Ad Assets Cheat Sheet

One image set and one video cut list cover almost every Google Ads and LinkedIn placement, and TV screens too. Start here if you are planning a shoot; jump to the section you need if you already know what you are building. I checked the specs against each platform’s own help pages and live campaign interfaces in September 2026, and the video views section in November 2026.

Start here

The image set

Produce every image concept in the first three sizes. Add 9:16 for Google. Build the Search set separately, because Search rejects any text in the image.

Ratio	Export at	Why
1:1	1200 x 1200	Required by Search and Performance Max; every Google and LinkedIn image placement takes it
1.91:1	1200 x 628	Required by Performance Max; every Google placement and LinkedIn single image take it
4:5	960 x 1200	One file for Demand Gen, Performance Max and LinkedIn mobile
9:16	1080 x 1920	Google only: recommended for Shorts in Demand Gen, offered in the Performance Max crop tool

Logos are separate assets. For a desktop-focused campaign, stop at 1:1 and 1.91:1: 4:5 on LinkedIn and 9:16 everywhere serve mobile only.

The video cut list

Three ratios, each cut at exactly 15 and exactly 30 seconds: six files per video concept. Add the 4:5 pair when LinkedIn leads the flight.

Ratio	Master size	Lengths	Mobile only?
16:9	1920 x 1080	15s, 30s	No. Serves every device, and the only ratio for TV screens
1:1	1080 x 1080	15s, 30s	No. Feeds on desktop and mobile
9:16	1080 x 1920	15s, 30s	Yes. Shorts and full-screen mobile
4:5 (LinkedIn-led only)	1080 x 1350	15s, 30s	Yes on Google. LinkedIn’s recommended feed ratio

4:5 is left out of the default because it only earns its place on LinkedIn. Performance Max doesn’t take it, and in Demand Gen, with the Display Network switched off, its other surfaces are YouTube mobile in-feed and Discover, which the square already covers.

15 and 30 seconds pass every placement except the 6-second bumper and Google’s fixed-length non-skippable slots. The full map is in Where each video cut runs.

Images

Image sizes by platform

Ratio	Export at	Minimum	Search	PMax	Demand Gen	LI single image	LI carousel
1:1	1200 x 1200	300 x 300	R	R	Y	Y	Y
1.91:1	1200 x 628	600 x 314	Y	R	Y	Y	-
4:5	960 x 1200	480 x 600	-	Y	Y	M	-
9:16	1080 x 1920	600 x 1067	-	Y	M	-	-

Key: R = required · Y = supported (all devices) · M = mobile only · - = not available Columns: PMax = Performance Max · LI = LinkedIn. Every size is JPG or PNG, 5MB maximum. Export sizes and minimums are Google’s; LinkedIn’s own figures are below.

The minimum is the useful half. The export size is what you produce; the minimum tells you whether a file a client sends over is usable or needs reshooting.

Search takes images only: no video, no carousel. Square is required, landscape recommended.
Performance Max requires one landscape and one square. Vertical is optional. Google publishes no 9:16 spec for Performance Max, but its crop tool offers the ratio, so build it at the Demand Gen size. A missing spec is not a prohibition.
Demand Gen needs at least one landscape or one square, where Performance Max needs both. Carousel takes the same four ratios, images only, and every card must share one ratio.
LinkedIn single image supports three layouts: 1.91:1, 1:1 and 4:5. Vertical is mobile only and doesn’t deliver to desktop. Carousel takes 2 to 10 cards, recommends square, and shows them at 312 x 312.

LinkedIn’s own recommendations differ from Google’s for one ratio:

Ratio	LinkedIn recommends	LinkedIn minimum
1.91:1	1200 x 628	640 x 360
1:1	1200 x 1200	360 x 360
4:5	720 x 900	Not published for images

Tip

One 4:5 export covers both platforms. Export vertical images once at 960 x 1200, Google’s recommended size. LinkedIn recommends 720 x 900 and takes up to 1080 x 1350 for 4:5 video, so 960 x 1200 sits inside its range. No second LinkedIn-only file.

