A companion banner appears next to your video ad on YouTube. You can either upload a custom image for the banner, or allow Google Ads to generate an image from your YouTube channel banner. In this article, you'll learn how to create a companion banner in Google Ads.
Note: For Performance Max campaigns, you won’t be able to upload your own custom image. Instead, the campaign will either use your YouTube channel banner or gray triangles.
Things to know
- Skippable in-stream ads, non-skippable in-stream ads, and bumper ads support companion banners.
- Companion banners only show on desktop. They don't appear on mobile devices, connected TVs, or other devices that support YouTube.
- Companion banners appear next to the ad on the YouTube watch page. When a viewer clicks on the companion banner, they'll go to a website URL that you provided when creating the campaign.
- A click on the companion banner counts as a view, even if the viewer doesn't watch at least 30 seconds of the ad.
Companion banner specs
When you create a video ad, we recommend automatically generating an image from your YouTube channel banner instead of uploading a custom image.
If you want to upload an image for the companion banner, make sure the image follows our requirements and specifications:
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File types: JPEG, GIF, or PNG |
Resolution: 300px x 60px |
GIF frame rate: Less than 5 frames per second |
Maximum size: 150 KB |
Instructions
- In your Google Ads account, Create a Video campaign.
- Enter the settings for your campaign and ad group. After you enter the YouTube URL for your ad, the "Companion banner (computers only)" section appears.
- Choose how you want to customize your companion banner.
- Autogenerate using your channel banner (recommended): Google Ads generates a companion banner from your YouTube channel banner.
- Upload an image: Use a custom image from your computer. You can't upload images that don't meet our specifications.
- When you finish, click Create campaign. When your ad shows on desktop, your companion banner will appear next to it.