About video assets specifications and ad format guidelines for Demand Gen campaigns

This article provides guidelines and specifications for video assets for Demand Gen campaigns.

The mocks should be used to understand how ads might appear across different formats and inventory and aren’t exhaustive. It’s recommended to leverage the in-platform preview feature to review how your ads will appear.

On this page

Asset specifications
Ad format eligibility
Video ads and formats

Asset specifications

Asset	Orientation	Specification	Guidance
Logo*	Square	1:1 Min. size: 128x128, Recommended: 1200x1200
Video**	Square	1:1 Recommended pixels for HD: 1080x1080	Eligible format: MPG (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) Min. 5 seconds Videos less than 10 seconds are ineligible to serve on YouTube In-stream.
	Horizontal	16:9 Recommended pixels for HD: 1920x1080
	Vertical	4:5 Recommended pixels for HD: 1080x1350
	Vertical 9:16	9:16 Recommended pixels for HD: 1080x1920 Recommended for YouTube Shorts

*150 KB max. file size for logo
**256 GB max. file size for video

Ad format eligibility

The table below shows which ad formats are eligible for each placement.

Placements	Product feed only	Image only	Image and Product feed	Video only	Video and Product feed
YouTube Shorts
YouTube In-stream
YouTube Home
YouTube Search
YouTube Watch Next
Gmail
Discover
Google Video Partners
Google Display Network

Video ads and formats

Video ads allow you to tell a more immersive and engaging story about your brand. Your video ads will be displayed across Discover Feed, YouTube Feeds (Home, YouTube Search, and YouTube Watch Next), YouTube In-stream, YouTube Shorts, Gmail, and Google Display Network within Demand Gen.

Note: When serving Demand Gen video ads on YouTube Shorts inventory, the system treats headlines, long headlines, and descriptions equally and can use any of these assets as the ad description.

Mobile

An illustration of how YouTube video ads are shown on mobile devices.

An illustration of how YouTube and Discover video ads are shown on mobile devices.

Gmail

Desktop

An illustration of how YouTube video ads are shown on desktop devices.

Connected TV

An illustration of how YouTube video ads are shown on CTV devices.

An example of a QR code appearing on a non-skippable or skippable video ad for connected TV, with the ad creative in its "squeezed-back" state.

An example of a QR code appearing on a connected TV ad in a Demand Gen campaign with product feed.

An example of a QR code appearing on a YouTube Shorts Demand Gen ad for connected TV.

Asset	Specification	Recommendation
Video	Upload 1-5 videos per ad Asset orientation: Horizontal Square Vertical Vertical 9:16 (optional) Min. video length: 5 seconds Videos shorter than 10 seconds won’t serve on YouTube In-stream. Learn more About video ad specs.	Use videos with more than 15 seconds to help maximize reach and effectiveness across available formats. Learn more about the Tips for creating effective video ads. You can't upload an offline video. Upload a video that you’ve uploaded to YouTube. You can also create a new video ad with video builder. If you don't want your video to serve on YouTube, you may use an unlisted YouTube video in the campaign.
Headline	Max. character: 40 Used in the skippable in-stream ad format.	Upload at least 3 unique headlines.
Long Headline	Max. character: 90 Used in the in-feed video ad format (Discover and YouTube)	Upload at least 3 unique long headlines.
Description	Max. character: 90	Upload at least 3 unique descriptions.
Business name	1 business name required Max. character: 25 When a headline is present in a YouTube in-stream ad, the business name or YouTube channel name will not be displayed. However, channel name is used in YouTube in-feed ads and Shorts.
Square logo	Square Min. size: 144x144 Recommended: 1200x1200 YouTube formats will use only the square logo uploaded during ad construction, and no longer default to the YouTube channel logo.	Overall 21.46% gets cropped (gray shaded area) so roughly 5.36% on each of the 4 corners will be cropped when this is shown as a circle on Gmail.
Audio	When the video ad is in-view, the ad will follow the below sound-on and auto-play defaults per placement: Discover feed: Default muted, default auto-play with WiFi connection YouTube Home feed: Default muted, default auto-play YouTube In-stream: Post tap sound on, default auto-play YouTube Watch Next: Post tap sound on and auto-play YouTube Shorts: Default sound on, default auto-play Gmail: Default muted, default auto-play Google Display Network: Default muted, default auto-play	You can run Demand Gen video ads without sound. The auto-play settings for videos depend on where the ad is displayed. You can always use a video without audio regardless of the platform.

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