A minimal Ads Manager column set split into primary metrics (spend, purchases, cost per purchase, ROAS — the only ones to optimise on) and storytelling metrics (frequency, CPM, unique outbound CTR, first-frame retention, hook/thumbstop, hold, completion, shares), with definitions and the thresholds practitioners use.

Meta ad metrics: what to track

TL;DR

Primary metrics tell you what works and are the only ones to optimise on: amount spent, purchases (or leads), cost per purchase, ROAS.¹²
Storytelling metrics explain why: frequency, reach/impressions, CPM, unique outbound CTR, cost per link click, hook rate, hold rate, average play time, post shares.³⁴
Sort by spend, high to low — ads Meta spends on are ones it deems relevant; a big spender that misses the goal is the first thing to fix.⁵⁶
Thresholds: frequency > 5 over 7 days → you’re likely hitting the same (retargeting-like) people; first-frame retention > 90%; benchmark hook/hold against your own account average first, not industry numbers.⁷⁸⁹
Analyse first, then optimise — don’t tweak while you’re still working out what is working and why.¹⁰

Details

Dara Denney’s column set (2025). Delivery, bid strategy, attribution setting, budget; then spend, purchases, cost per purchase, ROAS; then frequency, reach, impressions, cost per reach, CPM; then unique outbound CTR (the “purest” CTR: unique people who actually reached the landing page), cost per link click, hook rate, hold rate, average video play time, post shares.¹³⁴

Hook rate (custom metric): % who watched the first 3 seconds of a video. Hold rate: % who watched 15 seconds, or the whole ad if under 15 s. There’s no hook/hold for statics — only CTR, which runs lower under broad targeting.⁴¹¹
She prefers hold rate over average play time, which is inflated for long videos.¹²
Post shares: Meta says shareability is its top organic success signal, so she tracks it on ads too.¹²
In one account the average hook rate was ~30% and hold ~7–8%; the winning ad roughly doubled hold — a sign of a strong creative.¹³¹⁴
CPM is industry- and product-dependent; she uses Varos for benchmarks.¹⁵

Evan Lee’s creative metric chain (Motion, 2026): spend → first-frame retention (did they even start the video? fix thumbnail/first frame if < 90%) → thumbstop ratio (3-second views; Meta’s standard, TikTok offers 2 s or 6 s) → 100% video play rate → outbound CTR → the bottom-line metric (cost per purchase/lead, ROAS).⁸¹⁶¹⁷ Engagement without bottom-line results is not a win.¹⁸

Advanced reads. Breakdowns by age, gender and placement (e.g. a test skewing 50+ may justify creative for that group) and comparisons against your own top performers and competitors’ long-running ads.¹⁹²⁰

Disagreements / caveats

Hold-rate definitions differ: Dara uses 15-second (or full) views; the app-side note Paid social creative testing for apps — levers, hook/hold rate, 3-day tests lists two definitions with a 30–40% hook target. Fix one definition per account.
Part of Dara’s walkthrough (≈17:30–27:00 of the video) is lost to transcription errors, including her Motion report examples.

Which Meta ad metrics to track, and how to read them

Meta ad metrics: what to track

TL;DR

Details

Disagreements / caveats

See also

Which Meta ad metrics to track, and how to read them

Meta ad metrics: what to track

TL;DR

Details

Disagreements / caveats

See also

Footnotes