Ad formats

VK Ads has different ad formats. For most of the promotion objects, the choice of format is automatic. You only need to add text, upload images or videos. The system itself adapts the ads to each of the locations.

Universal ads are a flexible format that automatically adapts to each user and the platforms on which it is placed.

Upload all variants of pictures and videos that relate to one advertising concept, for example, one product or service. Based on them, the system will create all possible ad formats for different sites and locations.

Do not separate videos and images for different campaigns, so as not to create unnecessary competition between them. Allow the system to choose where and in what form to show ads to the user so that you get the best results.

• Headline — the title of the ad. Restrictions: 
  • for sites — up to 40 characters
  • for mobile apps, communities, lead forms, mini-apps — up to 40 characters
• Brief description — the text of the ad. Restrictions: up to 90 characters.
• Detailed description — a long text of the ad, which is displayed in the social networks' (VKontakte and Odnoklassniki) feeds. If both a brief and a detailed description are entered, the long description will always appear in the social networks' feeds. Restrictions:
  • for sites — up to 2000 characters
  • for mobile apps — up to 220 characters
• Description — the text of the ad for promotion in social networks. Restrictions:  
  • for communities, mini-apps — up to 2000 characters
  • for music, video — 220 characters
• Text next to the button — the text beside a call to action button for applications, lead forms, mini-apps. Restrictions: up to 30 characters.

Texts must meet the rules: written without errors, extra spaces, multiple punctuation marks. The title and text of the ad should not be one sentence. Emoji are not allowed in the text. Read the Rules for Placing Advertisements.

• Icon: 256х256px.
• Aspect ratio: 1:1, 4:5, 16:9. There are exceptions for some objects:
  • for mini-apps: 1:1, 16:9
  • for VK communities: 1:1, 16:9
• Image resolution: for 1:1 – 600x600px, for 4:5 – 1080х1350px, for 16:9 – 1080x607px. If the resolution is higher than recommended, you can crop the image in the interface to what you want.
• Up to 5 MB.
• Formats: jpg, png.
• Safe areas: do not place important image elements in a zone 10% from the top border of the creative.

Images must meet the rules: be of good quality, without the use of aggressive colors. Do not use pictures with empty margins. If there is text in the image, make sure it does not take up more than 20% of the space. Read the Rules for Placing Advertisements.

• Aspect ratio: 1:1, 4:5, 16:9, 9:16. There are exceptions for some objects:
  • for mini-apps: 1:1, 16:9, 4:3
  • for VK communities: 1:1, 16:9
• Minimum width: 600 px.
• Video duration: up to 180 seconds (for ad communities and mini-apps up to 300 sec).
• Up to 90 MB.
• Video format: mp4, mov. H.264 codec for video and AAC codec for audio.
• Video resolution from 640x360 (recommended: 1280x720, 1920x1080). We suggest uploading a video with a resolution as specified for this ad format in the interface. This way you can launch ads without editing or in any way tweaking the video. The interface does not allow you to edit the video file and its offset.
• Safe areas: do not place important elements of the video's plot near the edges of the video:
  • 10% of the top border
  • 20% of the bottom edge

Your video shouldn’t be misleading. A video showing buttons or other elements that duplicate the services will not pass moderation. Furthermore, it shouldn’t have visible artifacts, distorted proportions or other faults. Low-quality hyper-compressed videos will not be posted. Read the Rules for Placing Advertisements.

• Call-to-action: selected from a dropdown list.
• Rating and the number of reviews (for apps) are pulled from an app store.
• Age restriction — if an age restriction must be specified. 
• Company info: legal details, up to 115 characters. It is necessary to enter data if you are engaged in distance selling. Only legal data can be entered in the field; it cannot be used for advertising text.

Collage is a format that allows you to create an ad with multiple images or videos at once. You can tell more about your product or service. A button with a call to action will increase the conversion rate.

There are 2 display options:

1. Collage — a set of images and videos as a grid
2. Slider — a set of images and videos with the ability to flip through them

You can use from 2 to 10 media files in your ad. You can also customize the order of display. To do this, in the block with media files on the left, move them in the desired order. This order will be saved in the ad itself. 

1. Start creating a campaign with one of the objects: “Community and Profile”, “Site” or “Mobile app”. 
2. Select the desired settings and targeting
3. At the ad creation step, click on “Add format” → “Media Gallery”. 
4. Select the desired images or videos from the media library and specify the display format: “Slider” or “Collage”.

