Optimization Events

Link Clicks vs ThruPlay: Traffic Clicks or Video Completion

In short: These optimize for fundamentally different actions and usually serve different campaign goals entirely. Link Clicks buys taps toward a destination URL; ThruPlay buys people predicted to watch a video through to completion, or to fifteen seconds on longer cuts, with no click or destination required. Link Clicks lives under Traffic and needs a link, while ThruPlay lives under a video-focused objective and needs video creative, not a link click at all. If the campaign's job is to drive people somewhere, use Link Clicks or a deeper event; if the job is creative testing, storytelling, or building a video-based retargeting audience, use ThruPlay.

By the AdFlint research team · Fact-checked against current Google and Meta platform behavior · Last reviewed July 2026

Link Clicks Optimization

Tells Meta to spend your budget on people most likely to tap the link, regardless of whether the page ever loads.

Meta ranks users by predicted click probability and buys impressions accordingly. It fills learning fast because clicks are cheap and plentiful, so it suits new pages with no conversion history or pure traffic goals. The mistake is treating link clicks as demand: the system happily finds compulsive tappers who bounce before the page renders, inflating volume while sales stay flat.

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ThruPlay Optimization

Buys video views that run to completion, or to at least fifteen seconds on longer cuts, instead of counting brief glances.

Meta charges on impressions but delivers toward users predicted to watch through, which filters out feed scrollers. It fits awareness, brand storytelling, and creative testing where watch depth is the signal you care about. The misread is treating ThruPlays as intent. A completed view costs little and predicts almost nothing about purchase, so never judge a conversion campaign by video metrics alone.

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Side by side.

The differences that actually change what happens in your account.

 Link Clicks OptimizationThruPlay Optimization
What's being boughtA click toward a destination.Watch time on a video, independent of any click.
Creative requirementWorks with any creative, including static images.Requires video creative - the metric doesn't exist without one.
Objective it sits underTraffic.A video-focused objective (awareness or engagement), not Traffic or Sales.
What it predicts about the viewerLikelihood to tap.Likelihood to watch through, correlating with attention and creative appeal, not purchase intent.
Cost driverBilled and optimized around click prediction.Billed on impressions, delivered toward predicted watch-through, so cost reflects how compelling the video is.
What shows in reportingLink clicks and CTR.ThruPlay count and cost per ThruPlay, alongside video-specific metrics like average watch time.
Common misreadMistaking clicks for demand.Mistaking watch-through for purchase intent; a cheap, high completed-view rate predicts almost nothing about sales.
Typical follow-on useFeeds site-visit retargeting pools.Feeds video-viewer retargeting audiences (people who watched X percent) for a later, deeper-funnel campaign.

What actually separates them.

01

Link Clicks requires a destination URL and a tap to register; ThruPlay requires video creative and registers on watch behavior, so the two events can't even be compared on the same ad unless it has both a link and a video.

02

Link Clicks lives under the Traffic objective while ThruPlay lives under a video-focused objective, meaning the two aren't alternate settings on the same campaign type but different campaign structures entirely.

03

ThruPlay billing and delivery are driven by predicted watch-through on impressions served, while Link Clicks billing and delivery are driven by predicted click probability, so the two select audiences on opposite behaviors - attention versus action.

04

ThruPlay naturally produces a reusable video-viewer retargeting audience segmented by watch depth; Link Clicks produces click and landing-page data instead, feeding a different kind of retargeting pool built on site behavior, not video attention.

05

A campaign can post an excellent cost per ThruPlay while generating zero clicks or site traffic, since ThruPlay has no destination requirement at all; Link Clicks cannot do this by definition, since a click is inherently a step toward the destination.

Which one should you use?

Use Link Clicks Optimization when

  • The campaign's job is to get people to a destination - a site, a product page, a form - not to watch a video.
  • You're using static or carousel creative with no video component.
  • You need traffic or landing-page data to feed a retargeting pool built on site behavior.
  • Volume of clicks, not attention or watch time, is the metric stakeholders care about.

Use ThruPlay Optimization when

  • The campaign's job is brand storytelling, awareness, or creative testing where watch depth is the signal that matters.
  • You're testing which video cuts or hooks hold attention before spending on a click- or conversion-based campaign with the winner.
  • You want to build a video-viewer retargeting audience to target later with a deeper-funnel event.
  • There's no destination URL relevant to the goal, or the destination is secondary to the video itself.

Common questions.

Can I optimize for ThruPlay and still get link clicks?

Video ads under ThruPlay optimization can still include a link and clicks can happen, but Meta isn't selecting the audience based on click likelihood, it's selecting based on predicted watch-through, so click volume from a ThruPlay campaign tends to be lower and less predictable than from a Link Clicks campaign.

Why is my cost per ThruPlay so low but nobody's visiting my site?

That's expected behavior, not a bug - ThruPlay optimizes purely for watch-through, with no requirement that the viewer ever clicks or visits anywhere. Watch-through and site traffic are different signals, and a cheap ThruPlay tells you the video held attention, nothing more.

Should I use ThruPlay before running a Link Clicks or conversion campaign?

It's a reasonable creative-testing step - running video variants under ThruPlay first can tell you which creative holds attention before you commit conversion or traffic budget to it, and the resulting viewer audiences can seed a later retargeting campaign.

Is ThruPlay available for non-video ads?

No, it requires video creative since the event measures watch behavior; static image or carousel-only ads have no watch-through to optimize for and would use Link Clicks or another event instead.

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