Top hooks and ad formats this week: October 25, 2026

What led this week?

This issue counts the hooks and formats of two samples: the US ads TikTok's Creative Center ranked highest for impressions and click-through rate in the last seven days, and the most-shown active video ads that started in the last two weeks for ten consumer product and app searches in Meta's Ad Library. Each ad is labeled once, with the opening words the label was read from, and every number on this page links to the ads it counts.

The two samples don't look alike. TikTok's top ads come from every industry, so they include concert promotions, games and travel as well as products. The Meta sample is narrower, consumer brands and apps by design. A pattern that shows up on both is worth more attention than one that shows up on one.

Top hooks this week

A hook is how an ad opens: its first line or first seconds, the part that decides whether anyone watches the rest. Here is every hook the sample used, most common first, with its share on each platform.

"Other" is a large group: many ads open with a brand line, an event name or a scene that sets a mood rather than any recognizable hook. If you want a hook library to borrow from, the named ones below are where to look. For the formulas behind them, see TikTok hooks for ads: 12 formulas and 40 example lines.

Bold claims

A bold claim opens with a promise, a number or a flat statement the viewer can't ignore: a discount, a result, a "new" or a "best". It was the most common hook on TikTok, in 13 of 23 ads (57%), and on Meta, in 20 of 52 ads (38%).

It answers "what's in it for me" before the viewer decides to scroll. Some examples below name a discount or a result; others are a confident statement with no number at all, like a line that tells the viewer they're not bad with money.

• This trend is blowing up! Create your video now!momoai.co on TikTok, #2 by impressions, 6,789 likes. Bold claim hook, demo or screen.Open in the TikTok Creative CenterIts row below
• You're not bad with money. You just need better tools.Hello 30 Media on Meta, #28 by impressions for “budgeting app”, started Oct 21. Bold claim hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• Luxury results, without the luxury price 💸.RoC Skincare on Meta, #140 by impressions for “skincare”, started Oct 14. Bold claim hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• LAST CHANCE! 60% off GOLI SALE ends soon!Goli on Meta, #128 by impressions for “gut health”, started Oct 16, 4 versions running. Bold claim hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• Get VISIBLE body transformation in 28 DAYS with Fitify!Fitify on Meta, #72 by impressions for “fitness app”, started Oct 19, 4 versions running. Bold claim hook, demo or screen.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below

Problem callouts

A problem callout names the viewer's frustration in the first line, so the right person recognizes themselves at once. Every one this week came from the Meta sample, in 10 of 52 ads (19%), mostly from fitness apps and gyms, with money apps and a hair-care brand among the rest.

These advertisers sell a fix for something people already feel: a gym that feels intimidating, a bank balance that keeps surprising you, hair that's thinning.

• Don't get caught paying for THIS in 2026Rocket Money on Meta, #6 by impressions for “budgeting app”, started Oct 19, 4 versions running. Problem callout hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• Not knowing doesn't have to stop you from going to the gymPlanet Fitness on Meta, #28 by impressions for “fitness app”, started Oct 19. Problem callout hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• If you're starting to notice hair thinning.Flakes on Meta, #103 by impressions for “hair growth”, started Oct 12, 2 versions running. Problem callout hook, demo or screen.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• WARNING: You're wasting money on 5 different fitness apps!Maxed AI on Meta, #177 by impressions for “fitness app”, started Oct 15. Problem callout hook, other.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below

Questions

A question hook asks the viewer something they want answered, which pulls them into the next few seconds to hear it. Questions ran on both platforms, in 9 of 75 ads (12%) overall: 2 of 23 ads (9%) on TikTok and 7 of 52 ads (13%) on Meta.

The questions in this sample are short and conversational, closer to something a friend would ask than a survey question: about a new drink, the viewer's morning or their bank account.

• this is new?starbucks.app.link on TikTok, #4 by impressions, 5,152 likes. Question hook, voiceover over b-roll.Open in the TikTok Creative CenterIts row below
• Waking up on empty?Mattress Firm on Meta, #91 by impressions for “mattress”, started Oct 21. Question hook, skit.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• WHY IS MY BANK ACCOUNT ALWAYS IN THE RED?EveryDollar on Meta, #10 by impressions for “budgeting app”, started Oct 14, 3 versions running. Question hook, other.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• Want to transform your body in just a few weeks?Stndrd on Meta, #145 by impressions for “fitness app”, started Oct 19. Question hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below

Top ad formats this week

The format is what the video looks like: who or what is on screen, and how it's shot. Here is every format the sample used.

The "other" group here mixes static brand cards and still product shots, scenes that fit none of the formats, and a few ads whose frame was blank or missing. They count as other rather than as a guess.