Important

Keep the load-bearing content in the centre 80%. Google’s rule: content “needs to be in the center 80% of the image (the safe area that won’t be cut off despite device screen size)”. Let artwork bleed to the edge, but keep the subject, headline, stat and any logo inside. Google separately disallows “images that are cropped in a way that makes the subject of the asset difficult to distinguish”, so a clipped subject is a policy problem as well as a design one.

Read the 80% as 10% clear on each edge: the centre 80% of the width and the centre 80% of the height. Google gives no diagram or margin figure, so nothing supports a stricter reading. Leaving 20% on every edge shrinks you to the centre 60% and counts the margin twice.

Ratio	Export at	Clear margin per edge	Safe box
1:1	1200 x 1200	120 px all sides	960 x 960
1.91:1	1200 x 628	120 px left and right, 63 px top and bottom	960 x 502
4:5	960 x 1200	96 px left and right, 120 px top and bottom	768 x 960
9:16	1080 x 1920	108 px left and right, 192 px top and bottom	864 x 1536

Google auto-crops. The interface says so on both images and logos: “Selected images may be auto-cropped. You can always edit afterwards.” You can supply fewer ratios and let Google derive the rest, and a crop you didn’t choose can cut your subject. The centre 80% won’t save you there: a square cut from a landscape loses about half the width. Supplying every ratio yourself is the defence; the centre 80% covers the smaller trims between screen sizes.

Compose from the landscape. Shoot the 1.91:1 master with the subject centred and the square crop comes easily. Treat 4:5 and 9:16 as their own layouts, decided at the shoot, not crops of the landscape. In Performance Max, landscape and square are the ratios that actually get used; a thin portrait rarely earns an impression. That’s a Performance Max pattern, not a reason to skip vertical on Demand Gen or LinkedIn.

What goes in the image

The image and the ad text do opposite jobs on the two platforms, so one creative never serves both unchanged.

LinkedIn: the image carries the message. The intro text, headline and button sit outside the frame, are easy to miss, and often need a click to expand. LinkedIn never lays text over the image.
Google: the image is one part of an ad Google assembles at auction. It adds its own headline, description, logo and button over, beside or below the image, and publishes no fixed position to design around.

Element	LinkedIn	Google PMax and Demand Gen	Google Search
Headline, stat or pull-quote in the image	Yes. One line, on-brand type. This is where the persuading happens	One short line at most, when it reads cleanly. Supply a text-free version of every concept too	No text at all
Written headline or call to action	Fine, used sparingly	Fine, used sparingly	No
Drawn button, “click here”, “learn more”	No. LinkedIn renders its own	No. Google renders its own	No
Logo	Optional. The ad already shows your company as the author	Optional and small, never a watermark. It can help, since the surface’s own logo isn’t always prominent	No
Photo, product or visual subject	Yes, alongside the text	Must stand on its own with no text: editorial, not banner	Yes: a clean scene only
Full banner (headline, body copy, logo, button, border)	No	No	No

Google publishes no content rule specific to Demand Gen, so the Performance Max guidance carries over.

Do:

One idea per image. A headline, a stat or a quote, not all three.
Keep text and logo inside the centre 80%. Google crops, and LinkedIn’s 4:5 is seen on phones.
Size text to read on a phone at feed width.
Build the Search set separately from the Performance Max set.

Don’t:

Don’t draw a button. Both platforms render their own.
Don’t repeat the ad text in the image. On LinkedIn it reads twice; on Google it competes with the text Google adds.
Don’t use a stock photo with no brand identity. On Google especially, the image has to carry the brand without help.

Text and overlays: the Search and Performance Max split

Three Google pages take three positions.

Source	Position
Image assets format requirements (policy)	Bans them. Images with text or graphic overlay, brand logos included, are not allowed
About image assets for Performance Max	Permits them. Overlays are allowed, and at least one image without overlays per ratio is recommended
About image assets for Search campaigns	Absolute prohibition. “there are absolutely no digitally added text, logos, or graphic overlays, as these will be immediately disapproved”

What holds in live accounts:

Search is the only campaign type where the stated rule is enforced. Any added text, logo or overlay gets disapproved.
The general policy ban doesn’t hold for Performance Max. Brand logos and embedded text run without issue. Where the policy page and the Performance Max page disagree, the Performance Max page governs.

