- Comprehensive score
- Your overall score, 0–100, for how well the whole ad works. It leans hardest on the hook, since that decides everything after it. The letter grade (F up to A+++) is just this number in report-card form.
- Hook
- How well the opening grabs attention — for video, the first few seconds before someone scrolls past. Higher means harder to ignore.
- Engagement
- How likely the ad is to earn likes, saves, shares, and comments once it has someone's attention. Higher means more reaction.
- Clarity
- How quickly someone understands what's being sold and why they'd want it — even with the sound off.
- CTA (call to action)
- Your call to action — the single, clear next step you ask the viewer to take (shop, sign up, comment, tap the link).
- Brand fit
- How well the ad fits the brand it's for — does it look and sound like something that brand would actually put out?
- Native feel
- How much the ad feels at home where it runs instead of like an interruption — a TikTok that feels like organic TikTok, a billboard that feels like a billboard. Polished, TV-commercial looks get marked down on social feeds.
- Pacing
- How well the ad holds attention over time — the rhythm of cuts and on-screen changes for video, or how the eye flows across a static ad.
- Hook rate
- Predicted share of viewers who watch past the first 3 seconds. Roughly: under 20% is weak, 30%+ is strong, 40%+ is viral territory.
- Hold rate
- Predicted share of viewers still watching from 3 to 15 seconds in — whether the ad keeps the people the hook caught.
- Completion rate
- Predicted share of viewers who watch to the end. On short-form, ~70%+ is what tends to unlock wider distribution.
- Engagement rate
- Predicted share of viewers who react in any way (like, save, share, comment).
- Save rate
- Predicted share of viewers who save the ad for later — one of the strongest signals platforms reward.
- CTA click-through rate
- Predicted share of viewers who tap your link or call-to-action.
- Average watch time
- Predicted average number of seconds a viewer watches before leaving.
- Comment rate
- Predicted share of viewers who leave a comment — comments push an ad wider on most feeds.
- Share rate
- Predicted share of viewers who send the ad to someone else — the strongest signal that it spreads on its own.
- Follow conversion (CVR)
- Predicted share of viewers who follow the account after seeing the ad — net-new audience it earns.
- Hook formula
- The proven opening style the ad uses to grab attention — like a curiosity gap, a bold claim, or social proof.
- Ad format
- The kind of ad this is — a talking-head, a testimonial, an unboxing, a demo, and so on.
- Distribution likelihood (FYP)
- How likely the platform is to push this ad into discovery (the For You feed / recommendations) rather than only to existing followers.
- Sound / trend alignment
- Whether the audio is riding a current trend, which platforms tend to boost.
- Hashtag effectiveness
- Whether the hashtags / keywords are likely to help the right people find the ad.
- First-frame thumb-stopper
- Whether the very first frame is eye-catching enough to stop a scrolling thumb.
- Spark Ad suitability
- How well the creative would work as a paid, boosted post (e.g. a TikTok Spark Ad) — it needs to feel organic to qualify.
- Vertical
- The product category / industry the ad sits in (beauty, fitness, SaaS, food, etc.). It shapes what 'good' looks like, since each category has its own winning patterns.
- CPM
- Cost per 1,000 times the ad is shown. The headline cost of buying reach.
- CPC
- Cost per click — what you pay each time someone taps the ad.
- CVR (conversion rate)
- Conversion rate — the share of people who click and then actually buy or sign up.
- Creative lifespan
- Roughly how many days the ad runs well before viewers tire of it and performance drops.
- Suggested daily budget
- A sensible daily spend to test the ad with before scaling up.
- Variants to test
- How many different versions of the ad to make and test before you commit budget.
- Vertical archetype
- The repeatable pattern the top ads in this category tend to follow — and exactly where this ad differs from it.
- Emotional positioning
- What the buyer is really after underneath the product (the deeper need), versus what the product literally does — and how to speak to it.
- Production craft
- Hands-on craft notes — lighting, editing rhythm, close-up detail shots, and sound — you can act on.
- Macro shots
- Specific close-up / detail shots to add (for video) or visual elements to strengthen (for a static ad).
// GLOSSARY
Ad-metrics glossary
Every score and metric in an Ad Bench report, in plain English — no ad-tech background needed. If a word on your report isn't obvious, it's defined here (and you'll find the same definitions behind the ? icons on the report itself).