Why do viewers leave right before the end?

The Diagnosis

Viewers leaving at 90% aren't bored — they're finished. Somewhere before the actual end, your video resolved its promise: the question answered, the result shown, the list completed. Everything after that moment is epilogue, and feeds have trained everyone to exit at epilogues. The outro makes it worse — 'so yeah, that's pretty much it' and the subscribe speech are literal exit signs. Two fixes. First, withhold structurally: keep one meaningful payoff — the best example, the twist, the kicker — for the true final beat, so finishing is the only way to collect. Second, end like you mean it: the bookend (mirroring your opening near the close) makes the ending a payoff in itself, and on short-form, a seamless loop turns the ending into the next beginning, converting your leak point into replays. Resolve at the end, not before it — and never announce the landing.