A video ad is shaped by the place it plays. A 6-second spot that nobody can skip, a 30-second ad with a skip button at the 5-second mark and a vertical clip between two Reels are all video ads, but each one gets a different kind of attention, and each needs a different cut.
This guide covers what video ads are, the main types and where each one runs, and the official specs for YouTube, Meta and TikTok. It then walks through making a video ad step by step. To show those steps on a real case, we wrote a one-page brief for a fictional meal kit called Panfold and made two ads from it with NoLang: a vertical ad for Reels and TikTok and a horizontal ad for YouTube’s skippable in-stream slot. Both are shown in full, scene by scene, next to three well-known ads broken down the same way. The last sections cover whether to make ads yourself or hire a production company, how to read the numbers once the ads run, and the trends shaping video advertising in 2026.
What is a video ad?
A video ad is a video that a business pays a platform to show to people who did not go looking for it. Video advertising, also called digital or online video advertising, is the practice of buying those placements: on YouTube, in social feeds, in streaming TV apps, and inside websites and mobile apps.
The industry splits video ads by where they play. In-stream ads run inside a video player, before, during or after the content someone chose to watch; these are the pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads you see on YouTube or a streaming service. Out-stream ads play outside a video player: in a social feed, between the paragraphs of an article, or full screen between two levels of a mobile game. The IAB, the US trade body for digital advertising, uses this split in its format guidelines, and it is the first thing to know because it decides how much attention your ad starts with. An in-stream viewer is waiting for their video; an out-stream viewer is scrolling past.
You buy video ads in each platform’s ad tool, usually through an auction, and you pay for impressions, views, clicks or conversions depending on the bidding you choose. On YouTube, for example, cost-per-view bidding charges you when someone watches 30 seconds of a skippable ad (or all of it, if it is shorter) or clicks on it, while bumper and non-skippable ads are bought on impressions.
Video advertising is narrower than video marketing. Video marketing covers every video a business publishes, from channel uploads and tutorials to customer stories; video ads are the paid part, placed in front of an audience you select. A TV commercial is a video ad bought on broadcast TV. The same spot can run online, but as the Old Spice example below shows, it often needs a new cut first.
Types of video ads
Most video ads fall into eight types. The table describes each one by where it plays and how much control the viewer has, because those two things decide how the opening seconds have to work. Length limits are from Google Ads Help for the YouTube formats; for the other types they are set by each platform and placement.
| Type | Where it plays | Viewer control | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skippable in-stream | Before, during or after YouTube videos and on Google video partners | Can skip after 5 seconds | No limit; under 3 minutes recommended |
| Non-skippable in-stream | Same as skippable | Cannot skip | Up to 30 seconds in auction campaigns |
| Bumper | Same as skippable | Cannot skip | 6 seconds or less |
| In-feed video | YouTube Home, search results and Watch Next, shown as a thumbnail with text | Clicks to watch | No limit |
| Full-screen vertical | Between videos in YouTube Shorts, Reels, Stories and TikTok | Swipes past | Set per platform |
| Out-stream | Inside articles, feeds and apps, outside a video player | Scrolls past | Set per placement |
| Connected TV (CTV) | Streaming apps on smart TVs, consoles and streaming devices | Set per app | Set per publisher |
| In-app interstitial and rewarded | Full screen inside a mobile app or game | Rewarded: chooses to watch for a reward | Set per network |
If you are choosing your first placement, start from where your customers already spend time, then check which of these types that platform sells. A product people search for on YouTube suits in-feed and skippable in-stream ads; an impulse purchase or an app suits full-screen vertical ads; a brand that needs to be seen on the living-room screen looks at CTV. Each type also changes the creative: a skippable ad has 5 seconds to earn the rest of its run time, while an in-feed ad has to earn the click with its thumbnail and title before it plays at all.
Mobile video ads
On a phone, most video ads are one of three kinds: a full-screen vertical ad between short videos, an in-feed ad in a scrolling feed, or an in-app ad shown inside a game or app. In-app ads come as interstitials, which appear between two screens, and as rewarded videos, which the user chooses to watch in exchange for something like an extra life or a bonus. The IAB lists both under out-stream.
Mobile changes three things. The screen is vertical, so a 9:16 video fills it; Google recommends 1080×1920 for vertical video ads, and TikTok marks vertical 9:16 as recommended. People scroll, so the opening has to give them a reason to stop. And sound may be off, so the words that matter need to be on screen. Meta’s specs mark captions as recommended for the Feed, Stories and Reels placements on Facebook and Instagram, and for Stories and Reels it advises keeping roughly the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% on each side free of text, logos and other key elements.
