Meta Video Ad Length Requirements: How to Get All Locations
It’s easy to get lost in all the little details when you create videos that run in meta-ad campaigns. What should it say? Who or what is the central theme? How will it be edited? But don’t miss an important detail: How long should it take?
If you are looking for guidance on the “ideal length” of video ads, you won’t find it here. To be honest, I wouldn’t be looking for one. These studies generally reflect a general average that does not apply to all cases.
Instead, it’s about Meta’s own video advertising specifications. If the video is too short or too long, it won’t be eligible to appear in certain locations.
While you can technically remove locations, the goal should be to qualify in all locations. Larger potential inventory can help reduce costs.
Unfortunately, each location’s Meta has different minimum and maximum duration requirements, which makes this much more complex than needed. In addition to editing the length of the video to fit in different locations, you can also create a version that qualifies for all versions.
I use Meta’s creative guide as the basis for this post. Although it does not include some newer locations, such as thread feeds, we can make some basic assumptions based on this document.
Minimum requirements
One of the keys to finding video durations that are eligible to participate in all locations is the quarantine minimum. Of the 20 locations in the Meta Guide, the bare minimum has been broken down…
No minimum or 0 seconds
Strangely, the meta does not set a minimum duration for Facebook reel placement. Your video obviously takes longer than not, regardless of the smallest unit of measurement.
Just like strangely, Meta sets a minimum duration of “0 seconds” for both Instagram reels and Instagram profile reels. If we want to get technology, we can’t do 0 seconds of video, but I think you can revolve around.
Anyway, your 1 second video (??!!) works only in these three positions.
Minimum 1 second
Most locations in META have a minimum video duration of 1 second:
- Audience network local, banners and gaps
- Facebook Business Exploration
- Facebook feed
- Facebook group feed
- Facebook Marketplace
- Facebook Right Column
- Facebook search results
- Facebook Stories
- Facebook video feed ads
- Instagram Explore
- Instagram feed
- Instagram profile summary
- Instagram Stories
- Messenger Story
So at this point, it takes at least one second to qualify in 17 of 20 locations (required from other locations).
3, 4 or 5 seconds
There are three remaining positions in the guide, all of which have different minimum duration requirements…
- Audience network reward video (3 seconds)
- Advertisements on Facebook Reels (4 seconds)
- Facebook-style video (5 seconds)
Minimum duration of visibility in all locations: 5 seconds
Since the maximum duration requirement for maximum duration is five seconds for videos in Facebook streams, you need at least 5 seconds of videos to qualify for all 20 locations in the Meta Guide.
Maximum Requirements
Of course, I think most videos will be five seconds or more anyway. There are exceptions to animated GIFs, but advertisers usually follow this advice without trying it.
The maximum is where this gets trickier. Meta’s requirements are comprehensive here…
No limit or 241 minutes
Again, Meta doesn’t set any maximum for Facebook reel placement at all. The metadata is not even mentioned, just like the minimum duration of the location. Here, Meta specifically says there is no maximum value.
There are seven more locations with a maximum duration of 241 minutes:
- Facebook Business Exploration
- Facebook feed
- Facebook group feed
- Facebook Marketplace
- Facebook Right Column
- Facebook search results
- Facebook video feed ads
Of course, you are not crazy. But, essentially, any video will qualify for these seven positions, even those that fall on the irrational side.
60 minutes
There are four positions with a maximum duration of 60 minutes, despite a noticeable warning:
- Instagram Explore
- Instagram feed
- Instagram profile summary
- * Instagram Stories
Meta says this about the location of Instagram stories:
Instagram Stories will play video ads for the entire video ads in less than 35 seconds. Video ads for 15 seconds or more can be divided into separate story cards. Instagram will automatically display 1, 2, or 3 cards, and then provide viewers with “continue to watch” to watch the rest of the video.