Warning

Never move a Performance Max image into a Search campaign. The two share ratios and sizes, so a text-bearing image uploads into Search without complaint and is then disapproved. Build and store the two sets separately from the start.

Text-bearing images are also less certain on the Display Network, which Performance Max serves on. Google’s responsive display guidance advises against “inserting text on top of an image” (text that is part of the photo, like a real shop sign, is fine). A text-free variant of each concept lets the campaign serve either way.

How Google uses the image

Channel	How the image is used
Search	Not shown: text only
Display	The visual, with headline, description, logo and button over it or beside it
Discover (mobile)	The hero, with headline, description and button below
YouTube	Thumbnail or companion; video takes priority if you supply one
Gmail	With headline and description, laid out like an email
Maps	Usually text only, with logo

This is what I see in live accounts, not what Google documents. Google publishes no rule for where text sits relative to your image, only that its AI “arranges these assets in countless combinations”. So there’s no fixed slot, and nothing to leave a blank band for. The centre 80% rule is the only published spatial rule, and it’s about cropping, not overlay.

Briefing a shoot

Aim between two failures. A generic stock photo with no brand identity is too plain. A full banner with logo, headline, body copy, button and border is too busy. The sweet spot is a styled product or lifestyle shot with a clean composition and, if needed, subtle branding such as packaging that naturally shows the logo.

Foreground: the product is the clear hero, sharp, not competing with props.
Background: simple and supportive. In a lifestyle shot it sets the scene but stays soft enough not to pull the eye; a shallow depth of field does this.
Framing: landscape master with the subject centred; vertical composed at the shoot.

Style	What it is	Best for
Studio	Clean white or seamless background, even lighting	Universal and safest; Performance Max and Search
Lifestyle	Product in an aspirational real-world scene	Broad appeal, every platform
In use	Hands using the product, natural light	Feels native; no full face, so no model-release complications
Floating	Product levitating on a gradient	High-impact vertical placements
Ingredient	Top-down flat lay with components fanned out	Square; tells a product story

Studio, In use and Lifestyle are the most broadly useful for e-commerce; Floating and Ingredient suit a stylised food brand.

How many images

Performance Max, per asset group:

Ratio	Minimum	Recommended	Maximum
Horizontal 1.91:1	1	4	20
Square 1:1	1	4	20
Vertical 4:5	1	4	20

Google’s best-practice page writes these as ranges (“4-20”, “2-20”) that read like minimums. They aren’t: an asset group saves with one of each required ratio. Four per ratio is the working target, and Google recommends at least one image without overlays for each ratio.

Important

20 images per asset group means 20 per theme. An asset group is one theme, and the ceiling applies per asset group, not per campaign. A campaign covering four themes has four separate ceilings. Plan creative volume per theme.

Logos

Google treats logos as separate assets from marketing images. Every Google logo is square except the Performance Max landscape logo. LinkedIn has no separate logo asset: it pulls the company logo from the posting Page.

Where it appears	Ratio	Min	Recommended / max	Format	Max file
Brand Profile (Merchant Center, Shopping, Business Profile)	1:1	500 x 500	up to 2000 x 2000	BMP, JPEG, PNG	5MB
Performance Max, square	1:1	128 x 128	1200 x 1200	JPG, PNG	5MB
Performance Max, landscape	4:1	512 x 128	1200 x 300	JPG, PNG	5MB
Demand Gen	1:1	144 x 144 (help) / 128 x 128 (UI)	1200 x 1200	JPG, PNG	150KB (help) / 5120KB (UI)
Search / business logo	1:1	not published (~128+)	1200 x 1200	JPG, PNG	5MB

Warning

The Demand Gen logo has two specs. Google’s help page publishes a 150KB cap and a 144 x 144 minimum. The campaign interface states 5120KB and 128 x 128.

Export at 1200 x 1200 and compress below 150KB. That satisfies both, so you never have to settle it. A logo that passes Performance Max at 2MB may be refused under the help-page rule.

