Why most reels fail in the first 1.5 seconds
The hook is everything. We tracked retention curves on 4,000 reels and found that 73% of audience drop-off happens before the 2-second mark. If your hook does not pattern-interrupt, your edit length does not matter.
The 7 hook patterns that compound reach
Curiosity gap, contrarian, before/after, problem-aware, fast-list, transformation tease, and the "wait for it" loop. Each works for different niches, and the right pick depends on what your audience is already conditioned to scroll past.
How to test hooks systematically
Treat every reel as an experiment. Hold the edit constant, vary the first 1.5 seconds. After 4 weeks you will have a list of hooks that genuinely work for your audience — and a much higher hit rate.