Social Media Video Ads: Complete Guide
Social media is a part of the daily lives of over 4.5 billion people, so you can bet your customers are using it, too. Photo and text ads can do wonders, but video has an immersive effect. You can tell a story or show how your product works with video advertising.
So we made a crash course to help you learn more about it! Keep reading to learn the basic specs for the biggest social media platforms.
Facebook has a lot of options for ads, so we’re covering the basics.
In-Feed
We recommend 1280×720 pixels, but your width can be as low as 600 pixels. These mainly landscape ads can have various aspect ratios, including 16:9, 9:16, 2:3, 4:5, and 1:1. Videos have a maximum length of 240 minutes and a maximum size of 4 GB.
Messenger
Messenger ads should be 1280×720 pixels and have the same limitations as in-feed ads for length, size, and aspect ratios.
Instagram is formatted for portrait-style viewing.
In-Feed
In-feed videos have ratio aspects of 16:19, 1:1, and 4:5. There are plenty of options for in-feed video sizes, which include 600×315 pixels, 600×600 pixels, and 600×700 pixels. While we recommend keeping videos under 15 seconds, can be up to 60 seconds we recommend under 15 seconds and 30 MB.
Stories
Stories have an aspect ratio of 9:16. We recommend 1080×1920 pixels. Videos can’t be over 30 MB or 15 seconds long.
Like Instagram, Pinterest uses a portrait style exclusively. Videos can have aspect ratios of 1:1, 2:3, or 9:16. We recommend 600×900 pixels or 600×600 pixels for best results.
TikTok
TikTok is another portrait formatted app. All of their ad options require a 9:16 aspect ratio. Resolutions can be 720×1280 pixels, 640×640 pixels, and 1280×720 pixels. Videos can’t be over 500 MB.
In-Feed
In-feed ads are on a user’s For You Page (FYP) and are between 5 and 60 seconds long, but we recommend between 9 and 15 seconds.
Branded Takeover
These are on the FYP but open immediately when users open the app. They are 3-5 seconds long.
Topview
Topview ads are on the top of the FYP page three seconds after users open the app. They are 5-60 seconds long, ideally 9-15 seconds long.
Twitter can handle videos up to 1 GB, but files under 30 MB perform best. Videos can be up to 2:20, but we recommend 15 seconds or less.
For 1:1 aspect ratio, we recommend 1200×1200 pixels. The 16:9 aspect ratio has best results with 1920×1080 pixels.
YouTube
YouTube has a lot of options, but these two are foundations.
Bumper
Bumper ads play before videos, and viewers can skip them after 5 seconds. Depending on the region, unskippable bumper ads are between 15 and 20 seconds. These are versatile and work across various platforms, including web, app, and game consoles. You can use aspect ratios of 16:9 and 4:3, from 426×240 pixels to 3840×2160 pixels. These videos can be up to 12 hours long and have a maximum file size of 128 GB.
Overlay
Overlay ads are banner style and take up the bottom 20% of the video screen on web players.
Videos can be 468×60 pixels or 728×90 pixels and maximum file size of 150 KB.
Want Social Videos That Convert?
If you are looking to drive traffic to your social channels, Media Pouch can help. As Austin’s leading video production company, we’ve got all the experience you need to create epic video to grow your business in the right way. Contact us today to get started.
