Skippable in-stream ads play before, during, or after other videos on YouTube and websites and apps on Google video partners. After 5 seconds, the viewer has the option to skip the ad and continue watching the video.
In this article, you’ll learn about the technical specs and reporting tools available for skippable in-stream ads.
Benefits
- Drive conversions, get video views, and reach new users across multiple devices with your ads, including desktop computers, phones, and TVs.
- Bid for what you care about. Depending on your campaign goal, you can pay based on overall impressions, or when viewers watch your ad completely or interact with the video (whichever comes first).
- Add interactive features like call-to-action buttons, sitelink assets, product feeds, and more to your ads to encourage people to interact with your brand or business more.
How skippable in-stream ads appear on YouTube
Desktop
Mobile
TV screens
Note: The QR code will appear when the "Skip Ad" button is displayed on your screen. Only some TVs support this ad.
Available assets
| Asset | Guidelines |
|---|---|
| YouTube video URL | The link to your video. The URL can be any standard video uploaded to YouTube. The video must be public or unlisted and comply with our advertising policies and requirements. |
|
Final URL |
The URL that people reach after clicking your ad. It should match what your ad promotes. Learn about final URLs and tracking templates. |
| Display URL | The website address that appears in your ad. It's typically the URL of the site or page you're advertising. The display URL must match the domain that people visit when they interact with your ad. |
| Companion banner | A companion banner is an image that appears next to your ad on desktop computers. You can choose to have an auto-generated companion banner (based on info from your YouTube channel) or upload a 300x60 JPEG, GIF, or PNG (150 KB maximum). Learn how to Create a companion banner for a video ad. |
Ad specifications
Your video must be uploaded to YouTube and set as public or unlisted to use in an ad.
| Recommended | Accepted | Callouts | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Resolution |
1080p (Full HD) Recommended pixels (px) for HD:
|
720p (Standard HD) Minimum px:
Minimum px for SD:
|
For optimal quality, we don’t recommend using SD |
|
Aspect ratio |
|
|
For optimal quality, we don’t recommend using SD |
|
Format |
.MPG (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) |
.WMV, .AVI, .MOV and .FLV .MPEG-1, .MP4, .MPEGPS, 3GPP, WebM, DNxHR, ProRes, CineForm & HEVC (h265) |
Can’t accept audio files, for example, MP3, WAV, or PCM files on YouTube |
|
File size |
≤256 GB |
||
|
Length |
Best practice by marketing objective
|
Any length. No minimum or maximum. |
|
|
Headline/Description |
≤15 characters |
If you have a CTA, ≤10 characters |
Supported Google Ads goals
- Sales
- Leads
- Website traffic
- Product and brand consideration
- Brand awareness and reach
Available bidding strategies
Cost-per-view (CPV)
With CPV bidding, you pay when a viewer watches 30 seconds of your video (or the full duration of the video if it's shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with your video, whichever comes first.
CPV bidding is available when you create a Video campaign with the “Product and brand consideration” goal.
Target cost-per-action (CPA)
With Target CPA bidding, you set an average cost you'd like to pay for each conversion. From the Target CPA you set, we'll optimize bids to help get as many conversions as possible. Some conversions may cost more or less than your target.
Target CPA bidding is available when you create a Video campaign with the “Sales”, “Leads”, or “Website traffic” goal.
Maximize conversions
Maximize conversions bidding automatically sets bids to help get the most conversions for your campaign while spending your budget. You can optionally set a Target CPA with Maximize conversions bidding to get as much conversion value as possible at the target return on ad spend (ROAS).
Maximize conversions bidding is available when you create a Video campaign with the “Sales”, “Leads”, or “Website traffic” goal.
Target cost-per-thousand impressions (tCPM)
With Target CPM bidding, you set the average amount you’re willing to pay for every thousand times your ad is shown. We'll then optimize bids to help get as much unique reach as possible. Some impressions may cost more or less than your target.
Target CPM bidding is available when you create a Video campaign with the “Brand awareness and reach” or “Product and brand consideration” (only within the “Video ad sequence” subtype) goal.
Reporting
Metrics
All standard video metrics are available for skippable in-stream ads.
Third-party measurement
Third-party measurement is only available through Ads Data Hub. Learn more about the process for Third-party measurement on YouTube
Policies
Skippable in-stream ads must follow Google Ads policies and YouTube policies.