Merchant Center takes a square logo only. “Only approved logos will appear in your ads”, so there’s a review step between upload and serving.

Video

Video sizes and file specs

Export every cut at its master size from the cut list. It sits inside both platforms’ ranges.

Ratio	Google recommends	Google campaigns	LinkedIn recommends	LinkedIn range
16:9	1920 x 1080	Demand Gen, PMax	1920 x 1080	Up to 1920 x 1080
1:1	1080 x 1080	Demand Gen, PMax	1080 x 1080	360 to 1920
4:5	1080 x 1350	Demand Gen only	720 x 900	Up to 1080 x 1350
9:16	1080 x 1920	Demand Gen, PMax (mobile only)	720 x 1280	Up to 1080 x 1920 (mobile only)

Spec	Google (Video campaigns, Demand Gen, PMax)	LinkedIn
Where the file goes	Your YouTube channel, public or unlisted; the ad references it. Performance Max can use Google’s House channel instead	Direct upload to Campaign Manager, desktop only, 25 videos per 24 hours. No YouTube links
Best format	MP4, H.264 High Profile, progressive, closed GOP, fast start. YouTube also accepts MPEG-2 and MPEG-4	MP4, H.264 or VP8. ProRes not accepted
Max file size	256 GB	500 MB (75 KB minimum)
Resolution	Shoot 1080p. Google recommends Full HD and advises against SD	As the table above
Video bitrate	8 Mbps for 1080p at 24-30 fps; 12 Mbps at 48-60 fps	Not published
Frame rate	No limit published	“Less than 30 FPS” on the help page, “30 fps recommended” on the marketing page; 25 fps satisfies both
Audio	AAC-LC, 48 kHz, 384 kbps stereo	AAC or MPEG4, under 64 kHz
Captions	.srt, .sbv, .vtt, .ttml	.srt only, English only
Thumbnail	Custom: 1280 x 720 (min 1280 x 640), JPG, GIF or PNG, under 2 MB	Optional: JPG or PNG, under 2 MB, same ratio and resolution as the video

One master export clears both platforms and TV screens: MP4, H.264 High Profile, constant 25 fps, 15-20 Mbps, AAC-LC at 48 kHz and 320 kbps stereo, -23 LUFS loudness.

Where Google hosts the video. Performance Max offers a Google-managed House channel you can upload to during setup, instead of linking your own YouTube channel. That suits a client who doesn’t want ads on their own channel, and removes the need for channel access before launch. The trade: no analytics, remarketing, title edits, custom thumbnail or takedown appeals.

If you supply no video, Performance Max builds one from your images. A video you made yourself performs better.

Length rules

15 and 30 seconds pass everywhere except the bumper and Google’s non-skippable slots. Both pass Demand Gen, Performance Max, skippable in-stream, Shorts, the LinkedIn feed and Microsoft TV. Google’s standard non-skippable slot takes 15 seconds only (7-15s); its TV non-skippable takes 30 seconds only (16-30s). Cut to the frame: Google’s TV slot allows only :29 to :31.

6 seconds is a bumper length only. It sits below the Performance Max floor and outside Demand Gen in-stream, and a video views campaign serves it with no skip button.
YouTube Shorts has no minimum of its own. The floor comes from the campaign type.
LinkedIn accepts 3 seconds to 30 minutes and recommends 15-30 seconds. It reports that 7-15 second videos see “up to a 300% lift in completion rates”.

	Performance Max	Demand Gen
Minimum	10 seconds	5 seconds
Under 10 seconds	Not accepted	Accepted, but ineligible for YouTube In-stream
Maximum	Not stated	Not stated
Shorts band	10 to 60 seconds	Not stated; 10-60s recommended

Warning

A six-second Demand Gen video passes upload and loses inventory. It clears the 5-second floor, then becomes ineligible for YouTube In-stream. Ten seconds is the practical floor in both campaign types: a hard rule in Performance Max, an inventory limit in Demand Gen.