Social media video ads
Social video ads take two shapes: in-feed ads placed between posts, and full-screen vertical ads between Reels, Stories or TikTok videos. Both sit among ordinary posts and videos and are built to look like them, which is why they are often called native video ads: viewers judge them against that content rather than against other ads.
Platforms also let you run creator content as ads. TikTok’s Spark Ads use posts from your own account, or from creators who authorize it, and the views, likes, comments and follows from the paid run are credited to the original post. Social video is now the largest part of US digital video ad spend: the IAB estimates it at $28.2 billion in 2025, ahead of connected TV at $26.5 billion.
Video ad specs by platform
Specs change with each format and placement, and every platform publishes its own. The table collects the recommended aspect ratios, resolutions and length limits from the help pages of Google Ads, Meta and TikTok, checked on November 8, 2026. Confirm them again before you export, since platforms update these pages.
| Placement | Aspect ratio | Recommended size | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube in-stream, bumper, in-feed | 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1 | 1920×1080 (16:9) | By format: see Types of video ads |
| YouTube Shorts ads | 9:16 | 1080×1920 | Under 60 seconds recommended |
| Facebook Feed | 4:5 | 1440×1800 | 1 second to 241 minutes |
| Facebook Reels and Stories | 9:16 | 1440×2560 | Stories: 1 second to 3 minutes |
| Instagram Reels | 9:16 | 1440×2560 | Up to 15 minutes |
| Instagram Stories | 9:16 | 1440×2560 | 1 second to 60 minutes |
| TikTok In-Feed | 9:16 recommended; 16:9 and 1:1 accepted | At least 540×960 (vertical) | Up to 10 minutes |
Two notes change how you cut the video. On YouTube, the ad has to be uploaded to YouTube first; the Google Ads campaign then points to it. In Stories, long ads are split into cards: Facebook plays ads of 15 seconds or less in full and splits longer ones, and Instagram may split ads of 16 seconds or longer.
The practical upshot is three exports from one project: a 9:16 version for Reels, Stories, Shorts and TikTok, a 16:9 version for YouTube in-stream, in-feed and connected TV, and a 4:5 or 1:1 version if you buy feed placements on Facebook and Instagram. LinkedIn, Pinterest and Amazon also sell video ads, each with their own specs.
How to make a video ad, step by step
The six steps below take you from a goal to an exported file. They are the same whether you make the ad yourself or hand it to a production company; with a company, steps 1 to 3 become the brief you send, and steps 4 to 6 become what you check in their drafts.
1. Pick one goal and the number that proves it
Decide what the ad is for before anything else, because the goal decides the placement, the length and the metric. Most video ads serve one of three goals:
- Awareness: more people in your market know your name. You watch reach, impressions and, where the platform offers it, brand lift.
- Consideration: people who know the category see why yours is different. You watch views, view rate and clicks to a page that explains more.
- Action: people buy, sign up or install. You watch clicks, conversions and the cost per conversion.
One ad, one goal. An ad that tries to build the brand and sell a discount at the same time usually does neither within the time a viewer gives it.
2. Choose the placement, then the format
Once the goal is fixed, pick where the ad will run from the types table, then read the format from the specs table. The two choices travel together. Choosing Reels and TikTok means vertical 9:16 and a hook in the first second. Choosing YouTube’s skippable in-stream slot means horizontal 16:9 and a brand and promise that land before the skip button appears at 5 seconds.
If one campaign needs both placements, plan two cuts from the start. Cropping a horizontal ad down to vertical usually cuts off the product or the text, and a vertical ad shown on a TV screen fills only a narrow strip in the middle.
