--- title: "What Is Completion Rate? Definition and Examples | RentAnOTT" description: "Completion rate is the share of viewers who watch a video to the end. See how it is measured for titles, series and ads, and what a drop-off curve shows." url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/completion-rate" markdown_url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/completion-rate.md" category: "Metrics" updated: "2026-10-05" --- # What is completion rate? Completion rate is the percentage of plays of a video that reach the end, or a defined point near it. It shows whether a title holds the people who start it. ## 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. ## Completion rate on RentAnOTT RentAnOTT analytics report views, watch time and completion for every title, on every plan. [See features](https://www.rentanott.com/features). ## Related terms - [Watch time](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/watch-time) — Watch time is the total amount of time viewers spend actually playing video on a service, usually reported in hours per month. It is the most direct measure of how much a service is used. - [Video analytics](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/video-analytics) — Video analytics is the measurement of how a streaming service is used and how it performs: who the viewers are, what they watch and for how long, what revenue results and how reliably the video plays. - [Retention rate](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/retention-rate) — Retention rate is the percentage of subscribers, or users, who are still with a service at the end of a period out of those who were there at the start. It is the mirror image of churn rate. - [Episode unlock](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/episode-unlock) — Episode unlock is a pay-per-episode model in which the first episodes of a series are free and each later episode is unlocked individually, usually with in-app coins, by watching an ad or with a pass. - [Microdrama](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/microdrama) — A microdrama is a serialized fiction story told in very short episodes, typically one to three minutes each, filmed vertically for viewing on a phone. A series often runs to dozens of episodes, each ending on a hook that leads into the next. - [Mid-roll ad](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/mid-roll) — A mid-roll ad is a video advertisement that plays in a break partway through the content, in the manner of a television commercial break. It is the main ad position for long-form and live video. - [Recommendation engine](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/recommendation-engine) — A recommendation engine is the system that chooses which titles to suggest to each viewer, based on what they and similar viewers have watched and on the properties of the titles themselves. It fills rows such as recommended for you and because you watched. ## Further reading - [Microdrama and short-form streaming platforms](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs/microdrama-short-form-streaming-platforms) - [OTT revenue calculator](https://www.rentanott.com/tools/ott-revenue-calculator) - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing) ## Frequently asked questions ### What is a good completion rate? It depends on length and format. Short episodes complete far more often than feature films. Compare titles of similar length within your own catalog. ### Does completion mean watching in one sitting? Usually not. Most services count a viewer who finishes a title across several sessions as one completion. ### Why do advertisers care about completion rate? An ad watched to the end has delivered its whole message. Streaming video ads on television complete at very high rates, which is part of why they command higher prices. All 163 terms: [Streaming and OTT glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary). ## Book a demo Tell RentAnOTT what you are launching. The team walks through the platform and maps the path to go-live around your catalog, markets and revenue model. Book a demo: https://www.rentanott.com/contact ## More from RentAnOTT - [Home](https://www.rentanott.com/index.md) — What RentAnOTT is, what every plan includes, and how launch works - [Features](https://www.rentanott.com/features.md) — Every core feature and optional add-on - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing.md) — Platform tiers, apps, add-ons, usage rates and example bills in INR and USD - [Free tools](https://www.rentanott.com/tools.md) — OTT app builder and calculators for streaming revenue, bandwidth, bitrate and pricing - [Insights](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs.md) — All streaming business articles - [Glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary.md) — Definitions of streaming and OTT terms - [Book a demo](https://www.rentanott.com/contact.md) — Talk to RentAnOTT about your launch Full site in one file: https://www.rentanott.com/llms-full.txt