ContHunt is the short-form research tool for this check. It keeps a public TikTok next to the words on it, so you can see which line the footage actually proves. A caption that already sounds like your brief is still just a caption.
How to score a TikTok you do not own is the rubric that flags the mismatch. This page is what you do after the flag. You pick one line for the brief, and you write the other lines down so a creator does not copy them by accident.
The line that enters the brief is the line the frame proves. A public TikTok can state a claim in the caption, a second claim in the speech, and a third claim in the on-screen text. ContHunt keeps the video next to those three lines so they are not merged into a sentence the camera never made. If the frame shows the claim, you can test it by filming your own proof in the same place. If the frame shows a different claim, brief the frame and tell the creator to leave the other lines out. If the frame shows none of the claims, the words check fails and none of them enter the brief. Comments can repeat one of the three lines. They do not invent a fourth. A sticker is still a line, not a proof. A later edit by the creator is a different video and needs its own note.
Which three lines are you reading?#
A public TikTok can make three claims at once. They are not one claim with three wordings.
| Line | Where it lives | What you copy into the note |
|---|---|---|
| Caption | Under the video | The claim, in the words that were posted |
| Speech | What the person says | The claim, in the words they say |
| On-screen text | Burned into the picture | The claim, in the words on the frame |
| Footage | What the camera shows | The proof, and the second it appears |
Write the three lines before you reconcile them. A merged sentence is a video you invented. The score belongs to the video that was posted.
On-screen text is part of what the viewer sees, and it can still disagree with the camera. A sticker that says “48 hour patch” over a bathroom routine is a disagreement inside the frame. The sticker does not become the proof.
Which line can enter the brief?#
The line the footage proves. The other two stay in the note, labeled as the disagreement.
- The frame shows the claim. That claim can be kept, or you can test it by filming your own proof in the same place.
- The frame shows a different claim. Brief the frame. The caption is the line you tell the creator to leave out.
- The frame shows none of the claims. The words check fails. The cleverest of the three lines still stays out of the brief.
Do not repair the caption in your notes and then score the repair. The posted caption, the posted speech, and the posted frame are the record. A later edit by the creator is a different video, and it needs its own note.
TikTok’s creative best practices tell advertisers to put the point in the opening seconds. A claim that exists only in the caption arrives after the viewer has already been given a different picture. Treat that caption as a second video the camera never made.
When do the comments break the tie?#
Comments vote only when they repeat one of the three lines. They do not invent a fourth.
“What product is that?” means the frame did not name it. The caption may have the name. The comment says the viewer did not get the name from the picture. You can copy the name into a product list. You cannot say the video proved the name on camera.
“Will this sting?” or “Can reactive skin use it?” means viewers heard a skin claim. If the frame has no test, the comment confirms that the claim was made. It does not confirm that the claim was shown. The words check still fails.
Fire emojis, tags, and “this is so funny” do not pick a line. How to compare two TikToks without analytics uses the comment job as one of three differences. A comment job that never mentions the product loses to a comment job that asks the question your product can answer. It does not override a frame that shows something else.
What does a worked disagreement look like?#
The lines below are an illustration. They are not a transcript pulled from a creator’s account.
The product is a serum for reactive skin. The job sentence, written first, is that people with reactive skin should believe it will not sting, because they see a patch test.
Video A:
- Caption: “No sting. Dermatologist tested.”
- Speech: “My skin felt calm by noon.”
- On-screen text: “morning routine.”
- Frame: a bathroom counter. The bottle appears at second eight. No skin. No test.
The caption states a test. The speech states a feeling. The frame states a routine. None of the calm, sting, or tested lines are on camera. The words check fails. Drop the video from the brief. The routine can be described in the note as what the camera actually did, so nobody later “remembers” this as the patch test.
Video B:
- Caption: “my morning routine.”
- Speech: the serum’s name, at second eight.
- On-screen text, from the first frame: “48h patch, two squares.”
- Frame: a forearm with two squares of product, from the first second.
The frame proves the patch. The on-screen line matches the frame. The caption describes a routine this video is not. Brief the first frame and the on-screen line. Put the caption in the note as the line the creator must not copy. If they copy the caption, the shoot drifts back into the routine you already dropped on Video A.
If your product cannot show that patch, B is the standard, not your script. Film a proof you have, in the first shot, and write the first line to match that proof. Leave the borrowed caption out.
What does the disagreement do to the stop?#
How many public TikToks to watch before a brief stops you when two videos share a job sentence and the next ten do not move it. A video whose three lines disagree does not enter those ten on the strength of its caption.
Enter it only after you accept the line the frame proves. If that line changes the job sentence, the ten starts over. A caption-sentence and a frame-sentence are two checks. Running them as one is how a routine and a patch test end up in the same brief.
A pile can contain both videos. Deep Search can watch hundreds of public videos and attach the ones that fit the question. Open the attachment before you trust the pattern. If the cited frame shows a routine and the caption says “tested,” the citation supports the routine.
Does the same split work on a Reel or a Short?#
The three lines are the same on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. The frame still wins.
A Reel caption has more room than a TikTok caption, so it can carry a result the picture never shows. Read it as its own line. Do not let the extra room make it the proof. A Short’s title can do the same job as the caption: it can promise a test the frames never run.
Score the Reel or the Short with the same words check. Private insights on that account stay on that account. A high save count does not repair a line the camera never showed. Reading virality beyond views is where a public ratio belongs, after the words check has passed.
Compare two videos from the platform you will publish on. A TikTok whose caption overclaims is weak evidence for a Reel caption you have not read against its own frames.
What about the hashtags and the sound?#
Hashtags are a distribution line. They are not a fourth claim the camera made. A tag that says the test happened does not put the test in the frame. Copy the tag into a search list when you are collecting the words creators use. Leave it out of the proved line.
A trending sound follows the same rule. If the person speaks, that speech is the speech line. If the only voice is the original sound, write that voice as speech and mark it borrowed. The borrowed sentence still has to match this video’s frames. A sound that talks through a result, over a shot that never shows the result, is a disagreement. Brief the shot you can see, or drop the video. Do not brief the sound’s sentence.
What if the extra line is a stitch or a duet?#
A stitch plays someone else’s video beside the new one. A duet splits the frame the same way. Give the borrowed clip its own three lines, and give the new clip its own three lines. Do not average them into one claim.
The brief can use the new clip’s proved line. It can use the borrowed clip’s proved line only when this video also shows that proof, or when you tell the creator to reshoot the proof rather than react to it. A face next to someone else’s patch test proves the reaction. It does not prove you have a patch test.
If the new caption describes the borrowed clip, and the new camera shows only a face, the words check fails on the new clip. Score the borrowed clip on its own if you still want that proof. The one-video rubric is the same five checks. The stitch does not get a pass because the other half of the screen is convincing.
What do you write down?#
Four lines. Then the brief uses only the one the frame proved.
- The caption, the speech, and the on-screen text, each in the words that were posted.
- The second the proof appears, and what the camera shows at that second.
- The single line the frame proves. If it proves none, write “none.”
- Keep, test, or drop. Keep means the brief may use the proved line. Test means you will film your own proof of that line. Drop means the other lines, named, so they are not copied by mistake.
The dropped lines stay on the note. Deleting them is how the caption sneaks back in when someone writes the hook from memory. How to research TikTok hooks before you brief a creator is the page that turns the proved line into openings a creator can shoot. It starts from the line you kept here.
Get started by pulling one public video, writing its caption, its speech, and its frame as three lines, and briefing only the line the camera shows.