Your 60-minute video is still eligible for Instagram stories, but people won’t see more than 15 seconds at a time, and if it’s over 35 seconds, you won’t see it completely (don’t expect me to explain this math). People need to click on the story to see the rest.
However, your video ad may be 60 minutes long at this time.
15 minutes
There are two positions, with a maximum duration of 15 minutes:
- Instagram Reels
- Instagram profile reel
1-2 minutes
OK, now we are starting to eliminate the most in the area. For whatever reason, the maximum duration of the audience network reward video is 61 seconds. The following locations have a maximum duration of 2 minutes, but one couple has a warning:
- Audience network local, banners and gaps
- * Messenger Story
- * Facebook Stories
Like Instagram stories, other stories have hard and soft limits in their position. Messenger and Facebook stories have a hard limit of 2 minutes. Videos over 15 seconds in Messenger Story and 10 seconds in Facebook Story will automatically be divided into 1, 2 or 3 cards. If you keep more videos, you can click to view the entire video in another location.
Super complicated, but the main thing here is that it’s still a 2-minute hard limit. Technically, your video can last up to two minutes and still appear in these locations, even if it won’t play all of them.
15 seconds
Now we reach two positions with a minimum minimum duration of 15 seconds:
- Advertisements on Facebook Reels
- Facebook-style videos
Maximum duration of visibility in all locations: 15 seconds
If you want to note, Facebook-style video placement represents the highest and lowest video duration of 20 positions.
Some unknown factors
I should point out here some things that might affect the accuracy of that data…
1. Different requirements for objective and conversion positions.
The META guide allows filtering out previews and requirements through targets and conversion locations.
As far as I know, this does not change the video length requirement. But there are a lot of changes, and I can’t say that with 100% certainty.
2. Missing location.
As I mentioned before, this guide does not include all locations. While 21 are available, the Instagram Shop Specment selection does not work. Finally I checked, there were 26 locations in total.
While I suspect any missing location will have a greater minimum limit (5 seconds) or at most (15 seconds), if you want to create changes with duration and placement, unknown locations will affect how you create your video.
3. Unknown closeness.
While I often refer to this guide, we know it is incomplete. As a result, it is always possible that other changes are not reflected.
What should you do?
Again, we are not talking about what the “ideal” video length is for ads in terms of performance. This will be everywhere and the answer will depend on a long list of factors.
While you can technically create 20-minute video ads, it won’t appear in eight locations. I think this is a bad idea.
Here are two obvious choices…
1. Video duration for all locations.
In this case, you can create a video that is no more than 5 seconds long and is 15 seconds long. It will gain visibility in all locations in the Meta Guide.
You still need to create different aspect ratios based on location groups, but the same video can be used in all cases.
2. Create different video versions by location group.
Since the maximum minimum is five seconds, we assume your video is at least long. After that, technically, you can get creative.
You can create a 15-second version that can be played in full in all of these locations:
- Audience network local, banners and gaps
- Messenger Story
- Facebook Stories
- Advertisements on Facebook Reels
- Facebook-style videos
You can create a 15-minute version for these locations:
- Instagram Reels
- Instagram profile reel
And, if you really want to, you can create an hour-to-hour version for every other location.
In some cases, there can be a big reason. You can do this to promote video podcast episodes. In some cases, you are promoting the trailer and others are the entire show.
But this is both a lot of work and is unnecessary for most cases.
Recommended video lengths for all positions: 5 to 15 seconds
In most cases, I recommend making a video that falls in the 5-15 second range (usually close to 15 seconds). Not only can it qualify everywhere, but you don’t need to do extra work to create different versions.
Do you need to create a version that is over 15 seconds? it depends. You need to determine if additional effort is required to make your situation happen.
Video Duration Grid
I created a grid that visualizes all minimum and maximum video durations through ad placement. This is a meta-based documentation and missed some new locations.
now you
How to handle video duration when creating meta-advertisements?
Let me know in the comments below!
