Ad creative specs and best practices for mobile
Recommended sizes, playback, call-to-action timing, tracking, and redirect settings for ad creatives that run in mobile placements outside your own sites and apps.
A mobile ad creative is a video unit you generate in your Business Account and distribute outside your own websites and apps, in paid or partner placements. It renders as a responsive, self-contained video unit built for mobile screens and touch. Mobile environments limit size, performance, and interaction, so the settings on this page keep the unit fast, viewable, measurable, and brand-safe across ad networks.
Ad creatives are part of Offsite. For the product as a whole, see Offsite: what it does and where to start. For the full setup, see Create an ad creative for partner pages.
What a mobile ad creative supports
- Autoplay and user-initiated playback.
- Engagement actions: Repost, Spark, Comment, and Share.
- Redirects to a profile or another destination.
- Reporting and analytics in your Business Account.
You set all of these in the ad creative editor. Go to Grow > Off Site > Ad Creatives and click + New Ad.
Then select the posts the unit plays and click Next.
Sizes and aspect ratio
Genuin supports industry-standard mobile creative sizes, so the unit fits ad exchanges, networks, and publisher placements.
| Size | IAB name | Mobile use |
|---|---|---|
| 300×250 | Mobile Medium Rectangle | Recommended |
| 300×600 | Half Page | Recommended, with limited mobile use |
By default, the video is 9:16 (vertical). Adaptive scaling is supported for responsive containers. Use full-viewport vertical sizes whenever the placement allows them, for the most engagement.
For how much space each IAB size takes on a page, see Player card sizes and IAB footprint spec.
Recommended settings
| Setting | Recommendation on mobile |
|---|---|
| Autoplay Video | On, muted by default, with tap to unmute |
| Button Delay | 3, 4, or 5 seconds, so the button appears after the viewer engages |
| Enable Engagement Tools | Only the actions the campaign needs |
| Google Tag Manager ID | A valid ID, loaded before the creative renders |
| Redirect to Profile | On when discovery and brand affinity are the goals |
Autoplay
Select Autoplay Video to start the video muted. Autoplay is supported across most mobile placements and defaults to muted playback. Viewers tap to unmute.
Make sure the setting complies with the platform's and the browser's autoplay policies.
Performance
Keep the unit light, so it plays smoothly even on low-bandwidth connections:
- Keep creative payloads lightweight.
- Avoid excessive overlays and heavy UI elements.
- Use adaptive video display to fit varying screen sizes.
Call-to-action button
Use Button Delay to avoid visual clutter at the start of playback. The options are Immediately, 3 seconds, 4 seconds, and 5 seconds. For example, with 3 seconds, the button appears three seconds after the video starts.
Show the call to action after the viewer's first engagement with the video. Keep its text concise and easy to tap with a thumb.
Engagement tools
Enable engagement tools selectively, based on the campaign's goals. Enable Engagement Tools shows Repost, Spark, Comment, and Share. In performance-focused campaigns, don't enable every action by default.
Tracking and measurement
For accurate attribution and performance tracking, enter a valid Google Tag Manager ID in Tracking Details. Make sure Google Tag Manager loads before the creative renders.
Genuin tracks these metrics for every mobile ad creative:
- Views and completion rates.
- Engagement actions.
- Click-throughs and redirects.
- Autoplay and user-initiated plays.
All metrics roll up into the reporting dashboards in your Business Account. For the consent strings that offsite tags carry, see Macro and Consent Passthrough.
Redirects and link-outs
Select Redirect to Profile when discovery and brand affinity are the goals. Viewers can then tap through to brand, community, or creator profiles.
For external link-outs, make sure each destination page is optimized for mobile.
Warning
Deep links can break inside in-app browsers and leave the viewer on a dead end. Link to a mobile web page instead.
Looping
Use looping sparingly, because repeated loops tire viewers. We recommend it only for short-form clips under 15 seconds.
Governance and safety
Mobile ad creatives inherit Genuin's core safeguards:
- AI moderation and brand safety filters.
- Central activation and deactivation.
- Pause or disable a creative instantly.
Offsite distribution stays governed, auditable, and reversible. For the moderation rules behind it, see Moderation Baselines and Queue.