3. Write a one-page brief
A brief is the page you write before any script. It keeps every cut of the ad on the same message, and it is what you hand over if someone else makes the video. Ours for Panfold, the fictional meal kit, has ten lines:
| Field | What we wrote |
|---|---|
| Product | Panfold weekly meal kits. Pre-portioned ingredients and a step-by-step recipe card in every box; dinners take about 20 minutes. |
| Audience | Working parents in the US who get home late and end up ordering takeout on weeknights. |
| Insight | “It’s 6 p.m. and nobody has a plan for dinner.” |
| One message | A home-cooked dinner in about 20 minutes, with no planning and no grocery run. |
| Proof | Ingredients arrive pre-portioned; one recipe card per meal; about 20 minutes from box to table. |
| Offer | 50% off your first box. |
| CTA | Get 50% off your first box. |
| Must show | The box, the ingredients, the finished plate. No health or nutrition claims. |
| Cut A: social feed | Instagram Reels and TikTok. Vertical 9:16, about 15 seconds. Goal: clicks to the offer page. Hook in the first second, on-screen text carries the story with sound off, one CTA at the end. |
| Cut B: YouTube in-stream | Skippable in-stream. Horizontal 16:9, about 30 seconds. Goal: reach parents and make the brand memorable. Brand and promise before the 5-second skip, voiceover with captions, CTA end card. |
The insight line is the one to spend time on. It is the moment the viewer recognizes from their own life, and it usually becomes the hook. The one-message line is the test for every scene: if a scene does not support it, it goes. The last two lines are where one brief turns into several ads, each with its own placement, length and goal.
4. Build the first seconds around the placement
The opening is where placements differ most. In a feed, nothing obliges the viewer to stop scrolling, so open on the insight itself: a question, a problem they recognize, or the product doing something unexpected. In YouTube’s skippable slot, the viewer has already stopped, but can leave at 5 seconds, so the brand name and the promise need to be on screen and said aloud before then. A bumper has 6 seconds in total, so the whole message, usually the brand and one fact, has to be visible the entire time.
5. Make it work with the sound off
Assume part of your audience will watch without sound and write the ad so it still makes sense. Put the key lines on screen as text, not only in the voiceover; add captions to any narration; and keep text out of the areas each platform reserves for its own buttons, such as the bottom 35% of Reels and Stories. Then watch your own draft on mute, on a phone, at arm’s length. If you cannot tell what the product is and what to do next, neither can your audience.
6. Cut versions, export to spec and test
Make more than one version, and change one thing between them, usually the hook. Two ads that differ only in their first two seconds tell you which opening works; two ads that differ in everything tell you nothing you can reuse. Export each version at the size the specs table lists for its placement, then upload it in the platform’s ad tool. Targeting, budgets and bidding are set there, and each platform’s help center walks through the setup.
Example: one brief, two video ads
We gave the Panfold brief above to NoLang twice, once for each cut, and saved both results as templates. Each template below shows the finished ad, the brief it was made from, and a short example of the request you would write for your own product. Under each ad, a table maps its scenes back to the lines of the brief.
Cut A: a vertical ad for Reels and TikTok
Panfold vertical social video ad
Use the attached brief to make a 15-second vertical ad for Reels and TikTok. Open on the dinner problem in the first second, put every line on screen and end on the first-box offer.
| Time | On screen | Job in the ad |
|---|---|---|
| 0–3 s | A dad at an open fridge under a large “6:00 PM”, then “Nobody has a plan for dinner.” | Hook: the insight from the brief, readable in the first second |
| 3–4.5 s | “Panfold does.” as a hand sets down the box | Brand reveal as the answer to the problem |
| 4.5–10 s | Pre-portioned ingredients, the recipe card, the chicken in the pan, “Box to table, about 20 MIN” | Proof: the three proof points from the brief |
| 10–13.5 s | “6:20 PM”, a dad and daughter at the table: “A home-cooked dinner. No planning. No grocery run.” | One message, shown as the payoff |
| 13.5–16 s | Logo, “50% OFF your first box”, a “Get 50% off your first box” button, the box and the plate | Offer and the single CTA |
Every spoken line in Cut A also appears on screen, shortened where needed, so the ad tells the whole story on mute. The brand does not appear until 3 seconds in: in a feed the first job is to stop the scroll, and the problem does that better than a logo.
Cut B: a YouTube skippable in-stream ad
Panfold YouTube in-stream video ad
Use the attached brief to make a 30-second horizontal ad for YouTube’s skippable slot. Show the brand and the 20-minute promise before 5 seconds, add a voiceover with captions and end on an offer card.
