How to Make a Mobile Game Video Ad: Structure, Capture and Editing

Video is still the format most mobile game advertising runs on. Even teams that lead with playables need videos: for social feeds, for YouTube, as the lead-in that many networks show before a playable, and for every placement where interaction is not available. A good game video ad is not a trailer. It is a short, carefully structured piece of gameplay that makes a specific viewer want to play right now, on a phone, often with the sound off.

This guide walks through the structure that works, how to capture gameplay that looks good, the formats each platform wants, how to design for muted viewing, and how to iterate.

The structure: five beats

1. Hook, in the first one to three seconds. The most interesting moment of the game, shown immediately: a satisfying clear, a near miss, a choice, a character in trouble. No logos, no intro. On a feed the viewer decides in the first second whether to keep watching.
2. The core loop. Show the main action clearly enough that the viewer understands how to play. One mechanic, shown well, beats a tour of features.
3. Escalation. Make it harder, bigger or faster: a combo, a boss, a board filling up, a timer running down. This is where tension builds.
4. Payoff. The win, the reveal or the big moment. Some ads deliberately show a fail at this point instead, inviting the viewer to think they could do better; if you do, the gameplay must still be real.
5. End card. The game's name, icon, one line and a clear call to action. What is an end card covers what belongs on it.

The same beats underpin playables; how long a playable should be describes them in interactive form. Planning both from one storyboard keeps video and playable telling the same story, which matters when a network shows one straight after the other.

Lengths and formats

• Aspect ratios: 9:16 vertical for TikTok, Reels, Shorts, Stories and most in-app full-screen placements; 16:9 for landscape games and YouTube; 1:1 or 4:5 for feed placements on Meta. Make vertical first; it is where most impressions are.
• Lengths: produce a short cut (around 6 to 15 seconds) and a longer one (around 30 seconds). Short cuts suit feeds; longer ones suit rewarded placements, where the viewer has agreed to watch.
• Resolution and frame rate: export at 1080 pixels on the short side and at the game's real frame rate. A 60 fps game that judders at 30 fps looks cheap.
• File specs differ by network. Google App campaigns creative specs and TikTok app install campaigns list two of the most used.

Capturing clean gameplay

Footage recorded casually on a phone almost always looks worse than the game. A small amount of preparation makes a large difference:

• Use a capture build. A debug menu that unlocks any level, sets the score, triggers specific events and hides the HUD lets you record exactly the moment you need, over and over, instead of playing for an hour to reach it.
• Record at the highest quality the device or engine allows. In Unity, the Unity Recorder package captures directly from the game at a fixed frame rate; on a device, the built-in screen recorders on iOS and Android are fine for quick tests.
• Hide anything that distracts: debug text, notifications, the status bar, placeholder art, and any purchase prices or currencies the ad should not show.
• Record more than you need. Capture each key moment several times, from slightly different situations, so the editor has choices.
• Use the real game. Footage of scenes that do not exist in the game is misleading, a policy problem with every network and in several countries a regulatory one. See why mobile game ads are fake.

Editing for a phone, with the sound off

Many viewers watch with no sound, especially in feeds. The ad must make sense in silence:

• Add short text overlays that say what is happening or what the viewer should feel: Only 1% solve this, or Can you save him? Keep them true to the game.
• Keep text large, high-contrast and away from the edges where platform interface covers it. Feeds put buttons and captions over the right side and bottom of a vertical video.
• Use a finger or tap indicator to show the input, so the viewer sees how the game is controlled.
• Design sound for when it is on. Satisfying game sounds, a clear music beat and impact sounds on every key moment. Playable ad audio covers the same rules for interactive ads.
• Cut on action. Each cut should land on movement, so the video feels fast without being confusing.

Iterating: hooks first

Once a video works, the cheapest way to find a better one is to change the first three seconds and leave the rest. Make several hooks for the same body (a different opening moment, a different first line of text, a fail versus a win) and test them against each other. The hook has more influence on results than anything else in the video, and testing hooks is far cheaper than producing new videos. Playable ad A/B testing covers how to read such tests.

Watch for fatigue. A video that has been shown to the same audience for weeks performs worse over time, even if nothing about it changed. Creative fatigue covers how to see it and how often to refresh.

From video to interactive

A strong video is also the best starting point for an interactive ad. The hook and the loop it shows are what the viewer would play in a playable, and the same footage can become an interactive video: the video pauses at the key moment and asks the viewer to make the move themselves. Interactive video ads explains the approach.

Playable Ads Maker's video editor adds interactive breaks and an end card to an existing video ad and exports it, with or without the interaction, in the format each of 13 ad networks asks for. So one gameplay video can produce both the plain version for feeds and the interactive version for full-screen in-app placements.

A checklist before you ship

• Does the first second show gameplay, and is it interesting with no sound?
• Is everything shown actually in the game?
• Is the text readable on a small phone, clear of platform interface?
• Is there a vertical cut, and a short one?
• Does the end card name the game and give one clear action?
• Do you have at least two or three hooks to test?