Placement of social ads by commercial organizations
Available formats
- Banner in ad networks: Targeting the desired audience in the Yandex Advertising Network. Setting up social ad impressions based on important user characteristics. For more information, see Display banners.
- Video ads: Impressions on the Yandex Video Network's verified partners (for example, using InStream videos, OutStream content, or Interstitial in-app ads). For more information, see Video Ads.
- Text & Image Ads: Impressions in ad networks on desktop browsers, tablets, and mobile phones. For more information, see Text & Image ads.
- Display banner on a new Yandex Browser tab. Such banners are seen by millions of users every day. For more information, see Banner on a new Yandex Browser tab.
Social ads can't be placed on Yandex search. Impressions on search will be restricted during moderation.
The ads are labeled with a “Social ad” icon. Information about advertisers and social ads will be openly published in the Social advertising report.

Launching a campaign
Before placing social ads, please read the moderation requirements for ads and advertised sites, as well as Social advertising requirements.
The procedure for launching an ad campaign depends on the selected format:
- Step 1. Start creating a campaign and configure its parameters
-
Click
. Select your advertising goals:- In the Campaign Wizard, click Recognition and reach.
- In the expert mode, click Reach in Yandex Advertising Network.
Enter the campaign name and link to the advertised site. Make settings:
- Specify the start and end date of the campaign. The campaigns are placed strictly by calendar week, so make sure that the campaign starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. The campaign dates can't be after the product validity dates.
If you want to serve ads at a specific time, configure time targeting under Impression schedule.
- Specify the Yandex Metrica tag on your website.
Select an ad strategy.
Some of the information will be filled in automatically. Check it and change it as necessary. More about main ad campaign parameters.
You can also cap impression frequency to limit how many times your campaign ads can be served to the same user.
- Step 2. Create an ad group and set up the targeting criteria
-
- Select banners as the ad type.
All the ads in an ad group must be the same type, although a campaign can include all types of ads. You can't change the ad type after saving an ad group.
- Set the ad display regions.
- Set up targeting criteria.
Ads from display campaigns are only served in the Yandex Advertising Network based on keywords, user profiles, or genres and subjects. You can only select one type of impression criteria per ad group. You cannot change the type of impression criteria after you save the ad group.
- User profile
-
A user profile consists of the cumulative characteristics of the users that you want to serve your ads to. These include gender, age, and online interests. Determine what your particular audience looks like and create a profile based on that data.
- Keywords
-
Keywords determine the site content and user interests that may trigger your ad impressions in the Yandex Advertising Network. For example, an ad for an animal shelter might be displayed on a site with tips on animal care or to a user interested in purchasing a pet.
- Genres and subjects
-
Ads are served on the Advertising Network sites with the selected subjects or instream videos of the specified genres and subjects. For example, an ad for a forest protection organization will be displayed on a nature-related page.
Check how many users may see ads from a particular group using the reach forecast.
Note. If you have selected an automatic strategy and targeting based on user profiles, go to the strategy settings after you have saved the ad group. The average price recommendation will be updated based on the size of creatives and impression criteria. This will ensure efficient budget spending over the period.
- Step 3. Add creatives
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Upload the ad creative from your computer or create one in Ad Builder. You can use an HTML5 banner or image file as a creative.
To pass moderation, creatives must meet the requirements.
- Create using Ad Builder
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An adaptive creative automatically adapts to the ad block so you can serve your ad on the maximum number of sites. In the Ad Builder, you can automatically generate a creative based on your site content or build it from a template, adjusting the design parameters as needed.
If you have creatives for image ads that you made previously using Ad Builder, you can use them.
More information about Ad Builder.
- Upload from computer
-
You can add multiple ads to an ad group, with each ad corresponding to a single creative.
An ad creative uploaded from a computer must meet the technical requirements:
Maximum file size 150 KB File type ZIP (for HTML5 banners)
Technical requirements for HTML5 banners
JPG, PNG or GIF (for images)
Size in pixels 160×600, 240×400, 240×600, 300×250, 300×300, 300×500, 300×600, 320×50, 320×100, 320×480, 336×280, 480×320, 728×90, 970×250, 1000×120 Maximum file size 150 KB File type ZIP (for HTML5 banners)
Technical requirements for HTML5 banners
JPG, PNG or GIF (for images)
Size in pixels 160×600, 240×400, 240×600, 300×250, 300×300, 300×500, 300×600, 320×50, 320×100, 320×480, 336×280, 480×320, 728×90, 970×250, 1000×120
After you have saved your ad, you can only replace the creative with another creative of the same size. An adaptive creative can be replaced with another adaptive creative.
- Step 4. Enter a Yandex Audience pixel and impression tag
- You can use the Yandex Audience pixel to develop different scenarios of connecting with your display ad audience. The pixel is special code embedded in your advertising materials.
Create a pixel in Yandex Audience. For more information, see Yandex Audience Help.
