Expandable YouTube Video Ad (YVA)

Expandable YouTube Video Ad (YVA)

Assets Overview

Asset	Required/Optional	Dimension	File Type	Max File Size	Max Frame Rate	Max Animation	Comments
Video URL	Required	N/A	YouTube Video URL	N/A	N/A	N/A	Must upload video to YouTube
Video Backup Image	Required	300x250	JPG, static GIF	50Kb	24	30s	N/A
Expanded Background Image	Optional	970x500	JPG, GIF	100 Kb	N/A	N/A	N/A
Video Companion Banner	Required	300x35	JPG, static GIF, SWF	50Kb	24	30s	N/A
Watch Page Companion Ad	Optional	300x250	JPG, static GIF, SWF with Backup JPG/GIF	50Kb	24	30s	Bonus for Homepage buys only
Custom Title Card for the Video	Optional	300x185 300x215*	JPG, static GIF	50Kb	N/A	N/A

* If using the auto hide feature

How Expandable YouTube Video Ads Work

The Expandable YouTube Video Ad (YVA) is a 300x250 video ad that can expand to a 970x500 ad. It is only available on the Homepage and can function in one of either two ways:

• Expandable Autoplay - the video's first 30 seconds will autoplay on load without sound
• A title card or mid-section thumbnail will appear while the video buffers
• Semi-transparent play button remains on top of video during autoplay
• Text below play button states, "Watch In Widescreen"
• After 30 second autoplay, video stops
• Expandable Click-to-play - the video only plays after user clicks play button (no autoplay)

For both ad types, if the user clicks the optional Background Image, Video title or the Video author, they will be directed to the YouTube watch page / channel page.

Expansion Features

• There will be a "Watch in Widescreen" text under the play button
• Once clicked, the unit expands to 970x500 and plays automatically
• Optional: Show Background Image for the expanded unit, a 970x500 static image (JPG, GIF if the uploaded file is animated, we will only show the first frame)
• The player will be 16:9 in aspect ratio like the Watch page
• The video player blocks the majority of the background image
• If Background Image is clicked, user can be taken to a custom URL
• Full Screen, Annotations and Closed Captioning will be supported as buttons

Required Assets

• Video: Video must be uploaded to YouTube as per instructions below with a watch page URL provided
• 300x35 Video Companion Banner: Clicks through to provided destination URL

Optional Assets

• 300x250 Watch Page Companion Ad: Banner ad placed next to uploaded YouTube video on watch page
• 300x185 Custom Title Card Thumbnail: It is highly recommended to use automatically generated mid-section thumbnail as this can improve click-to-play rate. If using the auto hide feature the Custom Title Card Thumbnail has a size of 300x215
• 970x500 Expanded Background Image: Background Image will be displayed for the expanded version of the video player
  
  Position and Size of the YouTube Player on the Expand Background Image:
  - X-position: 165 pixel
  - Y-position: 54 pixel
  - Width: 640 pixel
  - Height: 392 pixel
  

Creative Submission and Turn-around Time

• Assets received by YouTube no later than 4 (four) business days prior to campaign start date sent to your Account Manager and Media Manager
• Maximum of 2 creative revisions for site-served creative is allowed per 6 week period for active campaigns
• Maximum of 3 creatives per site-served placement
• Maximum of 5 creatives per third-party served placement

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YouTube Video Ad

Technical Specifications:

The client must upload the video for the Video Ad unit manually to YouTube and provide its watch page URL to the appropriate Account and Media Managers

Please reference our help pages on best practices for optimizing your video and uploading your video

If you would like your video to be hidden from the public, you can make it unlisted by following the instructions here.

As a best practice, we recommend videos are no longer than 2-3 minutes.

Reporting Metrics

• Video Impressions
• Video Click to Play Rate
• Video Click to Full Screen Rate
• Video Quartile Reporting (25%, 50%, 75%, 100% watched)
• Video Click Through Rate

Community Metrics

• Clicks to Watch or Channel page

Third Party Tracking Capabilities

• Third-party impression (1x1) tracking
• Third-party play (1x1) tracking
• Third-party 1x1 pixel tracking for Brand studies

We will only accept third party redirect/tracking pixels from a certified ad serving vendor. Please refer to the full list of approved vendors.

Additional Details and Recommendations

• If autoplay format is selected, the number of impressions equals the number of autoplays and do not count toward YouTube view count
• Video play is user-initiated
• YouTube will render the player and community metrics at the bottom based on video ID provided
• We highly recommend a maximum of 2 minutes for video ads
• Videos must not be modified after 3PM (PST) the day before the campaign launch date
• The Video Control Buttons can be set to “auto-hide”, so that the User does not see them all the time

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Video Companion Banner

Technical Specifications:

Formatting
Dimensions	300x35
Formats:	.SWF (with backup GIF/JPG), Rich Media, JPG, or static GIF
	For flash creatives - a new layer, in addition to the background layer, should serve as the background. Otherwise, the .SWF may adopt the background layer of our video player
Flash Versions:	Flash 10 (AS3 only)
Max Frame Rate:	24 fps
Max File Size:	50 Kb
Attributes
Max Animation Time:	30 seconds
Audio:	No sound
Border:	Must have complete border
Mouseover Policy:	No rollover animation/buttons are allowed. If included, rollover will not function

Reporting Metrics

• Click through tracking to external websites
• Video click through via 300x35 banner

Third-Party Tracking Capabilities

• We only accept click redirect tracking - no 1x1 pixel tracking allowed

Additional Details and Recommendations

• We highly recommend including a strong, compelling call to action

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Watch Page Companion Ad - Optional

The 300x250 Companion Display Ad can be either Standard Display or Rich Media. Please reference their individual pages for a complete list of specs.