Video Ads

A video ad on Meta is a video file you upload or build in Ads Manager that plays in feeds, Stories, Reels, and other placements. You create one by choosing Single image or video in the ad setup and uploading a file or selecting a video from your library. Meta's help center also has tools to turn images into video and to add captions, a thumbnail, or a GIF. The same asset can appear as a 4:5 feed clip or a 9:16 vertical unit, depending on which placement wins the auction. Video ads report views, ThruPlay, and watch-time metrics along with the usual clicks and conversions.

Aspect ratio and length vary by placement. Meta lists Facebook Feed support for 1.91:1, 16:9, 1:1, and 4:5, with 4:5 recommended, and on the computer version of Facebook Feed video shows at 1:1, which can add black bars. Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Instagram Reels, and Facebook Reels favor 9:16. In carousel ads, Meta lists video up to 240 minutes on Facebook with 15 seconds recommended, and Instagram Feed videos up to 2 minutes. Files can be up to 4 GB. Videos autoplay in carousels without sound by default, and a viewer can turn sound on. Meta notes that on taller screens it may zoom or letterbox your video, so keep key content inside the safe zone.

Video interacts with objectives in two ways. First, the Awareness objective can optimize for ThruPlay or 2-second continuous video views, as Meta's objective mapping shows for the older Video views objective. Second, for Traffic, Leads, and Sales, video is simply a creative type that the delivery system optimizes toward your chosen result. Advantage+ creative can add enhancements like subtitles, music, or touch-ups. Placement choices matter: vertical video built for Reels will look odd in desktop feed, and a square clip wastes space in Stories. If you use Advantage+ placements, make versions that fit the main shapes. Watch frequency too, since a short video shown to a small audience wears out faster than a long one shown broadly.

Common mistakes start with designing for sound. Without burned-in captions and a visual hook in the first seconds, many viewers never learn what you sell. A second is length without structure: a 60 second brand film with the offer at the end, when most people have scrolled away. A third is judging success by views alone. Cheap views from an audience that never clicks are not progress; look at link clicks, cost per result, and downstream conversions. A fourth is reusing a widescreen file everywhere. And a fifth is never refreshing: video fatigue shows up as rising frequency and falling click-through.

This week, review your top video's retention in Ads Manager's video metrics, such as ThruPlay and the share watched at points along the way. If most people drop off in the first three seconds, rebuild the opening: show the product or result immediately, add captions, and put the offer within the first ten seconds. Export a 9:16 cut and a 4:5 cut, upload both, and use placement customization so each shows where it fits. Test a short version, 10 to 15 seconds, against your current cut at equal budgets. Keep whichever wins on cost per result, not on views. Save the best opening three seconds as a template so every new video starts from a proven hook.