DTC Creative Best Practices

Drive Results with High-Performing Ads

Explore proven strategies and creative examples to captivate in-app audiences and win more customers.

See how ads come to life on AppLovin

AppLovin’s AI-powered targeting delivers your ads in interstitial or rewarded placements, pairing engaging video ads with customizable HTML5 end cards that seamlessly drive shoppers to your site.

1

Full-Screen Video

Portrait video ad plays for at least 5–30 seconds, and up to 60 seconds, with a customized CTA button overlay.

2

End Card

Video ads are followed by an interactive, customizable screen that appears for 3–10 seconds.

3

Dynamic Product Ad

After the end card, a list of products is customized for each user based on relevance.

4

Your Site

Upon clicking the ad, shoppers are sent to your website in their default browser to make purchases.

AppLovin’s AI algorithm determines whether to place ads in interstitial or rewarded video placements for optimal ROAS.

Video Ads

Ad inserted during natural pauses in a mobile app

DIMENSIONS

9:16

DURATION

Up to 60s

FORMAT

mp4 or mov

FILE SIZE

No limit

Automatic compression

Best Practices

Adapt your winning social ads for apps

Extend the shelf life of your proven hits, UGC, and promos by adapting your ads for in-app audiences.

Hook your audience in the first 3-5 seconds

Bold visuals, thought-provoking questions, and compelling statements can quickly capture attention during the first unskippable 5 seconds of your ad.

Use 30-60-second videos

Rewarded video placements are unskippable for the first 30-60 seconds. Make every second count by highlighting product benefits or reinforcing your brand for lasting impact.

Place captions in the top 2/3 of the screen

Clear, well-placed captions ensure your message is heard, even without sound, while avoiding overlap with CTA buttons.

End Cards

Interactive screen displayed after the video ad, driving more than 50% of ad clicks

FORMAT

HTML

DURATION

Unskippable for 3-10s

FILE SIZE

5MB or less

Best Practices

Use promotional messages

Highlight special offers, discounts, or limited-time deals to create a sense of urgency and encourage conversions.

Incorporate animations and GIFs

Bring your end cards to life with animations or GIFs. Dynamic visuals hold attention and improve recall.

Keep CTAs clear and fixed

Position your call-to-action where it’s always visible and easy to interact with.

Optimize clickable areas

Design clickable elements within specified parameters to ensure accessibility and seamless user interaction.

Simple End Card Generator

Upload your own images to generate simple static and animated GIF end cards.

Create an end card in minutes

End Card Inspiration

Check out our End Card Library for fresh ideas to test in your campaigns.

Browse end cards

Dynamic Product Ads

Third screen of the AppLovin ad showcases products personalized to each user

Dynamic product ads (DPAs) automatically predict and display the most relevant products in your catalog to optimize performance and drive conversions.

The image URLs and product names displayed are sourced based on the DPA integration method used.

Each product has its own CTA directing users to the product page for that specific item.

Easy Integration Methods

Enable DPAs by allowing the AppLovin pixel to automatically pull in relevant information or choose from our other integration methods for finer control over which products are shown.

Learn more about our DPA integration methods