Playable ads convert because they pre-qualify the audience: a user who taps through your mini-game or interacts with your end card has already shown intent before the install prompt. For mobile game UA teams, that intent gap is the difference between a 2% install rate and a 6% one. This guide covers the production workflow in Playable Ads Maker, from picking an editor to exporting for several networks.
Pick the Right Editor for Your Format
Playable Ads Maker has three editors, one per creative format. The Image editor is for pure end cards: a single scene with a background, headline, and CTA button. The Video editor layers interactive scenes on top of a video asset, letting you add a Break (pause-and-interact moment) and an end card scene after the video ends. The End Card editor is a cut-down version for the CTA screen that follows a video.
- Image Editor: end cards, static playables, multi-scene banner flows.
- Video Editor: video playable with Break System interactions and end card.
- End Card Editor: standalone end card designed to pair with a video campaign.
Which editor should you start with?
If you're new, start with the Image editor. It exports the same networks, takes five minutes to learn, and produces a ready-to-run end card. Add the video editor once you're comfortable with the export flow.
Plan the Creative Before You Open the Editor
A playable is short enough that its plan fits on a single page, and skipping that page is where most rebuilds come from. Before building, write down five things: the one mechanic or moment the ad will show, how it ends (a win, a reveal, a choice), when the CTA appears, which networks it will run on, and which orientations it must support. Each of them changes the build (orientation alone decides how every element is laid out) so settling them first costs minutes and saves a revision round. The creative brief template has a fuller version.
Start From a Template or From Scratch?
The template library is the fastest route to a first creative: each template is a working playable that already exports, so you can replace the art, copy and colours and judge the result on a phone the same day. Starting from scratch makes sense when the moment you want to show is specific to your game and nothing in the library resembles it, or when you are building an end card around footage you already have. A useful middle path is to open a template close to your idea, study how its scenes and events fit together, and then build your own with that structure in mind. Browse the templates to see what is there.
Design for the Interaction First
Most teams under-invest in design. A good playable shows the genre at a glance, makes the interaction obvious and gets the CTA on screen before the viewer loses interest. In the Image editor, add a background that reflects the game art, a headline (game name or hook), and a prominent CTA button. Avoid walls of text and multiple competing buttons.
For richer creatives, the video editor's Break System lets you insert an interactive pause mid-video (a tap trigger, a hold trigger, or a custom path the user traces) before the video resumes and the end card appears. Time a Particle FX burst (29 presets: confetti, sparkle, fireworks and more) to the moment the video resumes so the interaction has a payoff. The Kinetic Text object animates your headline one character at a time using 7 per-character presets (6 entrances and an idle loop), with no animation code.
Configure the Export Correctly
Every network expects a self-contained creative with all assets embedded: some as one HTML file, others as a ZIP laid out their way (Google, Meta, TikTok, Pangle, Mintegral, Liftoff and Vungle). External image URLs and CDN-hosted scripts are rejected at review. Playable Ads Maker does this for you: images are base64-inlined, each network gets its own packaging and store-exit call, and the CTA is wired to detect iOS vs Android at runtime so one file works on both platforms.
In the export modal, enter your iOS App Store URL and your Google Play URL. Then select which networks you're targeting: every plan can export to all 12 (Google, Meta, TikTok, Mintegral, Liftoff, Moloco, AppLovin, Unity, Pangle, Vungle, Chartboost, InMobi). The plan sets how many go into one export: 1 on Free, 2 on Solo, 3 on Studio, and all of them in a single run on Agency. Enable asset compression if the file is large; most end cards should land well under 1 MB.
Test Before You Scale
Download the exported HTML and open it on a real iOS and Android device, not a desktop browser. Verify the background renders, the CTA taps correctly, and the app store link opens. Networks run automated checks that catch external requests and broken links, but they won't catch a store link pointing to the wrong country storefront.
Quick test checklist
1) Opens and renders on iOS Safari. 2) CTA opens correct App Store listing. 3) Opens on Android Chrome. 4) CTA opens correct Play Store listing. 5) File size is under that network's limit (2 MB of HTML on Meta, 5 MB on most others) and ideally under 1 MB for fastest load.
Common First-Project Mistakes
- Building the whole creative before testing on a phone. Export a rough version early; problems with touch targets, text size and pacing only show up on a real device.
- Designing in one orientation only. If the placement can serve both, check the layout in portrait and landscape before polishing either.
- Making the CTA wait for the end of the interaction. Viewers who are convinced early should be able to act early.
- Embedding oversized images. A full-resolution photo used as a background that displays at phone size inflates the file for no visible gain; see the file size guide.
- Leaving placeholder store links in place. Check both links in the export settings on every export, not just the first.
Iterate Fast With Cloud-Saved Projects
After launch, data will tell you what to change: headline copy, CTA label, background art, or button color. Save each creative to cloud storage so your team can revisit, duplicate, and tweak without starting over. Duplicate a proven project, swap one variable (headline vs CTA copy vs background), export the variant, and upload as a separate creative in the same campaign. Run that loop for a few weeks and the small wins add up to a lower CPI.
What to Measure After Launch
Before changing anything, decide which number each change is meant to move. Interaction rate tells you whether the hook and the cue worked; completion rate whether the interaction held attention; click and install rates whether the ending and the CTA did their job. A change to the headline should be judged on the first of those, a change to the end card on the last. The metrics guide explains how each is calculated, and the analytics guide how to collect them from inside the creative.
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