| Time | On screen | Job in the ad |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 s | “6:00 PM” over a dad and two kids, a fridge with no plan, the Panfold box, then a brand card: “Home-cooked dinner in about 20 minutes” | Brand and promise before the 5-second skip |
| 5–12 s | “Meal planning” and “Grocery run” crossed out, pre-portioned ingredients, the recipe card, a small logo in the top corner | Proof |
| 12–14.5 s | “Chop. Sizzle. Stir.” with the clock moving to 6:04, 6:11 and 6:16 PM | The 20 minutes, shown rather than claimed |
| 14.5–21 s | “6:20 PM”, the finished plate, the family eating: “Made by you. No takeout tonight.” | One message, as the payoff |
| 21–28 s | End card: logo, “Dinner, figured out.” and a “Get 50% off your first box” button | Brand line, offer and CTA |
Both ads come from the same ten lines, and the differences all trace back to the last two rows of the brief. Cut A opens on the problem and holds the brand back for 3 seconds; Cut B puts the box, the name and the 20-minute promise on screen before the skip button appears. Cut A is built to be read, with every line on screen; Cut B is built to be heard, with a voiceover and captions underneath. Cut A ends on the offer alone, while Cut B adds a brand line, “Dinner, figured out.”, for viewers who will not click today but should remember the name. Because each cut was generated separately, the two logos also differ; with a real brand, attach your logo and product photos to the request so every cut uses the same ones.
To make your own version, open either template, attach your own brief or paste its lines into the request, and choose the aspect ratio before you generate: Vertical (9:16) for Reels, Stories, Shorts and TikTok, Horizontal (16:9) for YouTube in-stream, or 1:1 and 4:5 for feed placements. The finished video downloads as an MP4 that you upload in each platform’s ad tool.
Video ad examples, broken down
The ads that appear in most lists of the best video ads are worth studying for a different reason than their fame: each one makes a clear choice about its first seconds, how much it relies on sound and where the brand appears. The three below come from the brands’ official YouTube channels. For each one we note the length, when the product or brand first appears and how much of it works on mute, based on playing the video and checking it second by second.
| Ad | Length | First seconds | Brand or product appears | With sound off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Spice, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” | 32 seconds | “Hello ladies.” at 1 second | Product and name at about 10 seconds | No on-screen text until the end card |
| Volvo Trucks, “The Epic Split” | 1 minute 17 seconds | Close-up of a face, spoken voiceover | Volvo mark in the corner from the start; trucks in full at about 31 seconds | The stunt reads without sound; the claim is one line of text near the end |
| Deadpool 2 bumper (India release) | 6 seconds | Title card at once | Title and release date on screen for all 6 seconds | Fully readable |
Old Spice: a TV spot that names its viewer in the first second
The Man Your Man Could Smell Like is a 32-second commercial that Old Spice posted to its channel in February 2010.
- What happens: a man in a bathroom says “Hello ladies. Look at your man. Now back to me.” By 10 seconds he is holding the bottle and has said “Old Spice”; the scene then jumps to a boat and a horse, and the ad ends on a card reading “Smell like a man, man.” with the logo.
- The move to borrow: the first line says who the ad is talking to. Within a second, viewers know it is addressed to women, about the body wash their partners use.
- What changes if you run it as a skippable YouTube ad: the product and the name arrive at about 10 seconds, after the 5-second skip point, and the story is carried by speech, so a muted viewer sees no words until the end card. A cut for YouTube would bring the bottle into the first 5 seconds and put the key lines on screen.
Volvo Trucks: proving the claim instead of stating it
The Epic Split runs 1 minute 17 seconds and was posted by Volvo Trucks in November 2013. Its description calls it a live test of the precision and directional stability of Volvo Dynamic Steering, filmed in one take.
- What happens: the first 30 seconds are a close-up of Jean-Claude Van Damme speaking about the ups and downs that made him. The camera pulls back at about 31 seconds to show him standing on two reversing trucks, and he does the split between them. At about 62 seconds a line of text explains the test.
- The move to borrow: the product claim, precise and stable steering, is shown rather than said. The ad states it once, in one line of text, after the viewer has already seen it.
- Where this kind of ad fits: a long build-up only works where the viewer has chosen to watch, such as your own channel, an in-feed placement or a social share. In a skippable slot, the first 5 seconds show a face and say nothing about trucks; only the small Volvo mark in the corner names the brand.
Deadpool 2: a 6-second bumper with one fact on screen the whole time
This bumper was posted by 20th Century Studios India in May 2018 for the film’s release in Indian cinemas.
- What happens: it opens on the title card, then cuts between shots from the film and one full-screen word, “Tickets”, before ending at 6 seconds.
- The move to borrow: a band along the bottom carries the title and “In Cinemas 18th May” in every frame. Whatever second a viewer looks up, they get the one thing the ad exists to say.
- When to use a bumper: as a reminder alongside a longer ad, or for a single fact such as a date, a price or a launch. Six seconds will not explain a product, but it can make sure people remember its name.
More English video examples made with NoLang, from product videos to explainers, are in the Video Gallery.
