Reels & TikTok Hook Analyzer

Reverse-engineer why a short video works. Feed in Instagram reel or TikTok URLs and get back the opening hook, every on-screen text overlay, the calls to action, the segment-by-segment structure, edit pacing, and the full transcript — as structured data you can sort and filter.

A plain transcript tells you what was said. This tells you how the video was built.

What you get

Every record is one video:

The hook

• hookText — the exact opening line that stops the scroll, verbatim
• hookType — classified as question, bold claim, problem callout, curiosity gap, result reveal, how-to promise, story open, listicle, direct address and more
• hookDeliveredAs — spoken, on-screen text, both, or purely visual
• hookDurationSeconds — how long the hook runs before the main content starts
• hookAnalysis — a short read on why the opening does or does not hold attention

On-screen text

• onScreenText — every text overlay with a timestamp, merged into whole phrases rather than word fragments
• onScreenTextCombined — all overlays as one string, ready for keyword search
• hasBurnedInCaptions — whether subtitle-style captions are burned into the video

Calls to action

• ctas — each CTA with its timestamp ("follow for more", "link in bio", "comment WORD")
• ctaCount — how many CTAs the video contains

Structure and pacing

• structure — a timestamped breakdown of segment roles: hook → problem → solution → proof → CTA
• sceneChanges and cutsPerMinute — how aggressively the video is edited
• isTalkingHead, hasVoiceover, hasMusic — the production format
• contentType — educational, product promo, testimonial, UGC ad, tutorial, vlog and more
• topics — subject keywords

Post context

• Username, caption, post date, duration, likes, comments, plays, shares, and a computed engagementRate
• transcript — full verbatim transcript of the spoken audio

Use cases

• Ad creative research — build a swipe file of hooks that work in your niche, sorted by hook type and engagement rate
• Hook pattern mining — analyse 50 top-performing competitor videos and see which opening formulas dominate
• Content strategy — compare your videos against creators outperforming you on structure, pacing and CTA placement
• UGC and creator briefing — hand creators concrete, evidenced hook formats instead of vague direction
• Competitive monitoring — track how a competitor's messaging and offers change across their video output
• Search and repurposing — find every video where a phrase appears on screen, not just in the caption

How to use

1. Paste Instagram reel and/or TikTok video URLs into Video URLs (up to 50 per run, both platforms can be mixed)
2. Optionally set a Language hint if auto-detection struggles with the audio
3. Leave Include full transcript on to get the spoken transcript alongside the analysis
4. Run the actor — results appear in the Dataset tab

Output format

Each dataset record (abbreviated):

{
  "platform": "tiktok",
  "username": "tiktokcreators",
  "postUrl": "https://www.tiktok.com/@tiktokcreators/video/7630922277026090254",
  "durationSeconds": 72,
  "playCount": 50400,
  "engagementRate": 6.38,
  "hookText": "In less than nine months, I went from 200 followers to almost 50,000.",
  "hookType": "result reveal",
  "hookDeliveredAs": "both",
  "hookDurationSeconds": 3,
  "hookAnalysis": "The hook presents a significant achievement and then promises to reveal 'how I did it', creating a strong curiosity gap.",
  "onScreenText": [
    { "start": "00:00", "text": "In less than nine months, I went from 200 followers to almost 50,000." }
  ],
  "ctas": [{ "start": "00:03", "text": "Follow" }],
  "structure": [
    { "start": "00:00", "label": "hook", "summary": "Creator shares his rapid growth on TikTok" },
    { "start": "00:15", "label": "solution", "summary": "Lists essential equipment for high-quality content" }
  ],
  "sceneChanges": 20,
  "cutsPerMinute": 16.7,
  "hasVoiceover": true,
  "hasMusic": true,
  "hasBurnedInCaptions": true,
  "isTalkingHead": true,
  "contentType": "educational",
  "topics": ["TikTok growth", "content creation", "creator tips"],
  "transcript": "In less than nine months, I went from 200 followers to almost 50,000…"
}

Export to JSON, CSV, Excel or Google Sheets directly from the Apify console.

Notes

• Only public Instagram reels and public TikTok videos can be analysed. Private, deleted or restricted posts return an error field on their record while the rest of the run continues.
• A video that fails for any reason still produces a record with whatever post metadata was resolved, so nothing silently disappears from your export.
• Videos up to 150 MB are supported. Very long videos with dense captions may exceed what a single analysis response can hold — shorter, feed-style videos are the intended target.