Microsoft Invest - Creative CTV guidelines and specifications
To serve on Microsoft Advertising publisher's CTV inventory, your creatives must meet the guidelines and specification requirements, as well as Microsoft Advertising creative standards and any other guidelines that may apply. While uploading your creatives, you can see whether your creatives meet the specified CTV requirements or not under the View CTV Eligibility section . If not, you can select More Details, to see which requirements need to be adjusted in order to serve on Microsoft Advertising’s premium publisher’s CTV inventory. The CTV specification validations and approval indicators will be present throughout the Line item and Creative workflows in various tooltips and issues columns, as well.
For more information, see Creative Guidelines and Specifications and Creative Standards.
Note
The CTV guidelines and specification requirements referenced here may change at any time depending upon the publisher's needs.
Hosted creative CTV guidelines and specifications
Buyers upload one media file and Microsoft Advertising works on its transcoding. Therefore, the following requirements are for an individual media file which the buyer needs to upload.
Hulu
| File Type | Bitrate | Resolution | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| The file must be formatted as one of the following: - MP4 - MOV |
The bitrate must be between 15,000 Kbps and 30,000 Kbps. | The resolution must be one of the following: - 960 x 720 - 1280 x 720 - 1440 x 1080 - 1920 x 1080 |
The duration must be one of the following: - 15 seconds - 30 seconds |
Roku
| File Type | Bitrate | Resolution | Duration | Aspect Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The bit rate must at least be 2,100 kbps | There is no specific resolution | The duration must be between 6 and 60 seconds. | The aspect ratio must be 16:9. |
ESPN
| File Type | Bitrate | Resolution | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The bitrate must at least be 2,000 kbps | The resolution must be of the following: - 1280 x 720 - 1920 x 1080 |
The duration must be one of the following: - 15 seconds - 30 seconds |
NBCU
| File Type | Bitrate | Resolution | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The bitrate must be between 15,000 Kbps and 30,000 Kbps. | The resolution must be of the following: - 1920 x 1080 |
The duration must be one of the following: - 6 seconds - 15 seconds - 30 seconds - 45 seconds - 60 seconds |
Netflix
Note
Netflix does not allow QR codes in their creatives.
| Creative Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Video Scan Type | The video scan type must be progressive. |
| Video Profile for MOV | The video profile for MOV must be one of the following: - Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) - Apple ProRes 422 - Apple ProRes 422 (LT) |
| Video Profile for H.264 | The video profile for H.264 must be one of the following: - Baseline - Main - High |
| Video Frame Rate Mode | The video frame rate mode must be constant. |
| Video Frame Rate | The video frame rate must be one of the following: - 23.976 - 24 - 25 - 29.97 - 30 |
| Video Codec | Apple ProRes is the preferred video codec. However, H.264 is accepted. |
| Video Chroma Subsampling | 4:2:2 (ProRes) is the preferred chroma subsampling. However, 4:2:0 (H.264) is accepted. |
| Video Bitrate for MOV | - For 720p: The video bitrate for MOV must be greater than 42,000 Kbps - For 1080p: The video bitrate for MOV must be greater than 80,000 Kbps |
| Video Bitrate for H.264 | - For 720p: The video bitrate for H.264 must be greater than 8,000 Kbps - For 1080p: The video bitrate for H.264 must be greater than 12,000 Kbps |
| Track Conformance | The file must contain one video and one audio track. |
| Resolution | The resolution must be one of the following: - 1280 x 720 - 1920 x 1080 |
| File Type | The file must be formatted as one of the following: - MP4 - MOV |
| Duration Conformance | The video and audio durations must be identical with a tolerance of 500 ms. |
| Duration (in seconds) | The duration must be one of the following: - 10 seconds - 15 seconds - 20 seconds - 30 seconds - 60 seconds |
| Audio Sample Rate | The audio sample rate must be 48kHz. |
| Audio Sample Bit Depth for PCM | The audio sample bit depth must be one of the following: - 16 bit - 24 bit |
| Audio Codec | PCM is the preferred audio codec. However, AAC-LC is accepted. |
| Audio Channels | 2 channel stereo must be used. |
| Audio Bitrate for AAC | An audio bitrate of 192 Kbps or higher must be used. |
Third-Party creative CTV guidelines and specifications
Note
Each rendition represents a required media file for the publisher. Failure to include one of them will prevent the line from serving.
Hulu
| File Type | Bitrate | Resolution | Duration | Rendition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The file must be formatted as one of the following: - MP4 - MOV |
The bitrate must be between 15,000 Kbps and 30,000 Kbps | The resolution must be one of the following: - 960 x 720 - 1280 x 720 - 1440 x 1080 - 1920 x 1080 |
The duration must be one of the following: - 15 seconds - 30 seconds |
A minimum of one file is required |
Roku
| Rendition | File Type | Aspect Ratio | Resolution | Bitrate | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The aspect ratio must be 16:9 | There is no specific resolution | The bitrate must be between 1,200 Kbps and 2,100 Kbps | The duration must be between 6 and 60 seconds. |
| Low | The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The aspect ratio must be 16:9 | There is no specific resolution | The bitrate must be between 360 Kbps and 500 Kbps | The duration must be between 6 and 60 seconds. |
| Med | The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The aspect ratio must be 16:9 | There is no specific resolution | The bitrate must be between 700 Kbps and 1200 Kbps | The duration must be between 6 and 60 seconds. |
ESPN
| Rendition | File Type | Resolution | Bitrate | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The resolution must be of the following: - 1280 x 720 - 1920 x 1080 |
The bitrate must be between 2,000 Kbps and 5,000 Kbps | The duration must be one of the following: - 15 seconds - 30 seconds |
| Low | The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The resolution must be of the following: - 640 x 360 - 1280 x 720 - 1920 x 1080 |
The bitrate must be less than 1,500 Kbps | The duration must be one of the following: - 15 seconds - 30 seconds |
NBCU
| Rendition | File Type | Resolution | Bitrate | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The resolution must be of the following: - 720 x 480 - 1280 x 720 - 1920 x 1080 |
The bitrate must be between 3,250 Kbps and 5,000 Kbps | The duration must be one of the following: - 6 seconds - 15 seconds - 30 seconds - 45 seconds - 60 seconds |
| Low | The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The resolution must be of the following: - 640 x 360 - 416 x 234 |
The bitrate must be between 340 Kbps and 460 Kbps | The duration must be one of the following: - 6 seconds - 15 seconds - 30 seconds - 45 seconds - 60 seconds |
| Med | The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The resolution must be of the following: - 640 x 480 - 960 x 540 |
The bitrate must be between 1,000 Kbps and 1,500 Kbps | The duration must be one of the following: - 6 seconds - 15 seconds - 30 seconds - 45 seconds - 60 seconds |
| Mezzanine | The file must be formatted as: - MP4 |
The resolution must be of the following: - 1920 x 1080 |
The bitrate must be between 15,000 Kbps and 30,000 Kbps | The duration must be one of the following: - 6 seconds - 15 seconds - 30 seconds - 45 seconds - 60 seconds |
Warning
All four files are required to serve on NBCU's inventory. If you exceed this number of files, NBCU will reject your creative.