Commercial video production: make it yourself or hire a freelancer or an agency
Commercial video production is the work of turning an ad brief into finished ads. It runs in the same three phases however you do it: pre-production (brief, script, storyboard, casting and locations), production (filming, or building the animation or AI-generated scenes) and post-production (editing, captions, music, color and the export of each version). What changes between routes is who does each phase and what it costs.
| Route | Best for | You hand over | You get back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make it in-house | Frequent ads, many versions to test, product and offer ads | The brief, product photos or footage, brand assets | As many cuts as you make |
| Freelance editor or animator | A few polished ads from footage you already have, or animated ads | The brief, raw footage, brand assets, music you have rights to | The agreed edits and formats |
| Production company or agency | Live action with actors and locations, TV and CTV spots, campaigns built around one big idea | The brief, budget, deadlines, the placements you are buying | Concept, shoot and edits, often several versions |
Both routes are common. In Wyzowl’s 2026 survey of video marketers, 59% make their videos in house and 42% use an external creator in some capacity. Many teams mix the two: an agency shoots a hero ad once, and the team cuts and tests shorter versions in house.
Whichever route you take, the one-page brief from step 3 is what you hand over. If you hire a production company, ask these questions before you sign:
- Have you made ads for the placements we are buying, such as Reels, Shorts or skippable in-stream, and not only brand films?
- Will you deliver vertical and horizontal cuts, and a 6-second version, from the same shoot?
- Who owns the footage, and for how long can we use the music and the people on camera?
- How many rounds of revisions are included, and at which stages?
- Can you show ads you made and tell us where they ran?
What each route costs, by producer type and phase, is covered in our guide to video production cost. For ads built around showing a physical product, see how to make a product video; for ads that need to explain a service, see how to make a service explainer video.
How to measure video ads
Measure each ad against the goal you set in step 1. The table shows which numbers belong to which goal.
| Goal | Watch first | Also useful |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | Reach and frequency | Impressions, brand lift where offered |
| Consideration | Views and view rate | Watch time, clicks to a learn-more page |
| Action | Conversions and cost per conversion | Clicks, click-through rate |
Before comparing numbers across platforms, check what each one calls a view. On YouTube, a skippable in-stream ad earns a view when someone watches 30 seconds, or the whole ad if it is shorter, or clicks on it. A Shorts ad earns one at 10 seconds or the end. An in-feed ad earns one with a click or 10 seconds of autoplay. Bumper and non-skippable ads do not count views at all, because nobody chose to keep watching. Other platforms use their own thresholds, so a “view” on one is not the same event as a view on another.
Google’s help pages put the average view rate for in-stream ads at about 10–15% across industries, while noting it varies widely. Use figures like that to sanity-check a result, not as a target. The comparison that tells you most is between your own versions: two ads that differ only in their opening, run to the same audience with the same budget over the same dates.
Video advertising trends in 2026
Five shifts stand out in this year’s data and platform documentation.
- Digital video passes $80 billion in the US: the IAB estimates US digital video ad spend at $81.9 billion in 2026, up 11% from $73.6 billion in 2025, and expects digital video to take 61% of combined TV and video spend.
- Social video is now the largest slice: social video ad spend, which includes YouTube in the IAB’s count, reached $28.2 billion in 2025 and passed connected TV at $26.5 billion. The IAB expects $31.9 billion for social and $29.3 billion for CTV in 2026.
- Generative AI has entered production: in the IAB’s 2026 report, 62% of video ad buyers use generative AI for video creative, up from 51% in 2025, and they expect a third of their ad assets to use it this year, rising to 43% in 2027. Wyzowl’s 2026 survey found 63% of video marketers have used AI to create or edit video.
- Creator content runs as ads: formats like TikTok’s Spark Ads turn organic posts, including creators’ posts with their permission, into paid placements, and the IAB links social video’s growth to the maturing creator economy.
- AI disclosures are becoming a requirement: Google’s video ad specs page notes that regulations in the European Union, India, New York, California, South Korea and Vietnam require certain ads with AI-generated or edited assets to carry disclosures or labels.
The common thread is volume. More placements, more formats and cheaper production all point the same way: teams that can produce and test several versions of an ad, cut for each placement, get more out of the same budget.
If your company wants to keep making ads in house, with vertical and horizontal cuts for each placement and versions with different hooks to test, NoLang can be used across a team. You can make videos from a brief, a script or a document, or open one of our examples as a template and rewrite it for your own product. Questions about using NoLang at your company can go to our contact form, and the brochure is available from the button below.
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