Do trending sounds really help?

HardTikTokleft joinbucketsengagement ratewithin-creator comparisonmedian· 160 XP (40 per step)

Mock interview. You're interviewing for a senior data scientist job on a creator tools team. The interviewer says: "We tell creators to use trending sounds. Is that good advice? Convince me with data, and be fair about it."

Use videos posted before 1 June 2026, so every video has had at least a few weeks to collect views. uses_trending_sound is true when the video uses a sound that was trending when it was posted.

Step 1: The simple comparison

"Start simple: videos with a trending sound versus without. How many videos, average views per video, and completion rate?"

  • Count views per video, keeping videos with no views as 0.
  • Completion rate = completed views / all views, where a view is completed when watch_sec >= duration_sec.

Expected output

  • Two rows; avg_views and completion_rate (a percentage) rounded to 1 decimal; sorted by uses_trending_sound

Example of the shape (made-up values):

uses_trending_sound videos avg_views completion_rate
false 300 10.0 35.0

Hints, the later steps and the answer come with Pro.

Step 1 of 4

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