CTV ad specs: video rules from five streaming TV sellers

CTV (connected TV) ad specs are set by each streaming TV seller, but their spec pages agree on the shape: a 16:9 video, 1920×1080 wherever a size is named, H.264 accepted by all of them (Roku calls it AVC), and two-channel audio at every seller that lists channels. They differ on lengths, file sizes, frame rates, and above all the video bitrate, from 5–10 Mbps at Samsung DSP to at least 15 Mbps on Prime Video. With Sume, one Timeline 1.0 render at 1920×1080, 15 or 30 seconds long, meets every seller's size and length rules, and 25 fps is the one Timeline rate on every seller's list but Samsung's, which recommends 30; the bitrate and audio you check per seller.

Each seller's numbers are quoted from its own page, read on 2026-09-28: Roku Ads Manager, Disney's Video Commercial spec, Amazon Ads' Streaming TV & Prime Video specs, NBCUniversal's programmatic video guidelines for Peacock, and Samsung DSP. Sellers can change them. Sume facts come from the Timeline 1.0 and Video inspect docs, the Sume API reference, and Sume's media compiler as it works today.

What do CTV ad specs have in common?

CTV ads play in streaming apps on a TV screen, so the five pages share TV-shaped rules:

• Shape: 16:9 at all five.
• Size: 1920×1080 is Disney's preferred size, Amazon's minimum, NBCU's mezzanine size, and Samsung's recommended size. Roku requires 16:9 without naming a size.
• Codec: H.264 at all five; all but Amazon and Samsung also take ProRes 422 HQ (NBCU for the mezzanine file only).
• Audio: two channels wherever a seller names a count (Amazon says at least two); Samsung lists only the codec, AAC or MP3.
• No click prompts: Disney and Amazon both rule out button-style calls to action such as “Learn More” in ads that viewers can't click.

How do CTV ad specs differ by seller?

Frame rates are in fps. Three sellers have their own posts: Roku ad specs, Hulu ad specs, and Prime Video ad specs.

How long can a CTV ad be?

Some sellers take any length in a range; others take fixed lengths only.

• Roku: 6–92 seconds.
• Prime Video in the US: 15, 30, 45, or 60 seconds.
• NBCU: pre-roll 6, 15, or 30 seconds; mid-roll 15, 30, 45, or 60 seconds; Peacock takes 90 seconds on request. Stitched creatives, such as two 15-second ads joined into one 30-second ad, are not accepted.
• Samsung DSP: between 5 and 90 seconds, with 15–30 recommended.
• Hulu and Disney+ through Disney Campaign Manager: 5–90 seconds.

How do I make a CTV spot that fits every seller?

Assemble 16:9 shots and a voiceover with POST /v1/timeline-1.0/render (how to make a 30-second ad), which reads only your workspace's media.sume.com files. Today the render's sound is the audio spine plus an optional soundtrack; the clips' own audio is dropped. Three settings cover the shared rules:

• output: 1920 × 1080.
• output.fps: 25, the one Timeline rate on every list but Samsung's. Disney and NBCU also ask for each video's native frame rate, and Timeline reaches any other rate by repeating or dropping frames. If your clips aren't 25 fps, give those two a second render with output.fps omitted, which keeps the rate the clips already run at.
• audio.duration_seconds: 15 or 30, a length on every list above. It sets the output length.

What does a Sume render leave you to check?

Timeline has no bitrate, codec, or loudness setting, so the seller numbers are checks. The unbilled probe, POST /v1/video-inspect with frames: false, reports size_bytes, duration_seconds, audio_channels, and audio_sample_rate, and the seller posts above walk through each check. Three points decide how many files you deliver:

• Bitrate: today Timeline encodes H.264 at a constant quality (-crf 20), so the bitrate follows the picture (how to check a video's bitrate). No single file meets both Samsung's recommended 5–10 Mbps and Prime Video's 15 Mbps minimum, so those two need separate encodes, and a ProRes file or a constant bitrate means a re-encode in your own tools.
• Audio: the master inherits the spine file's sample rate and channel count. 48 kHz stereo is the one combination every seller that names a rate and a layout accepts, and today Timeline's 192 kbps AAC matches the highest audio minimum above.
• Loudness: NBCU asks for −24 LKFS ±2. The probe reports no loudness, and the spine's only level control is audio.gain_db (−60 to 12), so measure it with another tool.