How to calculate completion rate
Divide the number of plays that reached the completion point by the number of plays started. Because few people watch credits, completion is usually defined as reaching 90% or 95% of the running time. If 4,000 of 10,000 plays reach that point, the completion rate is 40%.
Three places it is used
- Titles: how many viewers finish a film or an episode
- Series: how many who start episode one reach the final episode, and where the others stop
- Advertising: the share of ads played through to the end, also called video completion rate, which advertisers buy against
The drop-off curve
A single percentage hides where people leave. Plotting the share of viewers still watching at each minute shows it: a steep fall in the first minutes means the opening or the description set the wrong expectation; a cliff in the middle points at a specific scene or an ad break.
For short-form series, completion per episode shows exactly where a story loses its audience, and so where a paywall should and should not sit.
What it is good for
Completion is a fairer comparison between titles than hours watched, since it does not favor long titles. Titles with high completion are the ones to promote and to commission more of; titles with many starts and low completion are being oversold by their artwork or placement.
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