Need a reason to include X (formerly known as Twitter) Ads in your paid strategy? Read on for all the X ad specs you need to get started creating campaigns.
People love X for its simplicity and short character limits. Over 350 million users flock to X daily for news, trending topics, and real-time interactions. That’s over 350 million potential eyeballs on your promoted tweets.
Let us look at X in numbers:
- 259 million monetizable daily active users
- 59% of users are between 25 – 49 years old
- 7% growth in ad-engagement during Q3 2023
X (formerly known as Twitter) Ad Campaigns
X campaign objectives cater to 3 goals and reflect each stage of the marketing funnel.
X Awareness Campaigns
Maximizing reach is at the heart of a brand awareness campaign. Think of this as your top of funnel to get new people familiar with your brand. You pay for impressions (CPM).
X Consideration Campaigns
People know your brand. Focus on them taking a specific action. Consideration campaigns center around building relationships between your brand and users. You pay for interactions (CPV, CPE, CPC).
X Conversion Campaigns
Get your deep links ready. This is where you focus on in-app conversions from existing users. 80% of users access X via mobile. Conversion campaigns keep your app in the spotlight. You pay for the cost per app click.
X Ad Specs for 2024
There are five main categories of X Ads:
X Text Ad Specs
- Text: 280 characters (each link used in the Tweet counts for 23 characters, reserving 257 characters for your ad copy)
X Image Ad Specs
Image ads allow you to showcase your best creative in conjunction with buttons and polls.
Image Ads come in 5 types:
- Standalone Image Ads
- Image Ads with Website Buttons
- Image Ads with App Buttons
- Image Ads with Conversation Buttons
- Image Ads with Polls
X Standalone Image Ad Specs
- Text: 280 characters (each link used in the Tweet counts for 23 characters, reserving 257 characters for your ad copy)
- Image file type and size: JPEG or PNG, 5MB max (GIFs appear as static)
- Image size: 1200 x 1200 px for 1:1 aspect ratio, 1200 x 628 px for 1.91:1 aspect ratio
- Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 1:1 (note that any aspect ratio between 2:1 and 1:1 is supported)
X Image Ads with Website Buttons
- Text: 280 characters (each link used in the Tweet counts for 23 characters, reserving 257 characters for your ad copy)
- Image file type and size: JPEG or PNG, 5MB max (GIFs appear as static)
- Image size: 800 x 418 px for 1.91:1 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 px for 1:1 aspect ratio
- Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 1:1
- Website Title Text: 70 characters (May truncate depending on device and app settings) Note: Two lines of text will render on the card title. Text beyond this will truncate with an ellipsis.
- URL: must start with http:// or https://
Tip: Decrease the chances of truncation across all devices. Fifty characters is the recommended length for website title text.
X Image Ads with App Buttons
- Text: 280 characters (each link used in the Tweet counts for 23 characters, reserving 257 characters for your ad copy)
- Image file type and size: JPEG or PNG, 5MB max (GIFs appear as static)
- Image size: 800 x 418 px for 1.91:1 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 px for 1:1 aspect ratio
- Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 1:1
- App Title Text: 200 characters (text truncates beyond this)
- Call to Action: Choose a CTA from the following options: Play, Install, Open, Book, Shop, Connect, and Order
X Image Ads with Conversation Buttons
- Text: 280 characters (each link used in the Tweet counts for 23 characters, reserving 257 characters for your ad copy)
- Image file type and size: JPEG or PNG, 5MB max (GIFs appear as static)
- Image size: 800 x 418 px
- Aspect ratio: 1.91:1
Conversation Card (appears as a Tweet in the timeline):
- Tweet text: 280 characters
- Hashtag text: 21 characters, including the hashtag
Pre-populated user Tweet (appears when the user clicks the CTA):
- Tweet text: 250 characters
- Headline: 23 characters
Thank You Tweet (appears after a user Retweets):
- Thank you copy: 23 characters
- Thank you URL (optional): 23 characters
X Image Ads with Polls
- Text: Polls support up to 280 characters which appear as regular Tweet text above the image
- Image file type and size: JPEG or PNG, 5MB max
- Image size: 800 x 418 px for 1.91:1 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 px for 1:1 aspect ratio (GIFs are not supported image types)
- Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 1:1 (1:1 crops to 1.91:1 on mobile timelines)
- Poll options: create 2-4 custom polls with 2-4 responses to your poll
- Poll text: 25 characters max per poll (exclusive of the 280 characters in the Tweet text)
- Poll duration: minimum 5 minutes and maximum seven days, which begins as soon as the Tweet is created, not from when it is promoted
X Video Ad Specs
- Text: 280 characters (each link used in the Tweet counts for 23 characters, reserving 257 characters for your ad copy)
- Video file type and size: MP4 or MOV, 1GB max (30MB and under strongly recommended for optimal performance)
- Video duration: up to 2 minutes 20 seconds supported, but 15 seconds or less is recommended.
