Paramount ad specs: :15 or :30 spots, 720p minimum, 6 Mbps

Paramount video ads are :15 or :30 spots, at least 1280x720 (16:9), MP4 (H.264 High preferred) or MOV (ProRes 422 or 422 HQ). Frame rate is 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97 or 30, bitrate is 6 Mbps minimum, and audio is two-channel AAC at 192 kbps or more, 48 kHz, -24 LUFS plus or minus 2. Specs are from Paramount, read 2026-10-01.

What are Paramount's spec limits?

Which of the frame rates can Sume render?

Timeline's output.fps takes 24, 25, 30 or 60, so 24, 25 and 30 are on Paramount's list. 23.98 and 29.97 are not offered by the output.fps field. Omit fps to render at the rate the sources already run at, and probe the file.

How do I render a 16:9 spot at the right length?

Set 1280x720 or 1920x1080, and audio.duration_seconds to 15 or 30. fit: "cover" fills the frame, which avoids the black bars Paramount asks you to avoid. Timeline 1.0 (POST /v1/timeline-1.0/render) takes output.width and output.height as even integers from 256 to 2160 and output.fps of 24, 25, 30 or 60, or omits fps to match the sources. It needs an Idempotency-Key, accepts only media.sume.com sources, and returns one MP4 at $0.10 per output minute, rounded up. The unbilled POST /v1/timeline-1.0/plan previews the cost first.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/timeline-1.0/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: paramount-30-001" \
  -d '{
    "audio": { "mode": "silence", "duration_seconds": 30 },
    "output": { "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "fps": 30 },
    "video": [
      { "source_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/shot.mp4",
        "start": 0, "duration": 30, "fit": "cover" }
    ]
  }'

What does Sume not control here?

Bitrate, codec, scan type and loudness. Sume's docs list no bitrate or codec field. The render endpoints refuse codec, crf and filtergraph keys with a 400, so you cannot tune the encode from the request. The docs do not describe loudness normalization. Audio gain is a single audio.gain_db from -60 to 12, so measure LUFS with your own tool, and use Timeline audio only to join audio, not to normalize it.

How do I check the render?

Probe the finished file with Video inspect 1.0. With frames: false it is a probe only, it is unbilled, and it reports width, height, container, fps and duration_seconds. It does not report file size, codec or bitrate, so check those with a local tool before you upload.

Paramount wants a constant rate and no leaders, so scrub the first and last frames yourself.