YouTube Shorts. Three separate rules use the number 10: Performance Max’s floor, its Shorts band, and Demand Gen’s In-stream threshold. None of them is a Shorts minimum.

The ceiling matters more than the floor. A Shorts ad can run up to 3 minutes, but only the first 60 seconds play in the Shorts feed, with an overlay at 50 seconds inviting the viewer to the watch page. Google recommends staying under 60 seconds.
One asset covers both campaign types. A vertical of 10 to 60 seconds meets the Performance Max band, clears the Demand Gen In-stream threshold, and plays in full in the feed.
Shorts isn’t a 9:16-only surface. Vertical is “best suited”; horizontal and square “are also supported”, with horizontal playing between blurred bars.

Creative do’s and don’ts

Drawn from Google’s ABCDs of effective video ads, LinkedIn’s video ad tips, and what holds up across the video ad research I follow.

Do:

Win the first 2-3 seconds. Open on the problem or the payoff, not a logo slate or a slow build. The opening frame should tell a story or pose a question on its own. Google: “Get to the heart of the story faster.”
Brand in the first 3 seconds, then throughout. Logo, colour or sound recognisable before the viewer can skip or scroll, and again at the end.
Say the brand name in the voiceover as well as showing it. Google: “Audio brand mentions enhance onscreen brand visuals’ performance.”
Voiceover and sound on, but the video must make sense muted. Run the core message as on-screen text as well as in the voiceover.
One message per video. Google: “Avoid doing too much in your ad.”
Give a reason to act now, not eventually.
Show, don’t tell, in quick cuts: 1-3 second shots in the short formats, cut to the beat.
Feature people where you can: a presenter, a customer, a practitioner.
End with a call to action, spoken and on screen. Say what to do and where, such as “Order today at [your site]”, with any offer in the same line.
Bright, high-contrast visuals and large text. Most views are on a phone.
Keep text and faces inside each ratio’s safe zone. Platform buttons and captions sit over the bottom and right edges, most of all on 9:16. Google publishes safe-zone templates per ratio.
Pre-test the concept before spend only for brand or heavy-media work. On performance campaigns, skip the pre-test and read the in-market results.

Don’t:

Don’t crop the 16:9 to make the 9:16. Shoot vertical natively: landscape footage cropped to vertical is reported to underperform by 40-60%.
Don’t let music compete with the voiceover. Avoid tracks with lyrics under speech.
Don’t carry the message in the audio alone.
Don’t burn in subtitles and also upload an .srt on the same platform. Viewers see the text twice.

The shape of each length:

Length	Structure
6s bumper	One message. Product or brand front and centre for all six seconds, not a squashed mini-story
15s	Hook (0-3s), one benefit shown visually (3-12s), call to action (12-15s). TV research found a 15s carries about 80% of a 30s ad’s recall, with equal brand recognition, at 60-80% of the media cost: the workhorse, not the compromise
30s	Hook and brand (0-3s), a reason to stay past the skip button (3-5s), the core message landed by 15s, a sound or visual refresh at 15s, one proof point (15-25s), then call to action and brand end card (25-30s). Not extra scene-setting
30s master with a 15s cut	The first 15 seconds are a complete 15s ad, ending on a brand moment at 12-15s. The 15s cut takes its call to action and end card there; the master plays on. Score the music with a natural ending at 15s, keep voiceover and on-screen text from crossing 15s, shoot the end card separately, and say the brand in both halves. You get both files from one shoot
Shorts vertical	Full-bleed, subject in the upper two-thirds. The bottom ~250px is platform controls: nothing important there

Keep any offer in the call-to-action beat only, as a voiceover line and on-screen text, and ask for the end card as a swappable layer. Each offer variant is then a new end card, not a new edit.

Captions: burned in or a file?

	Voiceover	On-screen text	Captions
LinkedIn	Yes	Key lines	Burn in full subtitles. LinkedIn: “a large portion of LinkedIn members will watch your ad with the sound off… Burn in video subtitles.” Its caption file is optional
YouTube (Video campaigns, Demand Gen, PMax)	Yes, and it carries the call to action. Google: “Supercharge CTAs with audio”	Key lines. Google: “Support the story with audio and supers”	Upload an .srt to YouTube for accessibility. No full burned-in subtitles, so the on-screen text stays readable
TV screens	Yes; viewers watch with sound on	Key lines only, big enough to read across a room	.srt on YouTube; nothing burned in

So each LinkedIn cut needs two exports: a subtitled LinkedIn file and a clean YouTube file.

