Social

Video Ad Specs for Every Social Media Channel (Updated 2018)

By Tinuiti Team

In social media, video ads are one of the most effective ways to both reach and engage your potential customers. But like everything on the web, specs for these ad placements are always changing.

Can’t keep up or just want to make sure you’re falling in line with the latest updates and requirements?

Use this guide to find out the most current social media video ad specs by platform:

Facebook Video Ad Specs:

 

Example of a Facebook Canvas Video

Facebook offers a number of different video ad placements, each with its own unique specs and settings. Keep in mind that all must be uploaded in either MP4 or MOV form.

Here’s what those look like broken down:

 

If you’re just sharing a video post on your feed, the recommended dimensions are 1280 x 720 with an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 9:16. The max file size is 4 Gb and max length ias 120 minutes.


Instagram Video Ad Specs:

 

Credit: Iconosquare Blog

 

Instagram also has several types of video ad placements. The video ad specs for these are as follows:

“When it comes to advertising within Instagram Stories, for retail brands I think the primary limitation will be the creative. Your creative should be ‘thoughful’ because people are very much in a ‘browsing friends and family’ content mindset. Snapchat already does this really well in their own space but those ads are typically produced with high level creative.”

–  Sarah Sanchez, Performance Social Manager at CPC Strategy

 

facebook audience network
Sarah Rogers, Manager, Performance Social at CPC Strategy

Twitter Video Ad Specs:

 

Credit: The AdStage Blog

Twitter has two types of video ad placements:

 

These specs are the same regardless of whether your video is an ad or just posted within a tweet.


Snapchat Video Ad Specs:

 

snapchat ads turbotax filter

 

Snapchat has a single video ad option with the following specs: Dimensions – 1080 x 1920, Aspect ratio – 9:16 or 16:9, Max file size/length: 1 GB and 15 second minimum (no maximum).

For 10-second videos posted on Snapchat itself (not as an ad), dimensions should be 1080 x 1920, with an aspect ratio of 9:16.


YouTube Video Ad Specs:

 

 

For YouTube ads, there are two groups your placement can fall into: Skippable/Non-skippable/Mid-roll/Bumper or Display. Here’s how those video ad specs break down:

 

YouTube videos can be uploaded in the MOV, MPEG4, MP4, AVI, WMV, MPEGPS, FLV, 3GPP or WebM format.


Pinterest Video Ad Specs

 

Credit: AdWeek

 

Video ads on Pinterest are called “promoted” videos and come in either square or vertical versions. The video ad specs for these are:

 

For more information on social media video ad specs, email [email protected].

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