What's the Length Requirement for an Amazon Sponsored Brands Video Ad?

Amazon requires Sponsored Brands video ads to run between 6 and 45 seconds. That range is set by Amazon Ads' official creative acceptance policy covering animation and video, and it applies regardless of what the video otherwise shows.

The Full Technical Spec Beyond Length

Duration is only one part of what Amazon checks before approving a Sponsored Brands video ad. The format also requires:

• Aspect ratio of 16:9, at a resolution of 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080, or 3840 x 2160 pixels.
• File size of 500MB or smaller, in MP4 or MOV format.
• Frame rate of 23.976 to 30fps (23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 29.98, or 30), with a minimum bit rate of 1Mbps.
• H.264 or H.265 codec, with audio at 44.1kHz or higher, a minimum 96kbps bit rate, and either stereo or mono channels.

A video that meets the 6-45 second window but fails any of these other technical checks still gets rejected at submission, so duration alone isn't a guarantee of approval.

Why Amazon Autoplays Muted and Why That Matters for Length

Sponsored Brands video ads autoplay in search results with sound off by default, which shapes how the 6-45 second window actually gets used in practice. A video that depends on dialogue or narration to make its point loses most of that message unless it also carries on-screen text or captions, since the shopper has to tap to unmute. Amazon's own creative guidance recommends closed captions for this reason, along with text sized to stay legible on a mobile screen.

Where 15 Seconds Tends to Land in Practice

Within the 6-45 second legal range, campaign data commonly cited across Amazon advertising case studies points to roughly 15 seconds as a length that balances completion rate against message delivery — long enough to show the product in use, short enough that most viewers watch to the end before scrolling past. That's a practical convention rather than an Amazon-enforced rule; anything from 6 to 45 seconds is technically compliant.

Common Rejection Reasons Beyond Length

• Running under 6 seconds or over 45 seconds, which fails the hard duration check before any other review happens.
• Using a frame rate or codec outside Amazon's accepted list, which is a frequent rejection cause for video exported from consumer editing tools with non-standard defaults.
• Submitting dialogue-dependent creative with no captions, which isn't a hard rejection but routinely underperforms given the autoplay-muted default.

This Is a Different Spec From Sponsored Display or Sponsored Products Video

Amazon's video length and technical requirements vary by ad product, not by a single catalog-wide video policy. Sponsored Brands video is reviewed under its own creative acceptance rules, separate from video creative used in Sponsored Display or the video assets accepted as part of a product's organic listing content, so a video approved for one placement isn't automatically pre-approved for another.

Bottom Line

Keep Sponsored Brands video ads inside the 6-45 second window, build around muted autoplay with captions or on-screen text, and double-check the aspect ratio, codec, and frame rate against Amazon's spec before upload — length alone won't get a video approved if the underlying file doesn't match the rest of the technical requirements.

Source: Amazon Ads, "Animation and video" creative acceptance policy (advertising.amazon.com/resources/ad-policy/creative-acceptance/animation-video).