Meta video ad metrics: what ThruPlay and each play counts

Meta counts a ThruPlay when your video plays for at least 15 seconds, or to 97% of its length if it is shorter, and a 6-second ThruPlay works the same way at 6 seconds. A 3-second video play needs 3 seconds of the video played, replays excluded, while a 2-second continuous video play needs 2 seconds in a row, and Meta says most such plays have at least half the video's pixels on screen. Video plays at 25%, 50%, 75%, 95% and 100% count every play that reached that point, "including plays that skipped to this point." And since October 29, 2019, none of these metrics is named a view: Meta renamed its video "views" to "plays" and removed 10-second views. A separate metric, Views, counts a video ad "played for at least 1ms".

Nine of these metrics, cost metrics included, carry Meta's "in development" label, and Meta's pages disagree with each other in several places. In Ads Manager you find them under Columns > Video engagement.

What is a ThruPlay?

Meta's video ad metrics page defines ThruPlays as "The number of times your video was played to completion, or for at least 15 seconds." The metric's glossary page is now titled 15-second ThruPlays, and it says what completion means:

Each 15-second ThruPlay counts when your video was played for at least its set duration or, for videos shorter than that duration, after at least 97% of the video was played.

Meta's About ThruPlay page gives the reason for 97%: "people frequently drop off when credits roll or content fades out before the end of a video." The same page says "ThruPlay is available at durations of 6 seconds or 15 seconds". So where a ThruPlay is counted depends on how long your video is:

On a short video, a ThruPlay is a play to the end, by Meta's 97% definition. On a video longer than 15 seconds, it is not: it counts at the 15-second mark, before your ending.

Two rules apply to both. A ThruPlay counts video played, not time passed: "This metric counts how much of a video was played, instead of the amount of time that passed while the video was playing." And replays don't add up. Meta's calculation page gives the example of someone who watches the first 10 seconds, then rewinds and watches the first 5 again: "This wouldn't be considered a 15 second (ThruPlay) video play because the rewatched segments don't count toward the metric."

ThruPlay is also a performance goal. Meta lists it "in the Awareness and Engagement objectives for both auction and Reservation campaigns", and the billing differs by length: "ThruPlay 15s is available on CPM or ThruPlay billing. 6s ThruPlay is available on CPM billing." Paying per ThruPlay is an option on the 15-second goal only. On the 6-second goal you pay by CPM. The 6-second ThruPlays metric is labeled in development. The ThruPlay glossary entry has the placements, and Meta video ad best practices covers what 15 seconds does to Stories and in-stream.

What's the difference between 2-second and 3-second video plays?

They are not one ladder. The 2-second play needs one second less, but its seconds must run in a row. The definitions, from each metric's glossary page:

The 50% is a "most", not a rule. The 2-second page adds: "In some cases, such as when part of the screen is obscured by a system or app overlay, less than 50% of a video's pixels may be in view."

Meta's 3-second page gives two examples. "If someone plays a 2-second video for 1.94 seconds, or a 3-second video for 2.91 seconds, that counts as a 3-second video view." And "If someone plays a 3-second video for 2 seconds, then rewinds and watches the first 2 seconds again, this will not count".

The two also do different jobs. Meta's 2-second page says "2-second continuous video plays is a performance goal and a billing option within the awareness and engagement objectives". The 3-second play is the one Meta's two attention ratios are built on: hook rate is 3-second plays divided by impressions, and hold rate is ThruPlays divided by 3-second plays. Both ratios are labeled in development too.

What counts as a video view on Facebook?

None of the video play counts has been named a view since October 29, 2019, but a separate ads metric now is. Meta's page on metrics being removed records the rename. Meta called these "merely naming updates. There will be no change to how these metrics are calculated."

Meta's Views metric page defines that separate metric: "The number of times your ads were played or displayed." How it's calculated:

This metric counts the number of times your video ads were played for at least 1ms plus the number of times your photo or text ads were on screen.

The page adds that "This method of counting views differs from industry standard for viewable impressions": views "count again if an ad is on screen and someone scrolls down, and then scrolls back up to the same ad", and "Views are also counted as long as 1px is on screen." It carries no "in development" label.