- Video bitrate: 6,000k recommended for 1080p. And 5,000k recommended for 720p.
- Poll options: create 2-4 custom polls with 2-4 responses to your poll
- Frame rate: 29.97FPS or 30FPS. Up to 60FPS is supported but not recommended.
- Audio codec: AAC LC
- Video codec (Recommendations): H264, Baseline, Main, High Profile with 4:2:0 color space
- Thumbnail: supported files are PNG or JPEG
- Looping: videos under 60 seconds will loop
- Branding: if using a logo, it should feature throughout the video in the upper left-hand corner. Product placement is also highly recommended throughout
- Captions: It’s strongly advised you utilize closed captions and text overlays
X Carousel Ad Specs
Sometimes, one creative slot isn’t enough. Carousels are perfect if you have multiple items to highlight, whether items for sale or a feature list for your SaaS product.
Choose between Website Carousels or App Carousels. Here are the general ad specs for a successful carousel on X:
- Number of carousel slides (cards): 2-6 images or videos
- Image size: 800 x 418 px for 1.91:1 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 px for 1:1 aspect ratio
- Video size: 800 x 450 px for 16:9 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 px for 1:1 aspect ratio
- Aspect ratio:
- Image Carousels: 1.91:1 or 1:1 for image assets using a single aspect ratio within one carousel.
- Video Carousels: 16:9 or 1:1 for video assets using a single aspect ratio within one carousel.
- Link: Choice of one web or app destination for single-destination carousels and up to 6 different web destinations for multi-destination carousels ads.
- Title Length:
- Website Carousels: 70 characters (50 recommended to avoid truncation)
- App Carousels: truncates at 200 characters (included from the app store and not customizable)
- URL: website carousels only, must start with http:// or https://
- Call To Action: Available for App Carousel Ads only. Choose from the following options: Play, Install, Open, Book, Shop, Connect, and Order.
X Moment Ad Specs
Are you feeling restricted by X character limits and looking for a longer-form content format?
X ‘Moments’ are a dynamic ad format that allows you to curate a collection of notable Tweets conversations and live commentary into a single ‘moment’ to tell your story.
When 280 characters just aren’t enough, bring together any X content relevant to your brand and weave it with images and video to promote it as an ad.
Use Moment Ads to comment on trending topics, promote company news or inspirational stories, and entertain your following with the best tweets, memes, and content of the ‘moment’ related to your brand.
X Ad Specs For Other Formats
X Amplify Pre-Roll Ads
X Amplify Pre-Roll ads are video ads similar to Facebook’s in-stream. They play before premium, in-feed videos that your audience is watching, aligning your brand with content users find interesting.
- Text length: 280 characters (each link used in the Tweet counts for 23 characters, reserving 257 characters for your ad copy)
- Video file type and size: MP4 or MOV, 1GB max
- Video duration: max 2 minutes 20 seconds but 15 seconds or less is recommended.
- Video aspect ratio: 1:1 recommended rendering square on all devices. Your video ad will automatically match with publisher content of a similar aspect ratio.
