# What actually gets your videos shared?

A study of 542,941 TikToks from 1,701 creators: how often videos get shared, whether shares go with reach, and every share result from our studies ranked. Published 2026-11-09 by Yap & Done. Videos posted January 2025 to October 2026.

Canonical page: https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/what-gets-shared/ · Data: https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/what-gets-shared/data.json · https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/what-gets-shared/data.csv · License: CC BY 4.0

## The top lessons

- 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 findings

- **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.

## Shares per view against the same creator's other videos (TikTok)

- Over 3 minutes long: +24% (+21% to +28%, 549 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/video-length/)
- 1.5–3 minutes long: +14% (+12% to +15%, 1116 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/video-length/)
- Saying the promise out loud: +13% (+7% to +19%, 557 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- A Part 2: +12% (+4% to +21%, 168 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/replies-and-series/)
- A headline that promises something specific: +12% (+5% to +18%, 554 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- A headline that tells viewers to do something: +11% (+4% to +18%, 363 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- Talking to "you" in the first line: +10% (+6% to +14%, 759 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- A list of tips: +9% (+4% to +14%, 270 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- A how-to video: +9% (+5% to +13%, 383 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- Saying what the headline says: +8% (+3% to +14%, 579 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- Your own audio: +7% (+6% to +9%, 1226 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/video-length/)
- 6–15 cuts a minute: +7% (+3% to +11%, 365 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- Captions plus a headline: +7% (+2% to +13%, 528 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/caption-styles/)
- 7 or more hashtags: +6% (+4% to +8%, 598 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/what-gets-shared/)
- First frame caught mid-sentence: +6% (+2% to +9%, 371 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- First frame looking at the camera: +4% (+1% to +8%, 326 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- A curiosity-gap headline: -4% (-9% to -0%, 614 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- No hashtags: -5% (-6% to -3%, 953 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/what-gets-shared/)
- A question in the description: -5% (-7% to -4%, 1326 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/replies-and-series/)
- Someone else's sound: -6% (-7% to -4%, 1135 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/video-length/)
- Replying to a comment: -6% (-9% to -2%, 481 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/replies-and-series/)
- A warning-style headline: -6% (-11% to -1%, 506 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- An opinion or rant: -7% (-12% to -1%, 190 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- One take, no cuts: -7% (-11% to -3%, 313 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- 30+ cuts a minute: -9% (-15% to -2%, 134 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- A headline about "I" or "my": -9% (-15% to -4%, 458 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- Answering a viewer's question: -11% (-19% to -1%, 61 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- A slow first three seconds: -11% (-18% to -2%, 296 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- Typed-on captions: -11% (-19% to -4%, 175 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/caption-styles/)
- Warming up before the point: -14% (-19% to -9%, 535 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/hooks/)
- A TikTok Shop post: -18% (-26% to -9%, 246 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/sponsored-posts/)
- A brand deal: -19% (-28% to -9%, 270 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/sponsored-posts/)
- A personal story: -21% (-26% to -15%, 145 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/filming-and-editing/)
- Under 15 seconds: -22% (-24% to -20%, 1111 creators; source https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/video-length/)

## Method

- 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.

Cite as: Yap & Done (2026). What actually gets your videos shared? https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/what-gets-shared/