The Retention Pull
Curiosity is the cheapest retention tool you have — open a question early and viewers will sit through the whole video to close it.
An open information gap creates an itch viewers stay to scratch.
Why it works
Curiosity behaves less like mild interest and more like an appetite. Loewenstein's information gap theory — the classic account of why we can't let questions go — showed that once people perceive a gap between what they know and what they want to know, closing it becomes a genuine drive. Open the gap in your first seconds and the viewer stays to resolve it.
Execution steps
- 1
5-Loop-60 template for a 60s video: Hook (0-3s) state mystery unanswered
- 2
Complication (5-12s)
- 3
Human Element (12-25s)
- 4
Twist (25-40s)
- 5
Kicker (40-55s) resolves loop just before end
- 6
Deliver micro-payoffs every 10-15s
- 7
never resolve all loops simultaneously
Where to deploy
- Titles, first-frame text, spoken hooks, mid-roll retention armor for videos over 60 seconds