Add the pixel code to the banner. After the impressions begin, the pixel starts to collect anonymous identifiers of users who have seen your ad. You can use this data when you set up your retargeting.
You can use the ADFOX tag or Yandex Metrica pixel to count ad impressions for display ads. The tag or pixel must include the
%random%
macro. They must also support HTTPS.
- Step 1. Start creating a campaign and configure its parameters
-
Click
. Select your advertising goals:- In the Campaign Wizard, click Recognition and reach.
- In the expert mode, click Reach in Yandex Advertising Network.
Enter the campaign name and link to the advertised site. Make settings:
- Specify the start and end date of the campaign. The campaigns are placed strictly by calendar week, so make sure that the campaign starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. The campaign dates can't be after the product validity dates.
If you want to serve ads at a specific time, configure time targeting under Impression schedule.
- Specify the Yandex Metrica tag on your website.
Select an ad strategy.
Some of the information will be filled in automatically. Check it and change it as necessary. More about main ad campaign parameters.
You can also cap impression frequency to limit how many times your campaign ads can be served to the same user.
- Step 2. Create an ad group and set up the targeting criteria
-
- Select video as the ad type.
All the ads in an ad group must be the same type, although a campaign can include all types of ads. You can't change the ad type after saving an ad group.
- Set the ad display regions.
- Configure audience gathering for retargeting:
You can accumulate an audience of users who have viewed a video from your display campaign and then use it to configure retargeting.
Choose the events that interest you:
- video impression
- completed 25%, 50%, or 75% of video ad
- completed entire video
A separate segment is created automatically for each event in Yandex Audience, under the account hosting the Yandex Direct campaign. It will include users who started viewing or viewed 25%, 50%, or 75% of at least one video from the ad group (depending on the selected event).
- Set up targeting criteria.
Ads from display campaigns are served only in the Yandex Advertising Network based on user profiles or genres and subjects. You can only select one type of impression criteria per ad group. You cannot change the type of impression criteria after you save the ad group.
- User profile
-
A user profile consists of the cumulative characteristics of the users that you want to serve your ads to. These include gender, age, and online interests. Determine what your particular audience looks like and create a profile based on that data.
- Genres and subjects
-
Ads are served on the Advertising Network sites with the selected subjects or instream videos of the specified genres and subjects. For example, an ad for skiing equipment can be displayed on a page about sports and active holidays, and a restaurant ad can be displayed in a cooking video.
Check how many users may see ads from a particular group using the reach forecast.
Note. If you have selected an automatic strategy and targeting based on user profiles, go to the strategy settings after you have saved the ad group. The average price recommendation will be updated based on the size of creatives and impression criteria. This will ensure efficient budget spending over the period.
- Step 3. Add creatives
-
Use your own video clip to create an ad. You don't necessarily need to hire professionals or rent a studio. You can take a video on your smartphone if it has a good camera, or create a video Video Builder.
The video must meet the moderation rules and the following technical requirements:
Format MP4, WebM, MOV, QT, FLV, AVI Size 100 MB maximum Duration Between 5 and 60 sec For non-skippable ads, max video duration is 15 seconds.
Aspect ratio 16 : 9; 1 : 1; 9 : 16 Minimum resolution 360p Recommended resolution 1080p Video frame rate between 20 and 30 frames/second Video codecs H.264, VP6F, VP8, Theora Number of video tracks 1 Minimum quality 44 kHz, 16 Kbit/s, stereo Audio codecs AAC, MP3, Vorbis Number of audio tracks 0 or 1 File codec avc1, F4V, isom, M4A, M4V, mp4, mp41, mp42, qt Cover No Format MP4, WebM, MOV, QT, FLV, AVI Size 100 MB maximum Duration Between 5 and 60 sec For non-skippable ads, max video duration is 15 seconds.
Aspect ratio 16 : 9; 1 : 1; 9 : 16 Minimum resolution 360p Recommended resolution 1080p Video frame rate between 20 and 30 frames/second Video codecs H.264, VP6F, VP8, Theora Number of video tracks 1 Minimum quality 44 kHz, 16 Kbit/s, stereo Audio codecs AAC, MP3, Vorbis Number of audio tracks 0 or 1 File codec avc1, F4V, isom, M4A, M4V, mp4, mp41, mp42, qt Cover No Consider the ad player layout when preparing your video: in particular, the position and design of the click-through button. The button is fixed in the lower-left corner of the video. You can't change its color.
- It's better to place the main ad content in the central part of the video with a margin of about 5% from the top and 18% from the bottom.
- If your video needs a notice, put it in the lower 10% of the screen so that the buttons don't block the notice.
ExampleThe example applies to most formats. The range depends on the format and device. For example, the button is the smallest on the desktop if the user is watching a full-screen video. The button is the largest on a small smartphone screen.
You don't need to insert legal notices into the video when building your ad. Add the notice to Legal information when uploading your video: the notice will be available in the top-right menu of the video.
- How to create a video using Ad Builder
-
Under Video, click Builder. The video builder window opens.