Prompts, templates and research notes
Everything you need to run ShadowViral™ AI from your assistant: research prompts, script templates with beat-by-beat timing, and the retention research behind them.
Your tailored prompt
Tell us which assistant, platform and goal you're working with and we'll write a personalised analysis prompt for you — it appears here afterwards.
Build my promptResearch prompts
Find the proven format before you write a single line.
Niche opportunity scan
Using ShadowViral, scan the {niche} niche across the last 30 days. Rank the formats by median views per follower, flag which are rising and which are saturating, and name the one gap nobody is filling yet.
Competitor teardown
Analyse the last 10 uploads from {handle} with ShadowViral. Give me their repeatable structure, their hook pattern, their average pacing, and the two things they do that I can copy legally.
Breakout detector
List faceless videos in {niche} whose views massively exceed the channel's usual performance. For each, tell me what caused the breakout: hook, topic, format or timing.
Script templates
Turn a proven structure into a four-layer production script.
Listicle retention script
Write a {length}-second faceless {platform} script in the {niche} niche using a countdown listicle structure. Open with a curiosity-gap hook, escalate each item, and end with an open loop. Give voiceover, on-screen text, visual direction and SFX per beat.
Story-loop script
Write a story-driven faceless {platform} script about {topic}. Use a cold open in the middle of the action, resolve at 80%, and loop the last line back into the first frame so the video replays cleanly.
Explainer with proof
Write an explainer script for {topic} that states a counterintuitive claim in the first 2 seconds, backs it with three concrete proofs, and closes with a single actionable takeaway. Keep every claim verifiable.
Hook and rewrite prompts
Test hooks until one clearly wins, then clear it for publishing.
Five-angle hook swap
Give me five alternative hooks for this script — curiosity gap, contrarian, number-led, story-led, negative framing. Score each 1-10 for scroll-stopping power and copyright safety, then recommend one.
Retention repair
Here is my script: {script}. Find every beat where a viewer would drop off, explain why, and rewrite those beats to hold attention without changing the topic.
Copyright safe mode
Run a copyright risk check on this script and its planned visuals for {platform}. Flag claim triggers, then rewrite the risky lines in safe mode while keeping the retention structure intact.
Structure templates
Countdown listicle (30-45s)
Best for evergreen niches with endless topic supply.
- 0-3s — state the payoff and the count: "Five X that Y"
- 3-8s — item 5, weakest, fastest
- 8-20s — items 4 and 3, add one surprising detail each
- 20-35s — item 2, the emotional peak
- 35-45s — item 1 plus an open loop into the next video
Cold-open story (25-40s)
Best for history, true crime, science and mystery niches.
- 0-3s — drop into the most dramatic moment, no setup
- 3-10s — rewind: who, where, what was at stake
- 10-25s — escalate with two complications
- 25-35s — resolve
- 35-40s — one-line reflection that loops to the opening frame
Contrarian explainer (20-35s)
Best for finance, productivity and tech niches.
- 0-2s — claim the opposite of common belief
- 2-6s — name the belief you are attacking
- 6-20s — three proofs, one sentence each
- 20-30s — the mechanism behind it
- 30-35s — the single action to take
Research notes
The first three seconds decide everything
Across the faceless videos we analyse, the gap between a top performer and an average one is almost never the topic — it is whether the first frame states a stake. Lead with the outcome, the number or the contradiction, never with a greeting or a channel intro.
Copy structure, never content
Reusing another creator's footage, voice or script wording is the fastest way to a claim. Reusing their beat count, pacing and hook pattern is not protectable and is where the performance actually comes from.
Pacing beats production value
Faceless videos that change the visual every 1.5-2.5 seconds hold retention far better than higher-quality videos that sit on one shot. Cut on the beat of the voiceover, not on the clip length.
One format, twenty videos
Channels that scale pick a single proven format and repeat it with new topics. Rotating formats resets the algorithm's understanding of your channel and flattens reach.
Loop the ending
On TikTok and Reels, ending with a line that makes the opening frame make sense adds a second view to a meaningful share of your audience — the cheapest retention gain available.
Run these against real data
Paste a viral video URL and get a retention-engineered, copyright-checked production script back in under a minute.