Shorts ads count a view at 10 seconds: trim a 10-second hook

Google Ads help says a view on a Shorts ad is counted at 10 seconds or the end of the ad, whichever comes first, or when the viewer clicks the call to action or likes, comments on or shares the ad. A 10 second cut is therefore one the viewer can finish, and it counts as a view when it does. With Sume you can cut one from a longer ad with video trim for $0.02.

What the page says

The Shorts ads rules differ from in-stream. The viewer can swipe away at once, looped plays are charged once, and the ad is shown again if the viewer scrolls back. The recommended length is under 60 seconds. YouTube's Shorts page separately says a Short itself can be up to 3 minutes.

Cut the hook

Pick the ten seconds with the clearest message, then trim. Duration is 0.2 to 900 seconds on trim, so 10 is well inside the range. Use exact precision so the cut starts on the frame you chose rather than up to a GOP early, which matters when frame 0 is the first thing the viewer sees.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-trim \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: hook-10s-001" \
  -d '{"video_url":"https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/ad-45s.mp4","start":14,"duration":10,"precision":"exact","audio":"keep"}'

Check frame 0 and the end

Swiping away is immediate, so the first frame has to carry the message. Run video frames on the trimmed file with at set to 0, 1 and 9.5. Frames come back as jpeg by default, and the call accepts up to 24 values. Look at frame 0 as a thumbnail-sized image: if the subject and the first words are not readable, move the start.

Then look at 9.5. If the offer or call to action has not appeared by then, the viewer can reach the end without seeing it, so move the cue earlier or cut the hook shorter.

• at: [0, 1, 9.5] gives three stills in one call.
• Frames keep the source size unless max_edge is set.
• Billing is Modal compute, so there is no fixed price to quote.

Cost

One exact trim is $0.02. Three variants of the hook, each starting at a different second, cost 3 x $0.02 = $0.06. Add 3 x $0.20 = $0.60 if you burn a caption line into each variant. Google's rules for counting views and charging loops are as of 2026-10-08 and can change, so reread the page before you set a bid. A hook cut is not a different ad, only a shorter one, so keep the full version for placements that allow it.