What differs by placement:

Placement	What matters most	Do / don’t
LinkedIn feed	Muted autoplay in a professional feed	Treat it as a silent film. LinkedIn says to show what matters “in the first 10 seconds… attention drops after that”. Describe the video in the headline and intro text
YouTube skippable in-stream	The skip button at 5 seconds	Brand and hook inside the first 5 seconds. Assume sound on
YouTube Shorts (9:16)	Vertical, full screen, swiped	Native vertical framing and a fast opener. Keep text out of the bottom band. Ads that look like polished TV spots stand out as ads
YouTube in-feed	A thumbnail competing for the click	The thumbnail and headline do the work. Pick a thumbnail frame that works on its own
TV screens	Sound on, big screen, no click	No “click” language. Say the web address and show it, or use a QR code where the format allows. Text large enough to read at a distance

Where Demand Gen runs

Channels are chosen at ad group level, not campaign level. The interface offers All Google channels, or Let me choose, which limits the ad “to show only on the eligible channels of your choice”.

Channel	What it covers
YouTube in-stream	Ads before, during or after YouTube videos
YouTube in-feed	Ads in YouTube’s watch next, home and search feeds
YouTube Shorts	Ads on YouTube’s short-form video platform
Discover	Personalised content feeds on Google mobile experiences
Google Mail	Ads within Gmail inboxes
Google Display Network	Third-party sites and apps
Maps	Ads on Google Maps

The three YouTube surfaces are separately selectable, so Shorts-only is possible: choose “Let me choose”, keep YouTube then Shorts, and clear everything else. Because the control sits on the ad group, a Shorts-only vertical and a broader set of ratios can run in the same campaign in separate ad groups.

Warning

The Display Network reshapes creative. It’s the only channel carrying the warning “some ads may be modified to fit publisher formats”, which makes it the place you have least control over how the ad looks.

Supplying one ratio doesn’t restrict where it runs. Google’s wording: “If you only have one video in the ad, that video will serve on ‘all formats.’” A vertical-only ad group isn’t a Shorts-only ad group; Google will put that 9:16 on horizontal surfaces too. Narrow placement with the channel setting, never with the asset.

Creative preferences pin each video to in-stream, in-feed or Shorts; full control needs three videos, and editing the ad in Google Ads Editor or the API wipes them. Google recommends three videos per orientation and marks every video ratio as optional, so a single-ratio build is inside the rules and well below what Google suggests.

TV screens (CTV)

Build TV cuts at 16:9 from the master export. What changes by platform:

Platform	Buyable in the UK?	Ratio	Extra quality or creative rule	Other limits
Google (TV screens targeting, 30s non-skippable, YouTube Select)	Yes	16:9. The 30s non-skippable is horizontal only, 16-30s	Nothing beyond YouTube’s upload spec. Cut exactly :30 for the non-skippable TV slot	No click on TV. A QR code can be added on Demand Gen, Performance Max and YouTube Select; not on YouTube TV or Google TV, which are US only
Microsoft (CTV, Premium Streaming)	Yes, self-serve, CTV and Premium Streaming	16:9 (9:16 accepted)	Build to the top quality tier below: placement depends on the star rating, and only the top tier reaches premium placements	Premium Streaming bills per completed view. No conversion tracking on either
Netflix via Microsoft	Not confirmed for 2026: ask a Microsoft rep before a plan names it	16:9, 1920 x 1080 progressive	Stricter than Microsoft’s top tier: ProRes 422 preferred or H.264 at 12 Mbps+; PCM or AAC-LC 192 kbps+, 48 kHz stereo; lengths 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60s	No QR codes. Netflix may add a countdown timer and fade the audio. Alcohol, financial services, HFSS food, gambling and healthcare need approval
LinkedIn CTV	No (US and Canada only)	16:9 only, 1920 x 1080	The only published TV loudness: -23 LUFS. 15-40 Mbps, constant frame rate, 48 kHz stereo 192 kbps+, audio and video the same length, 4:2:2 chroma recommended	Listed because it sets the strictest published bar

