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If there’s one thing you want to improve as a content creator on TikTok, it’s watch time.
Because with a better watch time, TikTok will recommend your videos to more viewers.
After all, you’re helping TikTok achieve its main goal: Keep people on the platform.
However, based on my experience, I can tell you it’s one of the toughest metrics to improve.
And the reason is simple.
The TikTok audience is largely impatient and will only give you a few seconds to determine whether to stay or swipe to the next dance video.
Now, improving TikTok watch time is possible, but it will take a lot of time and experimentation.
In this guide, I’ve presented tips based on my experience and some TikTok creators I’ve studied.
Tips to improve TikTok watch time
1. Address topics that matter to your audience
Think of a topic you have no interest in.
How long will you watch a TikTok video about this topic?
For me, content about soccer (or football) often interests me, especially if it’s about Arsenal.
Meanwhile, makeup content doesn’t interest me.
So, even the best content and hook about makeup may not keep my attention.
Creating content around topics your audience feels indifferent to is like climbing a mountain with a 110-pound backpack.
You’d be exhausted before you even make it to the top.
However, if you create content around topics your audience thinks about daily, you won’t need to be perfect to hold their attention.
How do you understand your audience to know their active interests?
- Watch high-performing videos of competitors and see which topics they address.
- See what people say in the comments of those videos.
- Check out industry subreddits, track the topics, and watch what people say in the comments.
- Present your audience profile to an AI tool (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) and tell it to list their biggest interests.
- Use a listening tool to track what people talk about in your industry.
Once you pick your video topic based on your audience’s interests, you’ve already done a lot of the heavy lifting.
This is why some TikTok videos with average production get millions of views.
Check out this video from Madeline Argy:
While most influencers try to make their lifestyle videos as polished as possible, Madeline lets her personality shine through instead.
Most of her videos are unpolished, yet they still get millions of views.
If you pick one tip from this guide, I’d say it should be this one.
If your TikTok video talks about your audience’s daily thoughts, you won’t need to be the best content creator to get their attention.
While you don’t need to be perfect, you still need excellent execution of your topic to keep people’s attention.
And we’ll explore more of that shortly.
2. Hook the viewer within the first few seconds
When a viewer lands on your TikTok video, they’re analyzing whether to spend their time on it or not.
The result of this analysis will determine whether they watch or not.
The job of your hook is to convince them that this is the video to watch right now.
The hook is so important because once the hook convinces them about the direction of your video, keeping them for the rest of the video becomes easier.
Your hook should open a curiosity loop that the viewer wants to close.
Say something the viewer knows or agrees with, followed by a question they’d like an answer to.
For example, most people know that the US flag has 13 stripes of red and white, but many don’t know why there are 13 stripes.
Say what your video will be about and why they should watch till the end.
Here’s a video by Default Positive:
He starts the video with the story of someone who wanted to be an NHL star but ended up being a social media star.
This is a strong hook, as people want to know how an NHL prodigy became a model instead of an NHL star.
3. Have a tried and tested video structure
Different types of videos will require different structures.
For example, a story will have a different structure compared to a tutorial.
Having a better watch time is not necessarily about reinventing the wheel. Sometimes, it’s about following what already works.
Then, having a structure allows you to recreate a high-performing video multiple times.
To determine the right structure for your TikTok video, research structures for various content formats.
This includes watching high-performing TikTok videos of a particular format and analyzing their structures.
These videos can be in any industry since a structure can work across multiple industries.
While doing this, you’re trying to establish a trend among the high-performing videos.
Once you find a repeatable structure, build your script using this structure.
With time, you can experiment with these structures to improve video performance.
4. Avoid early payoff
If viewers get all the answers within 10 seconds of your video, why should they continue watching?
While you want to provide value as early as possible, you also want to give viewers a reason to stay till the end.
To achieve this, I’d provide value early but keep viewers with the promise of even more value in the video.
Some creators do this by saying something like, “the third point is the most important, and you should watch out for it,” or “the third point alone took my business from $100K to 1 million in monthly recurring revenue.”
You want viewers to feel that the value they’re currently getting pales in comparison to what they’ll get later in the video.
Here’s a trick tutorial video by Pete Firman:
In this video, Pete shows the audience the end result, but they have to watch the video to see how to achieve the result.
5. Keep videos short
Generally, TikTok viewers are impatient. Once they discover a video is long, they swipe away from it.
You may be thinking, “But I see some long TikTok videos that get millions of views.”
Yes, that’s possible. But often, those long videos are from already established creators.
These creators have hundreds of thousands of trusted followers who would watch even their long videos.
But if you’re a small creator trying to build a following, you should create many more short videos than long ones.
With short videos, new viewers are more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt, especially if the video hook looks good.
Even as a big creator, short videos will help you reach more new viewers.
Now, I understand that some topics can’t be explained in 60 seconds. In this case, you can create a long-form version on YouTube and promote it with snippets on TikTok.
People who need the full video will watch it on YouTube.
Creators like Steve Bartlett (Diary of a CEO) posts interesting snippets of his interviews on TikTok to engage his audience.
