video — the line, image or text on screen that makes someone stop scrolling.