Does a Google Ads video need YouTube first? Public or unlisted

Yes. For Google's YouTube video ads, the video has to be on YouTube first. Google's in-feed help page says the video must be uploaded to YouTube and set as public or unlisted; the reach campaign setup tells you to search for a video you uploaded or paste its YouTube URL; and the Demand Gen specs say you cannot upload an offline video.

A file from Sume is therefore not an ad yet. It is a source file that has to be downloaded, checked against the specs and uploaded to YouTube. The pages used are In-feed video ads, Create a Video reach campaign, the Demand Gen video assets page and the Google Ads API upload guide, all read 2026-10-03.

What do Google's pages say?

Each page states the rule in its own words.

Public or unlisted: which one?

The in-feed page accepts either. Public means anyone can find it; unlisted means it stays off your channel page and search but plays for anyone with the link. For ads, unlisted is the quiet choice when you do not want a test cut to appear as a normal upload.

The API guide adds a detail: videos uploaded to Google-managed channels must be UNLISTED, while an advertiser-owned channel can use PUBLIC. It also says that after a video reaches the PROCESSED state you can read its YouTube video id from the video_id field and use it to create a YoutubeVideoAsset. Plan for a short processing wait before you build the ad.

What must a Sume file do before it can be an ad?

Think of the file as passing four checks, in this order:

• Be a real file you hold. Sume results live on media.sume.com URLs, and a URL is not accepted by Google Ads; download the MP4 first. Sume's media import does not take YouTube URLs either, so the flow runs one way, from Sume to YouTube.
• Fit the spec for the format. Google's video specs page lists MP4 among accepted file types, a 256 GB size cap, and 1920 x 1080, 1080 x 1920 or 1080 x 1080 as recommended sizes. Length depends on the format.
• Be the right length. Video trim cuts a start plus duration of 0.2 to 900 seconds into a new MP4 at $0.02 per job; check duration_seconds in the result rather than trusting the request.
• Be probed. Video inspect returns probe facts, and you can set frames to false for a probe-only call. Check size, length and audio before you upload.

How do I get the MP4 to YouTube?

Sume has no YouTube upload endpoint, so upload from your own code or by hand. The Google Ads API guide names two routes: its own upload service, or the YouTube Data API v3. The Data API route is the one in our Shorts automation post, and a scheduled or unlisted upload works the same for an ad cut.

For a one-off, upload the file in YouTube Studio, set visibility to unlisted, then paste the URL into the ad. Do this per cut: a 6-second bumper and a 15-second in-stream are two uploads, not one.

What can still go wrong?

Setting a video to private after you build the ad breaks the requirement the in-feed page states. Deleting it does the same. Keep the uploaded cuts in a folder or channel list named for the campaign so nobody tidies them away mid-flight.