VIDEO ENCODING GUIDELINES

Note that we require a “downloadable” video format as input. Do not export the video in a streaming format. This is especially important for RealProducer (see below).

General
Use high quality. We recommend using high quality settings for the video when exporting or saving the video with your video software. We will recompress the video during upload and minimize the file size. If the file size needs to be further reduced our design tool allows to reduce the quality settings in order to decrease file size. Therefore it is good practice to start out with a good quality video and then start reducing the quality in our tool to achieve the desired file size.

  • The video must be queued up exactly as it is to run, without any additional frames.
  • You must include a 300×250 backup image for users who may not be able to view the video.
  • Encode the video in for the actual size of the video/ad unit that you’ll be using in the ad.

Preferred Method of Video Encoding – Flash FLV
For best results, we highly recommend using the following encoding for your video files as a Flash FLV.
Using Flash 8.0 or higher make a Flash FLV file. Import your video into Flash using the following settings:

  • Progressive download from server
  • Flash 7 – High Quality (or Custom Quality if you prefer). High quality is recommended.
  • Use the Sorenson video codec
  • Skin = none

We can also work with:

Quicktime 6.5
Quicktime is one of the most popular video tools. The recommended export settings with Quicktime 6.5 are as follows:

  • Video: MPEG-4 Video; Quality: Best
  • Audio/Sound: MPEG-4 Audio; 44kHz; 64 kbps for mono, 128 kbps for stereo
  • Note that you MUST use an audio frequency of at least 32 kHz! Lower frequencies with MPEG-4 Audio will not work!

Windows Media Encoder 9
The recommended export settings with Windows Media Encoder 9 are as follows:

  • Content Distribution: “File download”
  • Video Quality: “DVD quality (1 Mbps VBR)”
  • Audio/Sound: “CD quality audio”

RealProducer 10
With RealProducer it is important to create a downloadable and not a streaming file. This is achieved by selecting a single Audience. You may first have to remove the default audiences. Select one of the following audience templates:

  • 450k Download (VBR) (for 160×120)
  • 750k Download (VBR) (for 320×240)
  • 1M Download (VBR) (for 480×360)
  • 2M Download (VBR) (for 640×480)
  • For video codec choose RealVideo 10, which is the default. This will result in a file with the extension .rmvb

Adobe Flash Video
The video should NOT be Flash video or the controllers won’t function.

ADDITIONAL VIDEO GUIDELINES

File Size
Video should be under 500k, if possible and uploaded to the Advertiser FTP Site. Please contact your Sales Representative to receive the FTP site information.

Artwork/Controls

  • All pieces should be in their own separate files (ie. video, any flash, swfs, etc).
  • The video should NOT be Flash video or the controllers won’t function.
  • The video must be queued up exactly as it is to run, without any additional frames.
  • You must include a 300×250 backup image for users who may not be able to view the video.

Video Length
15 seconds or 30 seconds. Sixty second video ads will not be accepted. Continuous looping not accepted.

Audio Initiation
If audio is uninitiated by the user, the ad is considered an impact ad. Only one impact ad will be served per user per day (Note this is not one impact ad per advertiser per day. It is one impact ad TOTAL per user per day). If the user must initiate the audio, no frequency cap is required. For video ads, the video can start up without audio and not be frequency capped. If the audio starts up automatically, it will be considered an impact ad.

Required Buttons/Controls:
Video must include video stop/start button, as well as an audio stop/start button which must be present at all times. The user should always have the option to control the entire video experience, i.e., stop, pause, mute. Video controls should use commonly accepted terminology or icons and be distinct from the rest of the advertisement.

Generic Video Controls are available as part of your advertising buy.
The following video controls are available:

  • Play
  • Pause
  • Stop
  • Abort
  • Play/Pause Toggle
  • Mute Toggle
  • Mute On
  • Mute Off
  • Rewind
  • Seek bar
  • Volume Slider

Recommended Ad Size/Position
Video ads should be targeted to positions above the fold so that users may quickly see the audio controls for the ad and turn off if so desired. The recommend positions are the 300×250 Rectangle, 468×60 Banner and 728×90 Leaderboard.

Rights Usage
Agencies and advertisers need to ensure they acquire the online uses of any footage used in the video ad.