Video plays at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% are four Meta Ads metrics that count how many times your video ad was played to each point in its length. Together they show where viewers stop watching. Ads Manager also offers a 95% figure alongside them.
How video play quartiles work
For a 20-second video, the 25% column counts plays that reached 5 seconds, the 50% column plays that reached 10 seconds, and so on to the full 20 seconds. Meta counts plays that skipped forward to a point as reaching it, and the figures count plays, not people, so one person watching twice can be counted twice.
The raw numbers mean little on their own. Turn them into rates by dividing each by a base, usually impressions or 3-second video plays. Laid out in order, they draw a retention curve: a steep fall between 0% and 25% points to a weak opening, while a fall between 75% and 100% often just means the ending outstayed its welcome.
The quartiles sit beside other video metrics. ThruPlay counts plays to the end, or to 15 seconds for longer videos. Hook rate, a practitioner metric rather than a Meta column, compares 3-second plays with impressions to judge the opening. Hold rate looks at how many of those viewers stayed longer. The quartiles fill in the middle of that story.
Why it matters
Video is expensive to make, even on a phone, and the quartiles tell you which part to fix rather than throwing the whole thing out. If a 30-second ad for a UK kitchen fitter keeps viewers to the halfway point but loses most of them before the before-and-after reveal, moving the reveal earlier may rescue it.
They also shape audiences. Meta lets you build a video view audience from people who watched a set percentage, such as 50% or 75%. Knowing how many people reach each point tells you whether that audience will be big enough to retarget.
Remember that viewing is not buying. Strong quartiles show a video holds attention; whether it brings enquiries or sales has to be checked against your conversion results. A video that keeps few viewers to the end but sends the right ones to your site can still be the better ad, so read retention alongside cost per result, never instead of it.
Common mistakes
- Reading counts instead of rates. A video with more impressions will have bigger numbers in every column.
- Comparing different lengths. 100% of a 6-second clip is far easier to reach than 100% of a minute.
- Ignoring the first quarter Where most viewers usually leave.
- Putting the offer at the end So only the few who reach 100% ever see it.
- Judging placements together. Retention in Reels and in feeds can differ, so break the figures down by placement.
- Calling a winner too early. With only a few hundred plays, small differences in the curve are noise; wait until each video has had a fair number of impressions.
How to act on it
Add impressions, 3-second plays, the four quartiles and ThruPlays to a saved column set. For each video, divide each quartile by 3-second plays and note where the largest fall happens. Re-edit that section: tighten the opening, move the key message forward, or cut the slow middle. Test the new cut against the old one with similar budgets.
Reading retention and re-editing video to suit it is part of my Facebook video, Reels and Stories ads service.