Captioning

A/B hook testing

Generating multiple opener variants for the same short-form clip, publishing them as separate posts, and feeding the winning pattern back into the next batch of generations.

A/B hook testing is the practice of generating multiple first-line / first-3-second opener variants for the same source clip, publishing each as a separate post (or to different audience cohorts), and tracking which earns the most retention. The output is two-fold: better immediate posts (the winning hook ships further), and a learned pattern for the next batch (the system biases toward the winning structure). Platforms like TikTok and LinkedIn weight the first-line / first-3-second engagement so heavily that a 20% improvement in hook performance often outweighs a 40% improvement anywhere else in the clip.

Related terms

All glossary terms