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YouTube - Building interactivity with End Screens & Cards

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YouTube has great tools that allow you to build interactivity into your videos such as Cards and End Screens.

You can use cards and end screens to include a call to action in your videos, this may be anything from prompting them to subscribe to your channel to suggesting other popular videos within your network, promoting a partner channel, or even pushing them to an external site such as your Facebook page or website. 

 

ADDING CARDS TO VIDEOS

Cards Explained

You can use cards to make your videos more interactive. Cards can feature a video, playlist, channel or link. Cards are designed to complement videos and enhance the viewer experience with relevant info. Cards are shown on the right-hand side of the video on a computer. Cards are shown below the video on mobile. If there are multiple cards on a video, viewers can scroll through them while the video is playing. There are 4 types of cards that you can apply to your videos:

  • VIDEO CARDS - This card allows you to link to a public YouTube video for your viewers to interact with. 
  • PLAYLIST CARDS - This card allows you to link to a public YouTube playlist for your viewers to watch.
  • CHANNEL CARDS - This card allows you to link to a YouTube channel for your viewers to engage with. For example, you can use a card to thank a channel that helped with your video or to recommend another channel to viewers.
  • LINK CARDS - If you're in the YouTube Partner Programme, this card allows you to link to an external website to share with your audience. You can also add end screens to your videos. 

 

How to add a card

To add cards to a video, follow the steps below. Up to a total of five cards can be added to one video.

  1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
  2. From the left-hand menu, select Content.
  3. Click the video that you'd like to edit.
  4. Click the Cards box and select the type of card that you want to add.
  5. Choose your specific video, playlist, channel or link.
  6. Change the start time for the card below the video.
  7. Add an optional message and teaser text about the video. Note: Message and teaser text are required for channel cards.
  8. Click Save.

IMPORTANT - Cards aren't available on videos set as 'Made for Kids'.

 

ADDING END SCREENS TO VIDEOS

End screens explained

Elements are the pieces of content that you add to your end screen. Some elements can be expanded or hovered over to give more info. You can add up to four elements in your end screen for videos with the standard 16:9 aspect ratio. Other aspect ratios may have a lower limit.

Elements can feature different types of content:

  • Video or playlist:
    • Feature your most recently uploaded video.
    • Allow YouTube to select a video from your channel to best suit the viewer
    • Pick any video or playlist (public or unlisted) from your or any other channel.
  • Subscribe: Encourage subscriptions to your channel.
  • Channel: Promote another channel with a custom message.
  • External websites: If you're in the YouTube Partner Programme, you can link to an external website.

 

End screen Requirements

End screens can be added to the last 5–20 seconds of a video. You can use them to promote other videos, encourage viewers to subscribe and more.

IMPORTANT: Your video must adhere to the below in order to be eligible for an end screen

  • Your video has to be at least 25 seconds long to have an end screen.
  • Other interactive elements, like card teasers and video watermarks, are suppressed during the end screen.
  • End screens aren't available for videos set as Made for Kids.

 

How to add an end screen

You can add your end screen by following the below instructions:

  1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
  2. From the left-hand menu, select Content.
  3. Click the video that you'd like to edit.
  4. Click the End screen box and choose the element you want to add.
  5. Click SAVE.

If you select a video element, you can choose to display your most recent upload, best for viewer or a specific video. If you select a channel element, you must add a custom message. You can also add and customize end screens while uploading a new video. 

 

End screen best practices

  • Feature elements that are relevant to the video.
  • Encourage viewers to click using calls to action for different end screen elements.
  • If you use a custom image, we recommend using an image with a pixel width of at least 300 x 300.
  • Make sure that you leave enough space and time at the end of the video for an end screen. Make sure that you consider the video's last 20 seconds when editing it.
  • Consider timing different end screen elements to appear at different times.

 

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