• Logo — your company's trademark, image 256×256 pixels
• Headline — the title of the ad, up to 40 characters
• Description — the text of the ad that will be displayed in the VKontakte feed:
  • for communities: up to 2000 characters
  • for sites: long description — up to 2000 characters, short — up to 90
  • for mobile apps: long description — up to 220 characters, short — up to 90
• Images
  • Aspect ratio: 1:1, 4:5, 16:9 
  • Resolution: for 1:1 — 600x600px, for 4:5 — 1080x1350, for 16:9 — 1080x607px
  • File weight: up to 5 MB
  • Format: jpg, png
  • Safe areas: do not place important image elements within 10% of the top border of the creative
• Video
  • Aspect ratio: 1:1, 4:5, 16:9, 9:16
  • Minimum width: 600 px
  • Video duration: no more than 180 sec (for communities — no more than 300 sec)
  • File weight up to 90 MB
  • Video format: mp4, mov 
  • Video resolution — from 640x360 (recommended: 1280x720, 1920x1080) 
  • Safe areas: do not place important elements of the video plot on the edges of the video:
    • 10% of the top border
    • 20% of the bottom border

Carousel is a format of several slides of products or services (from 3 to 6) that can be scrolled through. It looks like a mini showcase of products or services. It can be used to demonstrate the assortment of a store or the advantages of a particular product.

1. Start creating a campaign with the “Community and Profile” / “VK Mini Apps & Games” object. 
2. Select the desired settings and targeting.
3. In step 3 of ad creation, fill in the mandatory fields. This is necessary to create all possible ad formats for different sites and placements.
4. Click “Add carousel slide”.
5. Fill in the title, description and upload a picture for the slide. 
6. Next, click “Add slide” and repeat for the next slide.

You can check how the ad will look like in the preview on the right. 

• Slide title - up to 40 characters.
• Slide description - up to 50 characters.
• Image - static, 600x600px.
• Blind spots - do not place important elements near the edges of the image:
  • 10% of the top border
  • 10% on the sides of the creative under the slide switching elements

In total there can be from 3 to 6 slides in the carousel.

Carousel is a block of several products or services (from 3 to 6) that can be scrolled through within one ad. Such a block has a high clickability and conversion rate, as it gives the user the opportunity to choose a suitable product or service in the block.

To use the format:

1. Start creating a campaign with a Site object.
2. Select the desired settings and targeting.
3. In step 3. Ads fill in the mandatory fields. This is necessary to create all possible ad formats for different sites and locations.
4. Click “Add slide carousel".
5. Fill in the title, description and picture for the slide. Provide a link to the advertised site.
6. Next, click “Add slide” and repeat for the next slide. The links for the slides may vary.
7. To see what the carousel will look like, in the preview on the right, select the Post type and scroll through the display options.

Fields are filled in for each slide:

• Image - 600x600px.
• Slide title - up to 40 characters.
• Slide description - up to 50 characters.
• Link to the page of the site related to the product or service.
• Safe areas: do not place important elements near the edges of the image:
  • 10% of the top border
  • 10% on the sides of the creative under the slide switching elements

There can be from 3 to 6 slides in a carousel.

Adaptive product banners are smart interactive dynamic product ads based on the product catalog.

Ads can be placed in all possible ad units on all VK project sites. This means that the ad itself adapts to the site and location in such a way as to show users product cards from your catalog.

Depending on placement it can be from 2 to 12 product cards in the ad.

To enable the adaptive banner format, all you need to do is create a campaign with the “Product сatalog” objective and fill in the mandatory ad fields as usual:

• catalog from the website or app
• catalog from VKontakte community
• catalog from the marketplace

No additional actions are required.

Adaptive banners will be connected automatically for already launched campaigns with the “Product сatalog” objective.

Technical requirements for the format of adaptive banners:

• Logo — 256x256px image.
• Header — ad title, text up to 25 characters.
• Card title — by default a product macro with the name of the product from the product feed is substituted in this field. It can be removed or replaced.
• Card description — by default, this field contains a product macro with the price of the product from the product feed. It can be deleted or replaced.
• Blind spots: do not place important image elements in a zone 10% from the top border of the creative.
• Advertiser's data — a field for legal information about the company or IE, up to 115 characters. You must fill in your data if you advertise products and sell them online. In other cases (for example, if you advertise services or an offline store), the field should be left blank.
• CTA — the text of the call to action button.

Carousel is a format consisting of several slides in one ad. It is used to advertise online stores: the user sees several offers and then can go directly to the page of the desired product or service.

To use the format:

1. Start creating a campaign with a “Product сatalog” object.
2. Choose what you are advertising:
   • items from a website or app
   • items from a VKontakte community
   • items from a marketplace
3. Select the necessary settings and targeting.
4. At step 3. fill in the mandatory fields. This is necessary to create all possible ad formats for different sites and locations. The requirements for these fields are described above.
5. Fill in the text fields for the carousel.
6. Go to the carousel settings. 
7. If necessary, fill in the Introductory slide.

