ShortsAIHow to write a hook for a short video
A hook is the first one to three seconds of a short: the line that makes the viewer stay past the swipe. On every short-form platform, retention in those seconds decides distribution.
The hooks that work state a specific claim, open a gap the video will close, or put the viewer in the sentence. The ones that fail introduce, greet, or promise vaguely.
ShortsAI writes a hook overlay for every clip from the transcript, and you can rewrite it in the clip editor.
What is a hook in a video script?
The opening line, spoken or on screen, that gives the viewer a reason to watch the next ten seconds. On TikTok, Reels and Shorts the viewer has not chosen your video; it was put in front of them, and the swipe is one thumb movement away. The hook is the answer to "why should I stay" before they have asked it. It is also the thing the platform measures most directly: a short that loses half its audience in the first three seconds is shown to fewer people, whatever happens after.
What makes a hook work?
- Specificity. "This is why your podcast gets no clips" beats "let's talk about podcasts". A number beats an adjective.
- A gap the video closes. The hook opens a question; the video answers it. Continuous curiosity is the whole mechanism: each line should make the next one necessary.
- The viewer in the sentence. "You are cropping your interviews wrong" addresses one person. "Interviews are often cropped wrong" addresses nobody.
- Starting mid-action. A clip that opens on the answer, not the question, and lets the context arrive later.
- Honesty. A hook the video does not pay off gets the retention of clickbait: high at second one, gone by second eight, and the platform sees the drop.
Six hook patterns with examples
- The contrarian claim. "Longer Shorts get fewer views, and here is the number."
- The specific result. "One 40-minute episode became 11 clips and 90,000 views."
- The mistake. "If your captions sit at the bottom of the frame, TikTok is hiding them."
- The question the viewer already has. "How long can a Reel actually be?"
- The list with a count. "Three reasons a clip starts mid-shot, and the one fix."
- The cold open. Cut into the strongest sentence of the conversation, with no setup at all.
What kills a hook?
Introductions ("hi, I'm..."), greetings, a logo animation, a sentence that begins with "in this video", and any opening that describes what is about to happen instead of doing it. Also silence: a clip that opens on a pause reads as a broken video for the half-second before the speech starts.
How does ShortsAI generate hook text?
When the moment scorer selects a clip, it also returns a hook line written from the clip's own transcript, and the clip editor overlays it on the first seconds in a styled font. The scorer favours segments that already open strongly, so most clips start on their hook; the overlay reinforces it for viewers watching with the sound off. Every hook is editable, and the AI can be asked for alternatives.
Common questions
- How long should a video hook be?
- One sentence, delivered inside the first three seconds. On screen, three to seven words.
- Should the hook be spoken or on screen?
- Both. Most short-form viewing starts muted, so the on-screen line carries the hook until the sound is on.
- Is a curiosity gap the same as clickbait?
- No. A curiosity gap is a question the video answers. Clickbait is a promise the video does not keep, and the retention curve shows the difference.