▲ DURABLE Bold claim hooks run longest · median 70d▲ FRAGILE Pattern interrupt hooks burn out fastest · median 28d▲ SIGNAL bold-claim ads reach a year 12× more often than pattern interrupts▲ DATA 4,000+ live ads, each tagged by hook type▲ SPLIT every hook type runs longer on Google than on Meta▲ METHOD hook = the first thing the ad shows or says▲ DURABLE Bold claim hooks run longest · median 70d▲ FRAGILE Pattern interrupt hooks burn out fastest · median 28d▲ SIGNAL bold-claim ads reach a year 12× more often than pattern interrupts▲ DATA 4,000+ live ads, each tagged by hook type▲ SPLIT every hook type runs longer on Google than on Meta▲ METHOD hook = the first thing the ad shows or says

// the hook survival taxonomy

Every ad hook has a shelf life.

We tagged the opening hook of 4,000+ ads running right now behind ~100 growing companies, then measured how long each ad has stayed live. The kind of hook predicts the shelf life. A bold claim runs a median of 70 days and the tail reaches years. A pattern interrupt runs a median of 28 days and rarely sees a birthday. An ad that keeps running is an ad that keeps paying its way, so the hooks that survive longest are the ones the market keeps rewarding.

4,000+
live ads classified
each tagged by hook type and run time
70d
median run: bold claim
the hook that ages best
28d
median run: pattern interrupt
the hook that burns out first
12×
bold-claim edge at 1 year
how much more often it reaches a year
Section A · survival by hook type

How long does each kind of hook survive?

Each line is the share of currently-running ads of that hook type that have stayed live for at least that many days. The gap is real: bold claims and social proof sit highest, pattern interrupts drop away first. Switch the slice to see the same ranking hold inside SaaS and DTC. Hover or tap to read every type at any age.

Bold claimn=1428
Social proofn=128
Curiosityn=1442
Problem agitationn=578
Pattern interruptn=177
0%25%50%75%100%7d30d90d180d1y2y3ydays an ad has been running →systemaic.com↑ % of live ads still running
Hook typeMedian runPast 90 daysPast 1 year
Bold claim70d43.1%19.7%
Social proof52d37.5%21.9%
Curiosity46d37.7%15.6%
Problem agitation39d28.2%11.2%
Pattern interrupt28d19.2%1.7%
Section B · the archetypes

The five hooks, ranked by how long they last

Ordered most durable to least. Each card is a real, currently-running example, quoted from the public ad libraries and drawn from the longest-running ads of its type. The copy is the hook: the first line the scroll meets.

Bold claimmost durable

States a big, specific promise up front.

70d median run19.7% past 1 year
“A New Kind Of Makeup”Saie
“Vet-Developed Dog Food”The Farmer's Dog
“100% Natural. 100% Effective.”Primally Pure
Social proof#2

Leads with who already trusts it.

52d median run21.9% past 1 year
“Cookware chefs actually use. Over 100k 5-star reviews.”Made In
“Founded & Made by OB/GYNs.”Perelel
“Founded by 4 Female PhDs.”OneSkin
Curiosity#3

Opens a loop the viewer has to close.

46d median run15.6% past 1 year
“Why does this pair of jeans turn out to be my favorite purchase ever.”Halara
“DIY Nutrient Mix for Homemade Dog Food”The Farmer's Dog
“7 Days Of Giving Happening Now”Primally Pure
Problem agitation#4

Names the pain before the fix.

39d median run11.2% past 1 year
“Stop chasing receipts.”Ramp
“Ditch the razor, redness, and ingrowns.”Bushbalm
“B2B attribution: one tool to track the journey.”Dreamdata
Pattern interruptleast durable

Breaks the scroll with the unexpected.

28d median run1.7% past 1 year
“This is so cute. It's exactly what I needed.”Halara
“I'm really sorry. We only have nine colors for these wide-leg jeans.”Halara
“I probably get more competitive when I'm racing my friends.”LMNT
Keep digging

The rest of the growth data

→ The Ad Graveyard: how long ads live→ Distribution fingerprints: how companies grow→ The Hook Library: 100 winning hooks

Method: every ad counted is live right now (still marked active) in the public Meta or Google ad libraries, bound to a company by verified page or domain, never by name. A model reads each ad and tags its opening hook into one archetype; an ad's age is its run time to date, so “surviving N days” is the share of currently-live ads of that type that have already run at least that long. Only splits with at least 30 ads are shown. A residual “other” bucket (296 ads of un-hooked evergreen catalog inventory) is held out of the ranking. Figures round and update automatically. Built from the same ad libraries and traffic data behind our daily teardowns.

Run a free growth audit on your own domain →