What actually gets your videos shared?
November 2026
1 in 640viewers shares a typical TikTok. Useful, fast-starting videos get shared most.
A share puts your video in front of someone new. We measured how often TikToks get shared, whether shared videos reach more people, and ranked everything from our studies by how much it gets shared, across 542,941 TikToks from 1,701 creators.
The top lessons you can use
- Teach something. Lists of tips and how-tos got about 9% more shares than the same creator's other videos; personal stories got 21% fewer shares.
- Get to the point. Saying the promise out loud in the first seconds went with 13% more shares; warming up first, 14% fewer shares.
- Go long on TikTok. Videos over 3 minutes got 24% more shares than the creator's average; videos under 15 seconds, 22% fewer shares.
- Use your own voice. Your own audio got about 14% more shares than someone else's sound.
- Expect sponsored posts to travel less. Brand deals got 19% fewer shares.
Key points
The typical TikTok is shared by 0.16% of viewers. The top quarter of creators get 0.30% or more; 23% of TikToks get no shares at all.
A creator's most-shared quarter of videos got 19% more views than their average. Their most-saved quarter: 34% more views.
Tips and how-tos: about 9% more shares. Personal stories: 21% fewer shares.
Saying the promise out loud: 13% more shares. Warming up first: 14% fewer shares.
Over 3 minutes: 24% more shares. Under 15 seconds: 22% fewer shares.
Brand deals: 19% fewer shares. TikTok Shop posts: 18% fewer shares.
The specifics
About 1 in 640 viewers shares a typical TikTok
Across 1,582 creators, the typical (median) creator's videos are shared by 0.16% of viewers. The top quarter of creators get 0.30% or more and the top 10% 0.51% or more. 23% of TikToks weren't shared at all. Shares per view rose 11% for the same creators since early 2025.
Shared videos reach more people, and so do saved ones
We split each creator's videos into quarters by how much more or less than usual they were shared. Their most-shared quarter got 19% more views than their average video. The same test for saves gave 34% more views, and for likes 19% more views. Comments went the other way: videos with the most comments per view got 40% fewer views, because comments pile up on videos that reach a smaller, closer audience. Shares are rare, which makes the share rate of a small video noisy and can hide part of its link to views, so treat shares and saves as equally worth chasing.
Useful videos get shared, stories don't
Against the same creator's other videos, lists of tips got 9% more shares and how-tos 9% more shares. Personal stories got 21% fewer shares, opinions 7% fewer shares and answering a viewer's question 11% fewer shares. People share things that help someone else.
The hook decides whether it gets passed on
Saying the promise out loud went with 13% more shares, a headline that promises something specific 12% more shares and talking to "you" 10% more shares. Warming up before the point cost 14% fewer shares, and a headline about "I" or "my" 9% fewer shares.
Longer TikToks, your own voice, a moderate pace
TikToks over 3 minutes got 24% more shares than the creator's average and those under 15 seconds 22% fewer shares. Your own audio got about 14% more shares than someone else's sound. Editing at 6–15 cuts a minute went with 7% more shares; one take with no cuts, 7% fewer shares.
Everything we've measured, ranked by shares
Shares per view against the same creator's other videos, from all our TikTok studies. Only results clear of the margin of error are listed.
| Video | Shares | Area | From the study |
|---|---|---|---|
| Over 3 minutes long | +24% | Length and sound | How long should your videos actually be? |
| 1.5–3 minutes long | +14% | Length and sound | How long should your videos actually be? |
| Saying the promise out loud | +13% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| A Part 2 | +12% | Series and replies | Do Part 2s and comment replies actually get more views? |
| A headline that promises something specific | +12% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| A headline that tells viewers to do something | +11% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| Talking to "you" in the first line | +10% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| A list of tips | +9% | What you make | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| A how-to video | +9% | What you make | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| Saying what the headline says | +8% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| Your own audio | +7% | Length and sound | How long should your videos actually be? |
| 6–15 cuts a minute | +7% | How you film and edit | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| Captions plus a headline | +7% | On screen and underneath | Which caption styles actually work? |
| 7 or more hashtags | +6% | On screen and underneath | This study |
| First frame caught mid-sentence | +6% | How you film and edit | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| First frame looking at the camera | +4% | How you film and edit | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| A curiosity-gap headline | −4% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| No hashtags | −5% | On screen and underneath | This study |
| A question in the description | −5% | On screen and underneath | Do Part 2s and comment replies actually get more views? |
| Someone else's sound | −6% | Length and sound | How long should your videos actually be? |
| Replying to a comment | −6% | Series and replies | Do Part 2s and comment replies actually get more views? |
| A warning-style headline | −6% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| An opinion or rant | −7% | What you make | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| One take, no cuts | −7% | How you film and edit | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| 30+ cuts a minute | −9% | How you film and edit | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| A headline about "I" or "my" | −9% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| Answering a viewer's question | −11% | What you make | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| A slow first three seconds | −11% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| Typed-on captions | −11% | On screen and underneath | Which caption styles actually work? |
| Warming up before the point | −14% | The hook | What makes a hook actually work? |
| A TikTok Shop post | −18% | Sponsored | Do sponsored posts actually get fewer views? |
| A brand deal | −19% | Sponsored | Do sponsored posts actually get fewer views? |
| A personal story | −21% | What you make | Does how you film and edit actually matter? |
| Under 15 seconds | −22% | Length and sound | How long should your videos actually be? |
TikTok only: Instagram doesn't report shares. Long videos are often tutorials, so some of these overlap.