So "a view" on a Meta ad is whichever count you choose. Views is the loosest of them: a 1ms play counts, a scroll back to the ad counts again, and 1 pixel on screen is enough. Of the play counts, a video play is the loosest: "The number of times your video starts to play." Meta's video plays page says it counts "either when a video starts to play automatically or because someone clicked to play the video", leaves out replays, and leaves out invalid traffic "such as from non-human sources, like a bot."

An impression doesn't need a play at all. Meta's impressions page says "a video is not required to start playing for the impression to be counted," and that "This method of counting video impressions differs from industry standards for video ads."

Whether a video starts at all depends on the placement. Meta's playing specifications set the share of the video's pixels that must be on screen:

Organic posts are a separate system. A Meta for Creators post of November 14, 2024 says that on reels and videos "Plays will now be called Views", in Meta Business Suite and Professional Dashboard. It adds that "Views will be additionally available across all ads measurement surfaces for all ad formats". The Views metric page above bears that out for ads.

Do video plays at 25% count skips?

Yes. Meta's 25% page says:

The metric counts when the 25% point in your video was played. This may include plays from people who played a quarter of your video from the beginning, and may also include plays from people who skipped to the 25% point and played your video from there.

The 50%, 75% and 95% pages follow the same pattern, and the 100% page keeps "including plays that skipped to this point." Meta's calculation page calls these "milestone metrics", as opposed to the "duration metrics" above.

That changes how to read them. The five counts are not a curve of people who watched continuously. Someone who drags to the middle is counted at 50% without having watched the first half.

They also don't line up with ThruPlay. Read the two definitions together: on a 10-second video, a play from the start to 9.7 seconds counts a ThruPlay; Meta's 100% page doesn't say whether it uses the same 97% rule. Someone who skips to the last second and plays it reaches 100%, but has played too little of the video for a ThruPlay. "Video plays at 100%" is also labeled in development; the 25% to 95% counts are not.

Two more rules from the metrics page: on a boosted live video, "percentile metrics (such as video plays at 25%) aren't available during the live broadcast", and on a carousel ad the video metrics "sum the total values for the videos in your ad."

What is video average play time?

The one duration metric that includes replays. Meta's average play time page:

This metric is calculated as the amount of time spent playing your video (including replays for a single impression), divided by the total number of video plays. Because this metric includes replays for a video, the reported average video watch time could be longer than the length of the video.

So if people replay a video, its average play time can come out longer than the video itself. The 2-second, 3-second and ThruPlay counts work the other way: Meta's calculation page says they use "the unique seconds watched methodology". Average play time is labeled in development.

Which Meta video metrics are "in development"?

Meta's labeling page calls these "measurements we're still testing", fine for "Directional guidance" and "To gauge advertising performance". It says not to use them for "Historical comparison of advertising performance" or "Strategic planning or important business decisions."

One oddity: the 15-second ThruPlay count carries no label, but the cost per 15-second ThruPlay does. Meta's page says the label comes off "Once we've completed testing and established the way a metric is calculated".

What did Meta remove or rename?

Meta's removal page dates the video changes, and its other pages fill in the rest:

Meta's stated reason for dropping 10-second views: "We've found that ThruPlay optimization drives cost-efficient brand lift that's on par with 10s video views, and exceeds 10s video views for ad recall lift." The page shows no method for that claim.

Where Meta's metric pages contradict each other

Every page above is live. They still contradict each other:

• MRC accreditation. Meta's 2-second goal page says these plays "are accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC)". Meta's MRC page says impressions "for video creatives, have not been accredited by the MRC", and "Metrics outside of Impressions are not currently accredited by the MRC."
• How 2-second plays are timed. Less a contradiction than two descriptions that are hard to square. The 2-second page says the count "only increments after 2 seconds of time has passed on the video player and in real time". The calculation page lists it under "the unique seconds watched methodology".
• People or times. Each milestone page counts "The number of times your video was played". The calculation page and Meta's video metrics overview say milestone metrics measure "the number of people" who reached each point.
• The missing 95%. The calculation page lists the milestone metrics as 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. The overview page lists 95% as well.
• Average play time's denominator. The average play time page divides by "the total number of video plays", and the video plays metric "excludes replays". The calculation page divides by "the total number of video plays (including replays)".
• The 50%. The 2-second glossary page opens with "2-second continuous video plays will have at least 50% of the video pixels in view", then says "Most" will, then gives the exceptions.
• Old names. The metrics page still says "ThruPlays" and "Cost per ThruPlay"; the pages it links to are titled "15-second ThruPlays" and "Cost per 15-second ThruPlay". Its 2-second line still says "video views", as do the 3-second page's own examples, seven years after the rename.

