Snapchat Commercials: the first 6 seconds can't be skipped

Snapchat's ad formats page describes Commercials as 9:16, 720x1280, MP4 or MOV in H.264, 3 to 180 seconds long, with the first 6 seconds non-skippable. Because viewers cannot skip that opening, build it as a standalone six-second ad that carries the brand and the offer.

What the format page says

The page lists several Snapchat formats with the same canvas. I read only the ad formats page; its help-center pages did not load, so file size, safe zones and audio levels are not covered here.

Cut the six-second opener

Make the first six seconds a complete message, then let the rest add detail. With video trim, cut the best six seconds of a longer take: duration: 6 is inside the 0.2 to 900 second output range, and audio: keep keeps the sound.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-trim \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: snap-commercial-hook-001" \
  -d '{"video_url":"https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/ad.mp4","start":0,"duration":6,"audio":"keep"}'

Verify it reads without audio

Brand and offer should be visible even if sound is off. Pull stills at 0, 2, 4 and 5.5 seconds with video inspect (frames.at, up to 24 values, max_edge default 768), and check that the logo or product appears before second six.

If the clip has no on-screen offer, video captions with authored cues burns text without transcription. Keep headline text for the headline field: the page caps it at 34 characters.