- Pixels: 1200 x 1200 px (minimum is 600 x 600 px for 1:1 ratio).
- Video bitrate: 6,000k recommended for 1080p. And 5,000k recommended for 720p
- Frame rate: 29.97FPS or 30FPS. Up to 60FPS is supported but not recommended.
- Audio codec: AAC LC
- Video codec (Recommendations): H264, Baseline, Main, High Profile with 4:2:0 color space
- Thumbnail: supported files are PNG or JPEG
- Looping: videos under 60 seconds will loop
- Branding: if using a logo, it should feature throughout the video in the upper left-hand corner. Product placement is also highly recommended throughout
- Captions: The use of closed captions and text overlays is strongly advised
- Optional URL: must start with http:// or https://
X Amplify Sponsorship
Leveraging the reputation of a leading publisher can help amplify your brand and give it credibility.
Unique, choose to sponsor an event, moment, or show on X. Each package with X publisher partners is created specifically for your sponsorship.
Placements include pre-roll ads before video clips, pre-roll ads before the live video, and branded content integrations.
- File size: Max 1 GB.
- Video length: 6 seconds or less.
- File type: MP4 or MOV
- Aspect ratio: 16×9 or 1×1 recommended, dependent on publisher content
- Recommended video size: 1200 x 1200 (minimum for 1:1 is 600 x 600). Any height is acceptable, but the video will be cropped to 1:1 in the feed if the height exceeds the width. If not, a 1:1 aspect ratio: 640×360 minimum.
- URL (optional): must begin with http:// or https://
- Branding: Highly recommended throughout (keeping in mind that Amplify Pre-roll has product overlays in the top left and bottom right and left corners for publisher video previews, ad countdowns, etc.)
- Captions: The use of closed captioning or text overlays is strongly recommended.
X Live
Got an event or product launch coming up? X Live allows you to advertise your brand’s most significant moments using a live stream. (you can also sponsor live streams).
Live content sparks conversation and real-time engagement with your audience and is a video marketing trend to watch in 2022.
Recommended stream specifications
- RTMP
Video codec: H.264/AVC
Video bitrate: 9Mbps (recommended), 12Mbps (maximum)
Audio codec: AA-LC
Audio bitrate: 128bps (maximum) - Video length: 6 seconds or less.
- File type: MP4 or MOV
- Aspect ratio: 16×9 or 1×1 recommended, dependent on publisher content
- Recommended video size: 1200 x 1200 (minimum for 1:1 is 600 x 600). Any height is acceptable, but the video will be cropped to 1:1 in the feed if the height exceeds the width.
If not, a 1:1 aspect ratio: 640×360 minimum. - URL (optional): must begin with http:// or https://
- Branding: Highly recommended throughout (keeping in mind that Amplify Pre-roll has product overlays in the top left and bottom right and left corners for publisher video previews, ad countdowns, etc.)
- Captions: The use of closed captioning or text overlays is strongly recommended.
X Branded Hashtag
What is this? Show off your brand’s personality by creating a branded hashtag. Have you ever used a hashtag on X, and suddenly an emoji appears next to it? That’s your branded hashtag experience.
You can use all the common hashtags or create your own. Up to 5 #hashtags can be associated with an emoji.
- Your hashtag cannot exceed 250 mentions on X over the past 30 days unless directly related to a brand conversation (more than 70%).
- Emoji Design must be 72×72 px and visible at 16×16 px.
- Design for both light and dark backgrounds. Using all light colors won’t be visible in the timeline.
- Keep details simple, so the design is apparent when minimized.
- Don’t use multiple faces/logos – they are indistinguishable at 16×16
X Branded Notifications
Imagine if you could time an @mention tweet to opted-in X users at the exact time you want to make the most significant impact? You know where we’re going with this.
