This article will provide an overview of Video Asset Optimization. Check out this article for more information regarding image asset optimization.
In-banner video ad units are subject to uplift charges based on total encoded video size. Video files exceeding 3MB will be subject to a per MB per CPM uplift fee in addition to the in-banner base CPM fee in your Order Form (uplift fees do not apply for YouTube, Vimeo, VAST URL, or embedded video players). The following best practices will help to ensure you keep your overall CPM delivery costs low when serving video on the Adventive platform.
Formats
Adventive's video player supports .mp4, .mov, .ogg, .flv, .avi, .ogv and .webm video file formats.
Most video assets under 30 seconds will be around 1MB after encoding and compression.
MP4 videos should be H.264 encoded to render properly in the browser.
Video is automatically compressed at the lowest possible file size depending on the dimensions of the actual video player in the ad unit.
For example, if you have a full screen interstitial with 1080 video, Adventive would need to encode a larger video to ensure quality. Likewise, if you have a 300x250 ad with a tiny video, Adventive will encode and process a lower res/small file size video.
Adventive will process the video AFTER it is added to a campaign – it takes about 5 min to update. Upon completion, you can go into the campaign and hover over the dollar sign to the right of the creative to see the final encoded size and CPM.
* Trafficking the tag or using Google Ad Manager previewer will show the processed video and will not appear pixelated as it may from the Adventive preview. Builder videos are unprocessed meaning they are not optimized fully - this allows our users to quickly place and edit ads containing video elements without waiting for us to process files.
More Ways to Optimize:
When you think about video, it's important to remember that most video comes in the aspect ratio of 4:3 (e.g 640x480), or 16:9 (e.g 640x360). When videos are uploaded to Adventive, we automatically compress the video to reduce its file size, but maintain the aspect ratio of the source video. That means that if the production studio provides a 4:3 clip, we will always maintain 4:3 (no letter-boxing) on the top and bottom of the video, likewise for 16:9.
If you are OK with letterboxing, then certainly you have more options - below is a chart that contains common 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios in terms of dimensions:
| 4:3 aspect ratio sizes | 16:9 aspect ratio sizes | |||||
| Best | Better | Good | Best | Better | Good | |
| 640 x 480 | 608 x 456 | 624 x 468 | 1280 x 720 | 1152 x 648 | 1216 x 684 | |
| 576 x 432 | 544 x 408 | 592 x 444 | 1024 x 576 | 896 x 504 | 1088 x 612 | |
| 512 x 384 | 480 x 360 | 560 x 420 | 768 x 432 | 640 x 360 | 960 x 540 | |
| 448 x 336 | 416 x 312 | 528 x 396 | 512 x 288 | 384 x 216 | 832 x 468 | |
| 384 x 288 | 352 x 264 | 496 x 372 | 256 x 144 | 128 x 72 | 704 x 396 | |
| 320 x 240 | 288 x 216 | 464 x 348 | 576 x 324 | |||
| 192 x 144 | 160 x 120 | 400 x 300 | 448 x 252 | |||
If you receive a massive video file (i.e. over 30MB), there are several tools available to resize large videos to more appropriate dimensions and file weights for ad delivery. Most of them are paid products like Final Cut Pro, or iMovie, however, we recommend using HandBrake to compress and resize videos (it's free to download and use). HandBrake's documentation provides a detailed list of functions and instructions on encoding videos.