Talking-head UGC

One person speaking to the camera, filmed like a creator would film it, was the most common format on Meta, in 19 of 52 ads (37%), and still common on TikTok, in 5 of 23 ads (22%). The settings are ordinary rooms, cars, gyms and kitchens, so the ad looks like a person talking rather than a production.

• it's nice actuallystarbucks.app.link on TikTok, #1 by impressions, 40,119 likes. Reaction hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the TikTok Creative CenterIts row below
• "Best Prenatal Fitness App" by Women's Health — try Evlo FREE today!Evlo Fitness on Meta, #55 by impressions for “fitness app”, started Oct 19. Bold claim hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• The real flex of traveling? Finally doing it in Business Class.Lufthansa on Meta, #111 by impressions for “mattress”, started Oct 12. Bold claim hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• Okay, today was so humbling. But it's not gonna bring me downMelanie Duncan on Meta, #151 by impressions for “protein powder”, started Oct 15, 6 versions running. Other hook, talking-head ugc.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below

Voiceover over b-roll

Product or lifestyle footage with a narrator or captions, and nobody speaking on camera, led TikTok's top ads, in 7 of 23 ads (30%). It suits products that are easier to show than to talk about.

• FREE Weighted Blanket with purchaseBob Mills Furniture on TikTok, #7 by impressions, 51 likes. Bold claim hook, voiceover over b-roll.Open in the TikTok Creative CenterIts row below
• Restocking a Family Essential at Costco!Digestive Advantage on Meta, #168 by impressions for “gut health”, started Oct 19, 4 versions running. Problem callout hook, voiceover over b-roll.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• 20% OFF on Steam!store.steampowered.com on TikTok, #8 by impressions, 20 likes. Bold claim hook, voiceover over b-roll.Open in the TikTok Creative CenterIts row below

Demos and screen recordings

Showing the product working, a phone screen, an app or hands using the thing, came next, in 7 of 75 ads (9%). Apps used it most, since the screen is the product.

• Steak, butter, eggs, done, just by talking.Wispr Flow on Meta, #167 by impressions for “protein powder”, started Oct 16, 2 versions running. Bold claim hook, demo or screen.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• WANT RESULTS IN 2 WEEKS?AppedietOfficial on Meta, #135 by impressions for “fitness app”, started Oct 17, 2 versions running. Question hook, demo or screen.Open in the Meta Ad LibraryIts row below
• The Thinnest Case for iPhone now with MagSafe!bare-cases.com on TikTok, #17 by impressions, 5 likes. Bold claim hook, demo or screen.Open in the TikTok Creative CenterIts row below

Brief recommendations

Each brief below pairs one of this week's leading hooks with a format it ran in, and is written as a brief for the studio: name your product where it says "my product" and keep the shape. To try more opening lines for your own product first, use the hook generator.

These are starting points, not guarantees. Make two or three, change only the hook between them, and let the numbers decide, as in how to test UGC ad creatives.

Methodology

Sources. TikTok Creative Center Top Ads and Meta Ad Library, read through two Apify actors chosen for their usage and ratings among actors that need no login: one for TikTok's Top Ads and one for Meta's library. For how the two libraries differ, see the TikTok ad library guide.

Filters and dates. TikTok: the US, the last seven days, all industries and ad types, the top ads by impressions and by click-through rate. Meta: the US, active video ads, ten consumer product and app search terms as exact phrases, each term's most-shown ads, kept only when they started within the two weeks before this issue. The table gives the actors, filters, how many ads each source returned, how many were kept and what the run cost.

Keeping each ad once. An advertiser often runs the same creative under several library entries. Entries from one advertiser with the same opening copy count once, and no advertiser counts more than three times per source, so one brand's variants can't decide the week.

Labels. A language model read each ad's copy and one frame and chose one hook and one format from fixed lists, quoting the opening words it read the hook from, either from the copy or from text on screen. A quote it said came from the copy had to be the copy's own opening words, or the ad was left out. Quotes read off the frame can't be checked that way.

Limitations. Without a login, TikTok's Creative Center lists only a few dozen ads per ranking and often names no brand, so a website stands in. Meta's library doesn't report impressions or reach for US commercial ads, so its ranking is the library's own order, not a measured one. Labels come from copy and one frame, not the audio, so a spoken hook that the copy doesn't carry is read from on-screen text or counted as other. These are samples of what advertisers ran, not a census of every ad, and the categories searched shape the Meta results.

Every ad this week

Every ad counted above is listed here once, grouped by hook, with its opening words, its format and what the library says of it. Each name opens the ad's own library page.