Microsoft’s top quality tier (three stars):

Spec	Value
Format	MP4 preferred, or MOV
Video bitrate	10 Mbps+ for MP4; MOV 42 Mbps (720p) to 80 Mbps. Premium Streaming prefers 40-80 Mbps for its premium publishers and streaming devices
Resolution	1920 x 1080, 1280 x 720, 1080 x 1920, 720 x 1280, 1440 x 1080
Ratio	16:9 and 9:16 only; square and 4:5 add nothing on Microsoft
Max file	2 GB
Frame rate	23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 or 30
Audio	192 kbps+, 48 kHz, 16 or 24-bit stereo, PCM or AAC-LC; one video and one audio track, lengths within 500 ms
Lengths	10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 75 or 90s, for Online Video and Premium Streaming alike

Microsoft’s Performance Max takes no video.

Video views campaigns

A Google video views campaign buys views on three YouTube surfaces at once (skippable in-stream, in-feed and Shorts) with one bid strategy, target cost per view. You pay for a view or a click, never for an impression, and what counts as a paid view changes by surface:

Surface	You pay when the viewer	The free part of the ad
Skippable in-stream	Watches 30 seconds, reaches the end of a shorter ad, or clicks	Everything after 30 seconds, and every skip before then
In-feed	Clicks the thumbnail, or watches 10 seconds of autoplay (the end if shorter)	Everything after 10 seconds of autoplay
Shorts	Watches 10 seconds (the end if shorter), or taps the call to action, like, comment or share	Everything after 10 seconds

That changes the length question. On in-stream, an ad of 30 seconds or less is only paid for when someone watches all of it. A longer ad is paid for at 30 seconds, and the rest plays free to anyone who stays. On TV and other impression-priced media a longer ad costs more to place; here the price of an in-stream view stops at the 30-second mark.

The set Google recommends:

Cut	Length	Where it serves
Horizontal 16:9	15 seconds	In-stream and in-feed
Horizontal 16:9	60 seconds to 3 minutes	In-stream and in-feed
Vertical 9:16	10 to 60 seconds	Shorts, sometimes in-stream

Nothing of 6 seconds or under. Google serves those “without the skip button”, which forces a paid view.
12 seconds and over count as views and build remarketing lists.
Square and vertical don’t serve in-feed in this campaign type, so a square adds little here. Keep it for Demand Gen and Performance Max.
Horizontal only reaches Shorts when the ad group has no vertical. Google’s video enhancements, on by default, can also make a vertical from a horizontal. Supply a native vertical instead.
You can’t pin a video to one surface. You can switch a whole surface off for the campaign; pinning a single video exists only in Demand Gen.

Which length for brand lift? The evidence splits by what you measure:

Ad recall: short wins. TV research found a 15-second ad gets about 80% of a 30-second ad’s recall, with equal brand recognition, at 60-80% of the media cost (Newstead and Romaniuk, Journal of Advertising Research, 2010). Google’s own bumper data shows over 9 in 10 six-second campaigns lifting recall.
Consideration: Google says ads of 60 seconds to 3 minutes “drive more consideration lift than shorter versions”. Its help page cites no study, and the analysis behind it compared ads over 60 seconds with each other, not with a 15.

So pick the Brand Lift metric before you brief the edit. Whatever the length, get the brand in by 3 seconds and the message landed by 15, because most viewers leave before the end.

Setup Google ties to results: all three surfaces switched on, no keyword, topic or placement targeting (it restricts Shorts), audiences in one ad group, and a call to action enabled. A Brand Lift study needs at least 10 days, with the budget spent inside them.

LinkedIn ad text

Important

The first 150 characters of intro text are everything. Front-load a hook that reads as a finished thought before the mobile “see more” cut. If it doesn’t land, nobody expands it.