None of this changes what you see in a report, but two readers of Meta's documentation can come away with different answers.

Outdated claims about ThruPlay and views

Three guides say something Meta's current pages don't.

• Paying only per ThruPlay. A guide dated 2024 says ThruPlay ensures "that advertisers only pay when their video ads are watched to completion or for at least 15 seconds." Meta's About ThruPlay page: "ThruPlay 15s is available on CPM or ThruPlay billing. 6s ThruPlay is available on CPM billing." Per-ThruPlay billing is a choice on one of the two goals.
• A view as three seconds of any video. An older guide, footer dated 2018, answers "What counts as a view?" on Facebook with "When someone sees the first three seconds of a video of any length". Meta's 3-second page counts a video shorter than 3 seconds at "97% of its total length", Meta renamed the metric 3-second video plays in 2019, and the metric Meta now calls Views counts a video ad played for at least 1ms.
• ThruPlay and Messenger. A guide from July 8, 2019 says "ThruPlay isn't available for Messenger or right-column placements". Meta's About ThruPlay page now lists "Messenger: Stories". The same guide tells you to compare "2-Second Continuous Video Views, 3-Second Video Views, 10-Second Video Views, and ThruPlays". Meta removed the 10-second metrics on October 29, 2019, less than four months later. The 10-second metrics still existed when it was written. Check the date on any guide before you use it.

How to read Meta's video metrics

1. Pick the count for the question. Did it start? Video plays. Did the opening stop the scroll? 3-second plays and hook rate. Did people stay? ThruPlays and hold rate.
2. Don't read plays at 25% to 100% as continuous watching. Skips count at every step.
3. Don't read a ThruPlay as a finished ad on a video longer than 15 seconds. If you want a ThruPlay to mean the ad was played to the end, or to 97% of it, cut to 15 seconds or less, or 6 for the 6-second goal.
4. Expect average play time to run long on short videos. It includes replays and can exceed the video's length.
5. Don't trend in-development metrics over months. That includes 2-second plays, 6-second ThruPlays, plays at 100% and average play time.
6. Compare within a placement. A video needs 25% of its pixels on screen to play in Instagram Feed and 100% in Stories, so play counts aren't measured the same way across them.
7. Don't read a drop in ThruPlays as fatigue by itself. Meta's creative fatigue status compares cost per result with your past ads, not a video metric.

Sources

• About video ad metrics — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• 15-second ThruPlays — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• About ThruPlay — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• 6-second ThruPlays — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• About video ad metrics calculation — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• About video metrics for ads — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• 2-Second Continuous Video Play — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• About 2-second continuous video play — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• About impressions accredited by the Media Rating Council (MRC) — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• 3-second video plays — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Video plays — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Views — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Video plays at 25%, 50%, 75%, 95% and 100% — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Video average play time — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Cost per 2-second continuous video play, Cost per 3-second video play, Cost per 6-second ThruPlay and Cost per 15-second ThruPlay — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Hook rate and Hold rate — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Impressions — Meta Business Help Center metric glossary (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Video ad playing specifications by placement — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• About estimated, in development and third-party metrics — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• About metrics being removed — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• About the video views objective in Meta Ads Manager — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Making Ad Metrics Clearer — Meta for Business, February 22, 2018 (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Introducing Views to simplify content distribution metrics — Meta for Creators, November 14, 2024 (accessed October 22, 2026)

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The guides contrasted above are quoted to show what they say, not as sources. Meta revises these pages without notice, and several of these metrics are in development, so check the live pages before you build reporting on them.

Terrads plans video ads at about 6, 15 or 30 seconds, so you can plan a cut around the ThruPlay goal you run, and can make three new openings for a finished ad to test against each other.