There are three types of branded notifications:
- Scheduled Notification
- 1 x instant opt-in notification Tweet
- 1 x single scheduled notification Tweet
- Subscription Notifications
- 1 x instant opt-in notification Tweet
- multiple scheduled notification Tweets
- Instant Notification
- 1 x instant opt-in notification Tweet
There are some guidelines for creating the CTA tweet (the initial tweet from which people opt-in). The following formats are available to use for both CTA and notification tweets:
- Standalone Image and Video Ads
- Image and Video Ads
- with Web Button
- with App Button
- with Conversation Button
- Image and Video Carousel Ads
- with Web Button
- with App Button
- Moment Ads
X Timeline Takeover
Your tweet is the first tweet users see when they open X. Placement at the top of X timelines maximizes visibility and captures people when they’re most engaged.
They support the following ad formats: Image Ads, Video Ads, Carousel Ads, X Live, Promoted Ads with Conversation Buttons and Polls, Branded Hashtags and Branded Notifications
X Takeover and Trend Takeover+
Formerly known as Promoted Trend Spotlight ads, Trend Takeover ads increase visibility by putting your ad beside what’s trending in the Explore tab on X (the place to be on X!).Trend Takeover Specs
- You must specify a #hashtag. Max 20 characters
- It’s recommended you add a trend description. Max 70 characters
- 3-6 Promoted Ads (image, video, gif, etc.) eligible to show in the timeline for the trending hashtag
Trend Takeover+ Specs
- File types: GIF (max loop length 6 seconds), MP4, or static image. Trend Takeover+ is not age-gated, so make sure all assets are age-appropriate for all
- Aspect ratio: 16:9
- File size: 5MB for image, 15MB for GIF
- Trend hashtag: Max 16 characters
- Trend description: Max 30 characters
You must send the creative to X via a darkTweet using either GIF, MP4, or image only. Card formats are not accepted.
- You cannot duplicate the #hashtag in both Trend Name and Description.
- Trend Takeover+ will attribute to @yourhandle, don’t overbrand the tweet.
- The description should be used for further context about the trend, making it declarative & intriguing.
- Don’t use click-bait phrases such as “50% off”, “Buy One Get One Free,” “Limited Time Only,” etc.
X Dynamic Product Ads
Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) deliver the most relevant product to the right customer at the right time. These ads can help to increase Cost Per Purchase and return on ads spend on X.
DPA Retargeting serves ads to targeted customers, featuring products that they have engaged with previously. DPA Prospecting sources new customers who haven’t visited your website before and shows them ads that are most relevant to them.
The latest Twitter Pixel or Conversion API is a prerequisite to track required events and parameters. Tracking must also be enabled across Page View, Content View, Add to Cart, and Purchase events.
Why X Ads?
In July 2023, Twitter changed its name to X. The policy changes following this have implications for all users, including businesses. One of the main changes is the number of tweets users can view per day. Verified users can view 10,000 tweets, unverified users can view 1000 tweets, and new unverified users can view 500 tweets.
The new Twitter Blue subscription provides access to certain features as well as a blue checkmark on the account. These features include the ability to edit tweets after they are posted, 50% fewer ads, ability to make tweets 25,000 characters long, ability to format text, access to TweetDeck, ability to share videos up to two hours long, and two factor authentication.
The conversation style of X has created a space where brands and influential figures globally can engage with consumers in a personable, casual, and fun way.
This intimate approach to social networking has earned X its highly engaged audience, ranking it among the top 10 social media platforms for brand interaction (with Instagram and Facebook).
X simple user interface makes it prime real estate for your mobile marketing strategy. X ads use text, photos, links, hashtags, and video to drive engagement. Keeping up with the momentum through frequent interaction is key to leveraging this fast-paced platform.
Advertising on X blends well with an organic content strategy. The promoted, paid content in your ads can appear as regular tweets with or without images, in-feed video, carousels, and more with numerous targeting options.
Pinpoint a broad audience with various campaign objectives: whether it’s driving traffic or increasing engagement.
You don’t need to be a huge brand or influencer to get results advertising on X. Build an engaged following today by taking advantage of the user-friendly ad campaigns and formats X has to offer.
