Guidelines for video creatives

• Check YouTube videos in YouTube & partners line items for guidelines on YouTube videos in YouTube & partners line items. The guidelines in this article don’t apply to YouTube videos for YouTube & partners line items.
• For guidelines on display ads with embedded video players, check the Guidelines for in-banner video.
• For video content guidelines, check Creative guidelines.

You can serve video creatives by assigning them to video line items. Below are the most common requirements for video creatives to serve on Display & Video 360's supported exchanges. Please adhere to all other guidelines issued by the IAB.

Best practices

For the best performance, follow these recommendations:

Video:

• Supported file formats: .avi, .mov, .mp4, .m4v, .mpeg, .mpg, .webm, .wmv
• Dimensions:
  • Landscape/horizontal: 1280 × 720, 1920 × 1080, or 1440 × 1080
  • Portrait/vertical: 720 × 1280, 1080 × 1920, or 1080 × 1440 
  • Square: 720 × 720, 1080 × 1080, 1920 × 1920
• Aspect ratio:
  • Landscape/horizontal: 16:9 or 4:3
  • Portrait/vertical: 9:16 or 3:4
• Codec: H.264
• Frame Rate: 23.98 or 29.97
• Bitrate: At least 20 Mbps
• Length: 15 or 30 seconds
• File size: Up to 1GB
• Black bars: No black bars
• Letterboxing: No letterboxing

Audio:

• Codec: PCM (preferred) or AAC
• Bitrate: At least 192 Kbps
• Bit: 16 or 24 bit only
• Sample rate: 48 kHz
• Audio settings: Required
• Loudness aligned with IAB US spec of -24LKFS +/- 2LKFS (Campaign Manager 360 will normalize to target loudness of -24 LKFS)

Companion creatives:

• Companion banner size 20K.
• Companion can be an image or HTML5.
• Companion banner animation time should be 15 seconds.
• Companion banner 18-24 FPS.
• Include 300 × 250, 728 × 90, and 300 × 60 companion banner options.

Content requirements

To run on Display & Video 360, all creatives must follow the creative content and policy guidelines.

Asset requirements

File types	.avi, .mov, .mp4, .m4v, .mpeg, .mpg, .webm, .wmv
Size	Video creatives hosted by Display & Video 360 can be up to 1 GB, while the maximum size for transcoded serving files is 10 MB. Always upload a source file with the highest possible specifications you have available so that Display & Video 360 can transcode the asset into as many serving files as possible. However, individual exchanges may have different maximum file sizes, so plan accordingly.
Name	File name can't be longer than 50 characters ASCII characters only
VAST	Display & Video 360 supports the VAST 2.0, VAST 3.0, and VAST 4.0 specifications. You can also use VAST wrappers, but we recommend limiting to only 2 wrappers to avoid issues with serving on exchanges.
VPAID	Display & Video 360 supports HTML5 VPAID using the VPAID 2.0 specification. Display & Video 360 does not support direct upload of VPAID creatives. VPAID creatives must be uploaded in Studio and synced through Campaign Manager 360. For third-party VPAID creatives, follow the instructions in the "Third-party VAST tags" section below.
Duration	Video inventory supports a variety of durations, such as: Less than 15 seconds 15 seconds 20 seconds 30 seconds 60 seconds At least 90 seconds Videos don't need to be the maximum length allowed by the inventory to serve correctly. For example, if you have a 22-second-long video creative, your creative would meet the requirement for being able to serve to 30-second inventory. The duration of all videos rotating in a Display & Video 360 creative must be within 10% of the length of the longest video in that creative. Most publishers allow videos to be within a 10% threshold of their limits. For example, a 30-second video ad slot would allow for video ads up to 33 seconds. Note: For longer videos (anything 60 seconds or greater), check with your inventory source ahead of time about any constraints concerning file sizes or inventory availability.
Aspect ratio	Landscape/horizontal videos must have an aspect ratio of 16:9 (for example, 640 × 360) or 4:3 (for example, 640 × 480). Portrait/vertical videos must have an aspect ratio of 9:16 (for example, 360 × 640) or 3:4 (for example, 480 × 640).
Landing page URL	Make sure the creative has a landing page URL set. Note that it will open in a new window.
Third-party VAST tags	Display & Video 360 accepts third-party VAST tags containing VAST and VPAID creatives. Display & Video 360 wraps the tags according to the VAST 2.0, VAST 3.0, or VAST 4.0 specification based on the requirements of each individual exchange. This might result in some metrics specific to each version of VAST, such as skips offset for VAST 3.0 and VAST 4.0, not being available for a creative.
Moat-wrapped VAST tags	To avoid delivering your Moat-wrapped video with the wrong duration, confirm that Moat sets the correct duration when wrapping the tag. Moat sets the duration for the new VAST created when the tag is wrapped, and Display & Video 360 will bid on this duration. If the duration is incorrect, the creative may be delivered into an ad slot with a shorter duration. This can cause the video to be cut off before the end. In Display & Video 360, preview the creative and make sure the preview duration matches the duration found in the video options section of the creative details page. If the creative is synced from Campaign Manager 360, open the Campaign Manager 360 placement and find the creative. Preview it and make sure preview duration is the same as the video duration found in the identification section of the creative.
VPAID adapter	Display & Video 360 uses an HTML5 VPAID adapter for Active View measurements for video ads.

About companion creatives for videos

Most exchanges sell video companions as a "complementary" ad unit which may not be guaranteed to serve.

Display & Video 360-hosted videos	If you upload and host video creatives in Display & Video 360, you can assign display creatives (image or HTML5 assets) as companions.
Campaign Manager 360-hosted videos	If you sync in-stream video creatives from Campaign Manager 360, you can add companion creatives to them. The companion will sync to Display & Video 360 along with the creative.
Third-party VAST tags	You can include companion creatives within the video creative's XML file. Display & Video 360 will not count impressions for companion creatives separately. Contact your third-party ad server for details on how it tracks metrics for video ads with companions. Rotating companion creatives are supported for third-party VAST tags. Any rotation that changes the assets used inside the VAST tag, however, will restart Display & Video 360 creative review.