The news: Worldwide TikTok average retention rates improved across industries in Q3 2026, with food and beverage posting the largest gains and travel leading overall, according to our industry KPI data provided by Dash Social. The top categories show that practical and experience-driven TikTok videos are gaining notable traction.

Retention rates are defined as the average percentage of a TikTok video that a viewer watched.

• Retention rates for food and beverage reached 32.3% in Q3 2026, up from 23% in Q3 2025.
• Home also saw strong growth, increasing from 21% to 29.8% YoY.
• Travel led overall retention rates, reaching 34.6%, up from 29% in Q3 2025.

Behind the growth: Categories like food and beverage and home are well suited to content that shows a process or transformation, such as recipes and DIY projects, giving viewers a reason to continue watching.

Travel content, meanwhile, may benefit from videos that offer useful or immersive glimpses of a destination, such as travel guides, hotel walkthroughs, and firsthand experiences.

Zooming out: Viewers still watch only a portion of the average video, but full-length views aren't necessary for content to make an impact. According to Meta, five seconds of attention accumulated across a week can lead to 32% more offline sales than a single five-second view. This suggests that both longer viewing sessions and repeated shorter exposures can contribute to brand engagement and purchasing decisions.

Recommendations for brands and marketers: Use these findings to inform TikTok creative strategies, prioritizing content that holds attention over videos built around immediate brand exposure.

• Track retention across different types of TikTok videos, such as tutorials or product demonstrations, to determine which creative approaches hold viewers’ attention. These insights can help guide future content strategies.
• Videos that engage viewers and avoid front-loading with brand messaging tend to retain more viewers. Leading with a logo or product pitch can reduce view rates by 44%, according to Billion Dollar Boy. Marketers should prioritize storytelling and entertainment over upfront product pitches, weaving brand and product mentions into the video as the story develops.

Go deeper: Want more TikTok average retention rate data? PRO+ subscribers have access to Industry KPIs, our collection of more than 400 benchmarks in marketing and retail and ecommerce across a range of industries and countries. Click here for more information.