Shared and saved videos reach more people
Each creator's videos split into quarters by how much more or less than usual they were shared, saved, liked or commented on. These are the views of the top quarter, against the creator's average video.
TikTok, 1,443 creators with at least 20 videos. Comments pile up on videos that reach a smaller, closer audience, so a high comment rate goes with fewer views.
What a normal share rate looks like
Shares per view on the typical creator's videos, by follower count and by niche.
By follower count
| Followers | Typical | Top quarter |
|---|---|---|
| All creators | 0.17% | 0.34%+ |
| Under 1k | 0.00% | 0.17%+ |
| 1k–10k | 0.14% | 0.28%+ |
| 10k–100k | 0.22% | 0.41%+ |
| 100k–1M | 0.21% | 0.39%+ |
| 1M+ | 0.24% | 0.50%+ |
Shares per 1,000 views, by niche
23% of TikToks weren't shared at all. Shares per view rose 11% for the same creators since early 2025.
Short answers from this study
Questions people ask
How do you get more shares on TikTok?
Make something useful (tips and how-tos got about 9% more shares), say the promise in the first seconds (+13%), and don't be afraid of longer videos (+24% for 3+ minutes).
What is a good share rate on TikTok?
The typical creator's videos are shared by 0.16% of viewers; 0.30% or more is top quarter and 0.51% or more top 10%.
Are shares more important than saves?
Both go with reach. A creator's most-shared videos got 19% more views than their average and their most-saved 34% more views. Shares are rarer and noisier to measure, so we'd chase both.
Do comments help reach?
Not in our data. Videos with unusually many comments per view got 40% fewer views, because comments pile up on videos that reach a smaller, closer audience.
Which niches get shared most?
Manifestation and spirituality (3.9 shares per 1,000 views) and Video editing with AI (3.6). Lowest: Skincare and beauty (1.4).
What about Instagram?
Instagram doesn't show share counts on Reels publicly, so this study is TikTok only.
Images to post, repost and embed
Free to use under CC BY 4.0. Keep the credit on the image, and link to yapanddone.com/studies/what-gets-shared when you can. Feed cards are 4:5 for Instagram and LinkedIn; story cards are 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Stories.
Charts for articles
The hook is the biggest lever
Our hook and length studies have the details behind the biggest share effects.
What makes a hook actually work? How long should your videos actually be?How we did it
- Creators and videos: 1,701 TikTok creators in 10 niches with their posts from January 2025 (542,941 videos), leaving out videos under 14 days old, pinned videos and the video we first found each creator through. Instagram doesn't report shares.
- Share rate: shares per view. "Typical" is the median of each creator's median video; videos with no shares are counted in the rate but can't be compared on a log scale, so the comparisons below use videos with at least one share.
- Shares and reach: each video's views and share rate against the median of the same creator's other videos within ±30 days. Each creator's videos (at least 20) are split into quarters by that relative share rate; each quarter's views are compared with the creator's average across the four quarters, then averaged across creators. The same for saves, likes and comments.
- The ranking brings together share results from our other studies, each comparing a creator's videos with and without a feature (or with their own average). Only results whose 95% range is clear of zero are listed; each links to the study it comes from.
Limitations
- Observational: creators choose what to make, and some features go together (long videos are often tutorials).
- Rates divide by views, so a video that reached many uninterested people has a lower rate even if more people shared it in total.
- The ranking mixes comparisons from different samples (about 540,000 videos for length and series, about 11,000–13,000 labelled videos for hooks, format and captions).
- English-language talking-head creators in 10 niches; other kinds of accounts may differ.
Use it, cite it
The aggregated results are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Journalists, researchers and AI agents can pull the full numbers below; the plain-text summary contains the whole study.
Cite as
Press questions or a custom cut of the data (a niche, a platform, an account size): contact us. We refresh this study each quarter; this page always shows the latest snapshot.