Carousel text fields:

• Description for carousel — text that will be displayed in the product carousel, up to 50 characters.
• Description for banner — ad text, up to 125 characters.
• Long description — the text of the ad that will be displayed in social networks, up to 220 characters. Optional field.

Carousel settings:

• Card title. By default, a product macro with the name of the product from the product feed is substituted in this field. It can be removed or replaced.
• Card description. By default, this field contains a product macro with the price of the product from the product feed. It can be removed or replaced.

Requirements for the intro slide:

• Title — the title of the introductory slide, up to 40 characters. 
• Description — text of the introductory slide, up to 47 characters.
• Promo image — picture for the introductory slide, at least 600x600px.

Also for the introductory slide:

• For sites — a link to the website on the introductory slide.
• For apps:
  • campaigns to attract new users — tracking link
  • campaigns for dynamic retargeting — tracking link and deeplink

Products in promotional video is a brand-format that combines a video and a product catalog. While watching an advertising video, users also see a clickable product carousel and can go straight to shopping. The carousel can contain from 3 to 20 products.

In this way, the format helps to solve the image tasks of brands at the same time.

To use the format, create a campaign with the “Product сatalog” ad object, and upload a 16:9 video with a length of 5 to 30 seconds at the ad creation step.

• Aspect ratio in the video: 16:9.
• Video timing: from 5 to 30 seconds.
• Safe areas: in the desktop version, part of the video may overlap with product cards and video player elements. Do not place important elements of the video's plot on the edges of the video:
  • 25% at the top
  • 20% at the bottom

To run ads, you need an uploaded catalog with product names, prices, links and product images.

Carousel is a block of several products or services (from 3 to 6) that can be scrolled through within one ad. Such a block has a high clickability and conversion rate.

To use the format:

1. Start creating a campaign with a “Mobile app” object.
2. Select the desired settings and targeting.
3. In step 3. Ads fill in the mandatory fields. This is necessary to create all possible ad formats for different sites and locations.
4. Click “Add slide carousel”.
5. Click on the slide title line that appears. This will open a form to fill in the fields of the slide.
6. Fill in the title, description and picture for the slide. Provide a link to the advertised site.
7. Next, click “Add slide” and repeat for the next slide. The links for the slides may vary.
8. To see what the carousel will look like, in the preview on the right, select the post type and scroll through the display options.

Fields are filled in for each slide:

• Image — 600x600px
• Slide title — up to 25 characters
• Slide description — up to 32 characters
• Link to the page of the site related to the product or service

There can be from 3 to 6 slides in a carousel.

Safe areas. Do not place important elements at the edges of the image:

• 10% of the top border
• 10% on the sides of the creative under slide switching elements

Promo in Dzen is a format that allows advertisers to promote articles or channels in Dzen.

To use the Promo in Dzen format, create a campaign with a Dzen ad object in the “Target actions” tab to pay for ad clicks or in “Awareness and coverage” to pay for impressions.

In the ad, the user will see the channel name, the channel avatar and the necessary tags for advertising: “Promo” and age labeling.

The ad is generated automatically from your article in Dzen and may contain the following information from it:

• Cover — the first picture in the published material
• Headline — the title of the article up to 70 characters 
• Ad text — the first 170 characters of the article

To run ads, you need an active channel in Zen and published articles that meet the platform's content requirements.

• Dzen content requirements
• Learn more about the promotion format in Dzen

If you have any questions for the Zen team about the promotion format or your articles, contact support in the “I'm an advertiser” section.

In the advert the user will see:

• Picture — customisable in VK Ads
  • Format: png or jpg / jpeg
  • Size: 1200 x 1600 for correct cropping for different devices
  • Image should not be solid black/white, we also recommend using a uniform background
  • The image must meet the moderation requirements for VK Ads.
• Headline up to 40 characters — customisable in VK Adы
• Description up to 25 symbols  customisable in VK Ads
• Avatar, channel name, verification tick - will be added automatically from the channel in Dzen.
• Subscribe button
• Required tags for the advert: Promo, age tag, three dots.

Device type: desktop and mobile formats

Platform: social networks Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, sites of VK project and VK Ad Network

Placement format: 

To use the HTML5 banner format, launch a media ad:

1. On the “Campaign” tab, click “Create”.
2. Click on the “Awareness and coverage” tab → “HTML5 Banner”.
3. Choose which format you want to use and set all the necessary settings (instructions).