Common ad/creative specs for CAASie
CAASie is a BYO ads system, which means you’ll need to know what size and format of ad to bring. Unfortunately, there are no standards for outdoor advertising across the world. Particularly when it comes to billboards that are often the size of whatever building they’re attached to.
The good news is that there are some standards for indoor or private venue screens. They are usually a 16:9 aspect ratio, either portrait or landscape.
If that doesn’t mean anything to you – think of the shape of your TV or laptop – they’re generally also 16:9 – so, resolutions like 1920 x 1080 (Full HD), 3840 x 2160 (4k) that you’d typically encounter fall under that 16:9 umbrella.
However, most of these screens that I'm refering to do not have the ability to resize your ad to fit them (at least not in a way that looks good – Squishy McSquishface). This means that your ad usually needs to be supplied as “pixel perfect” – the exact resolution required for the screen it is going to.
Below you’ll find some of the common ad/creative specifications for different formats within Australia and NZ.
Quick notes;
1. The most common resolution for indoor ads is the same as a typical laptop screen – 1920 x 1080 pixels - although the physical size varies quite a lot.
2. It is standard for larger screens to have a lower resolution than the smaller ones, and so when you're desiging your ads, they will appear to be smaller. This is because the larger screens are further away and don't require higher resolutions for human eyes. In fact, you could think of them as having larger pixels instead of more of them.
3. In Australia, if a screen is near a road, it cannot play video ads because it’s distracting to drivers. This means that CAASie blocks video ads on those screen/venue types by default.
4. Most screens and billboards within Australia only accept static or video formats. That means PNGs and MP4s are a go – while HTML packages are currently unsupported (for now).
How CAASie handles ads
When you’re creating your campaign, CAASie will find each unique set of resolution amongst the screens that you’ve chosen. You’ll then upload them into the boxes below;
In most cases, you can only upload the correct resolutions. However, there is a cropping tool available to use in cases where your ads are remarkably similar in resolution. Just make sure that you’re not losing any important parts of your ad if your crop it.
You can see the specs on these boxes, or the info panel for each screen. However, if you want to keep the specs handy, or send them to your designer, you can download a CSV/excel file that includes all the information you’ll need for designing your ads.
Common specs
The info below gives you an idea of the common specs for different screen and venue types in Australia. Just keep in mind that it’s generalised and won’t include every variation.
Medical
Digital Posters
Design requirements
File type: static; PNG or Jpeg
Common Resolutions: 1080 x 1920px (Portrait)
Text recommendations
Minimum font size: 24pt
Technical requirements
Max file size: 7MB
TVs
Design requirements
File type: Video; MP4
Common Resolutions: 1920 x 1080px (Landscape)
Video sound: Low
Video Captions: Highly recommended
Text recommendations
Minimum font size for viewing distance: 64pt
Technical requirements
Max vid duration: 15 or 30 sec
Max file size: 7MB
Health & Fitness
Digital Totems
Design requirements
File type: Static; PNG or Jpeg OR Video; MP4
Common Resolutions: 1080 x 1920px (Portrait)
Video sound: Prohibited
Video Captions: Optional
Text recommendations
Minimum font size for viewing distance: 64pt
Technical requirements
Max vid duration: 7 sec
Max file size: 7MB
Wide screen
Design requirements
File type: Static; PNG or Jpeg OR Video; MP4
Common Resolutions: 3840 x 1080px (Landscape)
Video sound: Prohibited
Video Captions: Optional
Text recommendations
Minimum font size for viewing distance: 72pt
Technical requirements
Max vid duration: 7 sec
Max file size: 7MB
Retail
Free standing/floor level
Design requirements
File type: Static; PNG or Jpeg OR Video; MP4
Common Resolutions: 1080 x 1920px OR 2160 x 3840px (Portrait)
Video sound: Prohibited
Video Captions: Optional
Text recommendations
Minimum font size for viewing distance: 72pt
Technical requirements
Max vid duration: 7sec and 10 sec
Max file size: 7MB
Ceiling mounted/eye level
Design requirements
File type: Static; PNG or Jpeg OR Video; MP4
Common Resolutions: 1920 x 1080px OR 3840 x 2160px (Landscape)
Video sound: Prohibited
Video Captions: Optional
Text recommendations
Minimum font size for viewing distance: 72pt
Technical requirements
Max vid duration: 7 sec
Max file size: 7MB
Extra Large Portrait
Design requirements
File type: Static; PNG or Jpeg OR Video; MP4
Common Resolutions: 768 x 1408px (Portrait)
Video sound: Prohibited
Video Captions: Optional
Text recommendations
Minimum font size for viewing distance: 160pt
Technical requirements
Max vid duration: 7 sec
Max file size: 7MB
Fuel & convenience
Digital Poster
Design requirements
File type: Static; PNG or Jpeg OR Video; MP4
Common Resolutions: 1080 x 1920px (Portrait)
Video sound: Prohibited
Video Captions: Optional
Text recommendations
Minimum font size for viewing distance: 72pt
Technical requirements
Max vid duration: 7 sec and 10 sec
Max file size: 7MB
Pump TVs
Design requirements
File type: Static; PNG or Jpeg OR Video; MP4
Common Resolutions: 1920 x 1080px OR 720 x 1280px (Landscape)
Video sound: Yes - Across station
Video Captions: Optional
Text recommendations
Minimum font size for viewing distance: 24pt
Technical requirements
Max vid duration: 15 sec
Max file size: 7MB
Public Transport
Bus Shelter
Design requirements
File type: Static; PNG or Jpeg
Common Resolutions: 1080 x 1920px (Portrait)
Text recommendations
Minimum font size for viewing distance: 72pt
Technical requirements
Max file size: 7MB