Element	Target	Maximum	Notes
Intro text	First 150 chars = a complete sentence	3,000 chars	Mobile truncates at ~150 chars. After the fold, write as much as you like
Headline	70 chars or fewer	200 chars	70 is where LinkedIn truncates. Under ~40 keeps it on one line
Description	100 chars	300 chars	Optional and rarely shown. Skip it

The same limits apply to video ads. LinkedIn’s video marketing page gives the intro text maximum as 600, against the help page’s 3,000; write to 150 and neither matters. More than four emojis, symbols or repeated characters gets a video ad rejected.

The headline sits below the image. Keep it punchy and direct.
No call to action in the copy. LinkedIn renders its own button (Download, Learn More, Sign Up, Attend) beside the headline. Don’t spend headline or intro space on “Download now”.
LinkedIn expects a professional tone, not corporate waffle. Specific outcomes, real numbers and peer-level language win.

Why five ads per ad group. LinkedIn shows a person at most one impression per ad per day. Five ads in one ad group means up to five impressions per person per day, one from each ad. The point is frequency and reach; testing is a side benefit. Each ad only has to be technically different, so a single word change counts. Fewer than five leaves daily touchpoints on the table.

Where each video cut runs

✓ accepted · ✗ not accepted · - not published by the platform.

Platform	Format / channel	Device	16:9	1:1	4:5	9:16	15s	30s	Length rule
LinkedIn	Single video ad, feed	Desktop + mobile	✓	✓	✓ (recommended)	✓	✓	✓	3s to 30 min; 15-30s recommended
LinkedIn	Audience Network in-stream (in testing; runs with the feed ad)	Publisher apps and sites	✓	✓	-	✓	✓	✓	Up to 90s. Horizontal fills horizontal slots, vertical fills vertical, square fills either
Google Video campaign	Skippable in-stream	All, TV included	✓	✓	-	✓	✓	✓	Any length (auction); under 3 min recommended
Google Video campaign	Non-skippable in-stream	All	✓	✓	-	✓	✓	✗	7-15s
Google Video campaign	30s non-skippable	TV screens	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	16-30s, horizontal only
Google Video campaign	Bumper	All	✓	✓	-	✓	✗	✗	Up to 6s
Google Video campaign	In-feed	YouTube home, search, watch-next	✓	✓	-	✗	✓	✓	No maximum. Vertical doesn’t serve
Google Video campaign	Shorts	Mobile (Shorts feed)	✓ (blurred bars)	✓	-	✓ (recommended)	✓	✓	No minimum of its own. Up to 3 min; first 60s play in the feed
Google Video campaign	Masthead (reservation)	YouTube home	✓	✗	✗	✗	✓	✓	Any; over 10s recommended
Demand Gen	YouTube in-stream	All	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	10s minimum to serve here
Demand Gen	YouTube in-feed, Shorts	All; Shorts mobile	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	5s minimum; 10-60s recommended
Demand Gen	Discover, Gmail, Maps, Display Network	Discover mobile; others all	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	As above. Display Network may reshape the creative
Demand Gen	TV screens	TV	✓	-	-	-	✓	✓	As in-stream
Performance Max	All channels	All	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓	✓	10s minimum; Shorts needs one vertical of 10-60s
Microsoft	CTV and Premium Streaming	TV	✓	✗	✗	✓ (accepted)	✓	✓	Top quality tier: 10, 15, 20, 30s up to 90s

LinkedIn CTV is US and Canada only.
In-feed in a video views campaign takes horizontal only: Google says square and vertical “will not serve on in-feed” there.
4:5 on Google is recommended by Demand Gen only. Google’s video ad specs page for all YouTube formats accepts it as a vertical ratio, but its pages for Video campaign formats leave it out, hence the dashes. YouTube fits it to the screen without cropping; Google doesn’t re-lay it out.
LinkedIn on desktop: LinkedIn doesn’t say whether vertical video shows on desktop. For images, 4:5 is mobile only.

Official documentation

Google Ads: images and logos

Google Ads: video

LinkedIn Ads

Microsoft Advertising