6. Mix the visuals up regularly
A lot of viewers get bored once the same visuals run for more than 20 seconds.
To continually keep them engaged, you have to change visuals regularly during a video.
Some experts recommend changing every 3 seconds, but I think it depends on the seriousness of your topic.
For serious topics, you can go longer before changing visuals.
Of course, the 3 seconds is only a guide, and the time can be shorter or longer depending on what each point of a video needs.
I’d say it’s really left to your discretion, but don’t bore your audience.
You may be thinking, “but what if I’m doing a talking head video?”
Even for talking head videos, you can still mix up visuals. Common ways to mix up visuals include:
- Switching between different angles of your face
- Adding B-roll to explain what you’re talking about
Here’s a video by Big Manny:
Even though he’s only demonstrating an experiment, he’s switching the views and introducing other elements into the video.
7. Remove unnatural pauses
Unnatural pauses and sounds like uhms and ahhs can make your content sound like you don’t know what to say.
When this happens, people may have less confidence in the message you want to pass across or leave your content altogether.
To remove these pauses, you may have to do it while editing.
However, your ultimate aim should be to eliminate these pauses from your speech. That way, you won’t need excessive editing to your original clip.
Because TikTok is a short-form content platform, you want to keep your pauses to a second or below.
While it’s good to remove the uhms and ahhs, you don’t want to make your video robotic. So, it’s good to leave some of these imperfections to make yourself human and increase engagement.
In fact, a mistake in a video can sometimes increase engagement as people want to correct you in the comments.
Here’s a video by Codie Sanchez:
In this video, she had brief pauses but still managed to get her message through without wasting time.
8. Use seamless loops
When you watch a TikTok video, the video plays in an endless loop until you swipe away.
But for most videos I watch, I already know when they’re ending because of how the creator concludes them. Sometimes, I even swipe away before the end.
Now, there’s a way to ensure most people watch your video to the end.
And that’s by using seamless loops.
The concept of seamless loops is that the end of your video blends with the beginning such that the viewer is well into viewing your video the second time before they realize they missed its end.
Seamless loops are designed to keep viewers watching your entire video, and executing them well will increase your watch time.
One quick way to execute a seamless loop is to ask a question at the end of your video that you start answering at the beginning.
Another way I’ve seen people execute it is by cutting part of the beginning of your video and putting it at the end. This way, there’s no break in the content.
Here’s a seamless loop by Jsmittyy:
This also applies to a talking head video.
9. Ask strategic questions during the video
Questions often open a loop in the human mind. And unless the answer is known, the person on the receiving end will seek answers to close the loop.
Asking questions during a video will pique the viewer’s curiosity, and they’re likely to continue watching to get answers.
However, the questions have to be ones the viewer wants answers to.
When writing your script, you can reverse engineer questions from the answers you want to deliver to your audience.
For example, if you’re creating a tutorial video, you can talk about possible challenges and ask questions on how to avoid them.
Doing this helps you re-engage viewers.
Here’s a TikTok video by Emma:
In the middle of the video, she asks a question that UGC creators would want an answer to.
How to track TikTok watch time
To see the watch time of a TikTok video, visit your profile and click on that video.
At the bottom right corner of the video, click on “More insights.”
Doing this will open up the post analytics, including metrics like total play time and average watch time.
For the account-level metrics, visit TikTok Studio and click Analytics.
Once in Analytics, click on the Content tab. You’ll also find the total play time and average watch time here.
Conclusion
Improving TikTok watch time can be a grind.
So, don’t expect your watch time to double within a week.
But by following these tips and experimenting based on your audience profile, you’ll increase your watch time within weeks.
Since increasing watch time is tough, you need patience when implementing changes in your content.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about TikTok watch time
What is a good TikTok watch time, and how is it actually measured?
A good TikTok watch time depends on your video length. If your video is 6 seconds long, you should shoot for close to 6 seconds on average. However, if your video is 2 minutes long, 30 seconds will still be a very good average watch time. TikTok watch time is measured by the amount of time people spend watching your video.
How long should my TikTok videos be to maximize watch time?
There’s no single video length that guarantees watch time. What increases your chances is a video that engages the viewer and delivers interesting or entertaining information. Your TikTok video should be as short as possible while still conveying your message.
What causes people to swipe away from a TikTok?
There are many reasons people will swipe away, ranging from your video’s inability to keep them to their bad mood. Some of them include having no strong hook, having no clear direction, addressing a topic that’s of no interest to the viewer, being too long, and more.
Does editing affect TikTok watch time, and what editing techniques work best?
Yes, editing or lack of it can affect your watch time. Some common editing techniques include jump cuts, zoom, shooting from different angles, using transitions, using b-roll, etc.
How do I use TikTok Analytics to figure out why viewers are dropping off?
The simplest way is to look at your video watch graph. Then, spot where viewers drop off most. Once you identify these spots, analyze your content around that time to see what’s causing the drop-off.
Samuel is a freelance SaaS writer. He has written for top SaaS websites like GetResponse, SweepWidget, and Hopper HQ to raise awareness, attract users, and drive monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Get in touch with him to rev up your content engine.