How the Desktop Video Masthead Works
The desktop video Masthead is a 850×250 video ad unit that has been designed to look and feel native to the YouTube homepage experience, and only requires a YouTube video URL to create.
The video autoplays for a configurable amount of time (max 30 seconds) without sound and then resolves to show a video thumbnail with a click to continue option, and optionally a video wall that includes more video thumbnails from the advertiser’s channel. Clicking on the video during auto-play or clicking on the click-to-continue option will exit to the YouTube watch page to play the full video from the start with sound. The resolve state also pulls in various channel assets that can drive additional channel engagement. The autoplay state includes two video configurations: Widescreen (full-bleed) or Centered (with a 16:9 aspect ratio).
Autoplay state:
Widescreen (full-bleed)
Centered
Resolve state:
Creative Submission and Turn-around Time
- Assets must be received by YouTube no later than 4 (four) business days prior to campaign start date. Send them to your Account Manager and Media Solutions Consultant
- Video thumbnails must be finalized 36 hours before the campaign launch date
Required and Optional Assets
A step by step guide to the major QA checks for the desktop video Masthead can be found here.
| Required / Optional | Asset Name | Deliverable | Comments/Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Required | YouTube Video URL | URL of primary video to be used. Must upload Video to YouTube and set as public or unlisted. | See guidelines below and help linkfor uploading Videos. |
| Recommended for Resolve State | Headline text | 30 single byte characters, or 14 doublebyte characters | This will appear in information panel below the channel icon; if none is provided, the space will remain blank |
| CTA text | 25 single byte characters, or 14 double byte characters | The call-to-action text should indicate where the link leads, for example, “Visit advertiser’s site”. | |
| CTA destination URL | Must provide a destination URL if using CTA link (can be 3rd party URL) | Clicking on the btn will open a new tab navigating to the destination URL provided. | |
| Optional | Video Wall | Recommend providing Playlist ID if Video Wall is used. | Thumbnails of the top two videos from specified playlist will appear. If playlist ID is not specified, the two most recent videos uploaded to the Channel will appear. Note: non-family safe videos will be skipped over automatically. Video wall videos must be set to public in order to appear. Private and unlisted videos will NOT appear. |
| Subscribe btn | If used, you also have option to show number of subscribers. | Users can subscribe to your channel directly from your ad unit using this btn. |
Reporting Metrics and Third Party Tracking Capabilities
Reporting Metrics
- Ad Impressions
- Video clicks
- Video play quartiles: 0/25/50/75/100 percent video views
- Clicks to the Advertiser’s Site
- Clicks to Channel
- Clicks to Subscribe (option)
- Clicks to Video Wall (option)
Third Party Tracking Capabilities
- Ad Impressions (1×1 pixel URL)
- Clicks to the Advertiser’s Site (redirect URL)
Remarketing Event Capabilities
- Ad Impressions (1×1 pixel URL)
Please note that ad impressions will be reported per ad unit. We will only accept third party redirect/tracking pixels from a certified ad serving vendor. Please refer to the full list of approved vendors.
Technical Specifications:
Main Video
- The client must upload the video for the ad unit manually to YouTube and provide its watch page URL.
- Video cannot be private. If the client would like the video to be hidden from the public, it can be made unlisted by following the instructions here.
- The video is recommended to be filmed with a 16:9 aspect ratio. If that is not possible, we recommend using a non-standard 3:1 video aspect ratio.
- Please reference our help pages on best practices for optimizing your video and uploading your video.
- If you choose the Widescreen (full-bleed) option for the video, please keep in mind that top and bottom parts of the video content will be auto-cropped, as the video will be zoomed in to fit the Masthead width. Auto-crop dimensions are shown in the screenshot below for 16:9 aspect ratio videos.
- If you choose the Centered option, the masthead will use the blurred thumbnail of the video as the background image.
- The video will auto-play for a maximum of 30s. The start and end times for the auto-playing are configurable.
- If the video completes during autoplay, the video thumbnail will be shown in the Resolve state. Otherwise, the last frame shown during autoplay will be used with a ‘Click to continue’ overlay.
- YouTube view count will not increment on auto-play.
- The video control btns will be automatically hidden.
Information panel
The information panel will pull content directly from the YouTube video and user content, as well as allow for optional elements.
- Channel icon and name: automatically displayed during the resolve state, and clicks through to the channel hosting the main video
- Channel name may get cut off if too long
- Subscribe option: the number of subscribers may be suppressed as an option
- “Advertisement” attribution will be displayed
- Background color of the Information Panel is always white and can’t be changed
- The form and color of the CTA btn can’t be changed
- As HTML elements, btns and text might look differently in different browsers
- Call-to-action text and destination URL will appear as a link in the resolve state. Call-to-action text is configurable and clicking on the link will open a new tab navigating to the destination URL provided. The call-to-action text should indicate where the link leads, for example, “Visit advertiser’s site”
Video Wall
If the video wall format is requested, the unit will resolve to a video wall after autoplay. This video wall will feature two other video thumbnails from the channel. Thumbnails will be pulled from the two most recently uploaded videos. When the user hovers over a thumbnail, the title will appear in the upper left corner. Clicking the thumbnail will go to the watch page for that video. The video wall may be suppressed if the advertiser would prefer to just highlight the main video. It may also be configured to show the top two videos from a designated playlist.
- The videos in the video wall must have been uploaded by the advertiser’s channel.
- The videos in the video wall must be public.
- The videos in the video wall cannot be age-gated.
- The main video is excluded from appearing in the video wall.
- At least 2 qualifying videos must be present in the playlist or the channel for the video wall to display.
- If a playlist of videos uploaded by the channel is provided, the top two videos from this playlist will be featured in the video wall after the auto-playing has finished.
Compatible Browsers:
- Internet Explorer 10+, Firefox 25+, Safari 6+; Chrome 33+
