B2B video ads

What does a B2B video ad show when there is no product?

Pick the doubt your buyer needs settled first. A buyer asking “does it work?” needs the screen. A buyer asking “is this about me?” needs the problem.

The screen takes a real recording of one task. The problem takes one painful moment from a sales call. A person means a founder, an expert or a customer.

SaaS video ads lean towards the screen, since a task can finish in seconds. Services lean towards a person, since the buyer is hiring people. If you can’t choose, start with the problem. It needs one screen capture and no presenter, and it tells you which pain gets attention.

Why does the sound-off rule shape a B2B script?

LinkedIn says its video ads “will autoplay in the feed with the sound muted by default”. Its tips page adds that “a large portion of LinkedIn members will watch your ad with the sound off” and suggests burning subtitles into the video.

Burned-in text beats a caption file here. LinkedIn’s specs accept SRT files with text only, and no styling. Burned-in lines let you size the words and place them away from the interface you are showing.

Test the cut by muting it. If a stranger can’t name the product and the problem from the screen alone, rewrite it.

Length has two answers from LinkedIn. The help page recommends 15 to 30 seconds so a video qualifies for every placement. The tips page reports up to a 300 per cent lift in completion for 7 to 15-second videos, from LinkedIn’s own 2025 data. Fifteen seconds satisfies both.

LinkedIn video ads specs

LinkedIn takes four shapes and calls 4:5 its recommended ratio. All of this comes from its specifications page.

Video ads advertising specifications

Aspect ratio Horizontal/landscape: 16:9 (1.78). Square: 1:1. Vertical: 4:5 (.80). Vertical: 9:16 (0.56).

Length Three seconds to 30 minutes. We recommend uploading videos that are 15-30 seconds long. In-stream video ads can be up to 90 seconds in length.

File size Between 75 KB and 500 MB.

File format MP4.

Captions Must be in SRT format.

Check frame rate on any export, because LinkedIn’s limit is “Less than 30 FPS”.

Videos under 30 seconds loop until they reach 30 seconds of playback, so your last frame runs straight into your first. End on the offer and open on the problem, and the loop reads as a second pitch.

What do LinkedIn video ads cost?

LinkedIn publishes no cost per click. Costs come from an auction, and the price depends on your bid and how much others want the same audience. It does publish the floor: $10 a day, or $100 over a campaign’s lifetime.

ZenABM’s report of 16 February 2026 covers 211 B2B companies and 161,256 ads, and it does not state the period covered. A guide from Factors.ai, dated 28 July 2026, gives a range for Sponsored Content with no source behind it.

Video on LinkedIn buys clicks badly. ZenABM’s data puts the median at $15.61 a click. Its median click-through rate, the share of impressions that get a click, is 0.24 per cent.

At the median cost per 1,000 impressions, the $10 daily floor buys about 257 impressions (10 divided by 38.94, times 1,000). That is less than one click a day, so judge video on who watched, then retarget them.

A 15-second AI ad costs less than one LinkedIn click at any of those rates. The ad file is rarely the expensive part, so spend your care on the audience and the script.

Three B2B video ad scripts to copy

Each runs 15 seconds and works on mute. The product here is an invented invoice tool, so swap in your own task and your own real figure.

The problem first

No people, no voice. A spreadsheet fills the frame.

1. 0 to 3 seconds. Text over a scrolling invoice list: “Month end. 212 invoices. One PO number missing.”
2. 3 to 9 seconds. The cursor opens your tool and the search finds the invoice. Text: “Find it in one search.”
3. 9 to 13 seconds. The row turns green. Text: “Month closed in [your real number] days.”
4. 13 to 15 seconds. End card with one step: “Start free”.

The one-task walkthrough

A real recording at real speed. Pick the task a buyer asks about on every demo call.

1. 0 to 2 seconds. Text names the task: “Approve an invoice from your phone.”
2. 2 to 12 seconds. The recording shows every tap, with a short caption on each screen.
3. 12 to 15 seconds. The finished state, then “Book a demo”.

The founder’s reason

The founder sits at their own desk with the laptop open and talks to the camera. Every spoken line appears as text.

1. 0 to 5 seconds. “I spent four years chasing PO numbers by email.”
2. 5 to 11 seconds. Cut to the screen. “So we built the search I wanted. It finds the missing one before month end.”
3. 11 to 15 seconds. Back to the founder, who says it to camera, with the web address on screen. “Try it on last month’s invoices.”

Where do AI presenters hurt trust in B2B?

They hurt wherever the viewer is meant to believe a person. The founder script above fails with an avatar, because nobody spent four years chasing anything. An AI actor who claims to be a customer falls under the FTC’s fake-testimonial rule, as AI UGC and the law explains.

LinkedIn’s ad policy has no section on AI content. It does say “Any claims in your ad must have factual support”, and it bars implying an endorsement you don’t have.

Avatars also sit badly with Thought Leader Ads, the lowest median cost per click in ZenABM’s four-format table. They promote a real member’s post, the profile must show their full name, and that member approves the sponsorship by email.

LinkedIn’s page doesn’t mention AI video, but a synthetic face under a real person’s name is the mismatch the founder script runs into.

Video in this format carries no call-to-action button, so the link goes in the intro text.

The look is a smaller risk, and a real one. Users say Creatify’s avatar ads have a recognisable, templated look, fine at scroll speed and less so on a close look (6 of 61 sources: Reddit, Reddit). A buyer weighing a yearly contract looks closely.

AI presenters earn their place in the third-person explainer and in versions for each language or job title. They also make cheap script drafts. Run five problem statements with an avatar, then film the one that holds attention with a person from your team.

What Creatify does for LinkedIn ads, and when to skip it

Creatify’s LinkedIn page offers a captioned 15-second ad from a website link, as an MP4 you upload to Campaign Manager. It lists four versions, from a problem ad to an event sign-up, and it can write the intro text and headline. It says it uses “only the names, features and proof on your website”.

The first ad comes square, so ask for LinkedIn’s recommended 4:5 in the same chat. Your first video is free but carries a watermark, and the Creatify free plan covers what that means for running ads.

The customer numbers on that page are Creatify’s own. One quotes a 27 per cent lower cost per new customer on Meta. Nothing there measures LinkedIn. Users also report details that miss the script (17 of 61 sources: Trustpilot, Trustpilot), so check every product name and screen.

Standard at $15 a month has one seat. Pro at $55 a month has 2 seats and 3 custom avatars, so a founder can front language versions with their own likeness and consent. Avatar video bills per 15 seconds, rounded up.

Skip Creatify when the proof is your own interface. A screen recording shows the real product at no cost, and a generated scene can’t. Skip it too if a filmed founder or customer fronts the campaign and you need no language versions.

Other presenter tools carry their own rules. Synthesia lists Starter at $19 a month, and its Acceptable Use Policy bans stock avatars in paid social advertising without its written consent. HeyGen works out at $0.10 for a 30-second Avatar III video on Creator. Its terms allow paid ads on Creator, Pro and Business, and forbid them on Free.

Questions about B2B video ads

How long should a LinkedIn video ad be?

Fifteen seconds fits both of LinkedIn’s recommendations: 15 to 30 seconds for every placement, and 7 to 15 seconds for completion.

Which aspect ratio does LinkedIn recommend for video ads?

LinkedIn marks vertical 4:5 as its recommended ratio. It also accepts 1:1, 16:9 and 9:16.

Does LinkedIn allow AI video in ads?

Its advertising policy has no section on AI content. Claims still need factual support, and you can’t imply an endorsement you don’t have.

More pages for Creatify users, sorted by job, in the Creatify hub →