A video under 25 seconds cannot carry an end screen
The window is the last 5 to 20 seconds, and you add it in Editor. Read End screen element click rate after you save. The help page does not hand you a number to chase.
Morgan Lockridge
Social Media Manager
By Morgan Lockridge, Social Media Manager — The SMF Works Project
I read YouTube's end screen help page this morning. Check the length before you open Editor. If the video is under 25 seconds, you don't get an end screen.[1]
I didn't sign in to Studio, and I didn't save one.
Check the length before you open Editor
End screens can be added to the last 5 to 20 seconds of a video.[1] You can use them to promote other videos, encourage viewers to subscribe, and more.[1] On a standard 16:9 video you can add up to four elements.[1] Other aspect ratios may have a lower limit.[1] The page doesn't give that lower number, so I'm not filling one in.
Your video has to be at least 25 seconds long to have an end screen.[1] A cut under that line can still look like it has room in the last 20 seconds. I'd lengthen it, or skip the end screen, before I open Editor.
A best-practice line says to consider the video's last 20 seconds when you edit it.[1] That's about leaving room in the picture. It isn't a second timer. The window you can attach is still those last 5 to 20 seconds.[1]
Card teasers and video watermarks are suppressed while the end screen is up.[1] If you already dropped an info card near the end, don't expect the teaser to sit on top of this.
Feature elements that are relevant to the video.[1] Encourage viewers to click using calls to action for different end screen elements.[1] Put that ask in the cut, in your own words, before you open Editor. That's my read of their best-practice line, not a script they wrote.
Open Editor and pick one element
Sign in to YouTube Studio.[1] From the left menu, select Content.[1] Click the title or thumbnail of the video you'd like to edit.[1] From the left menu, select Editor.[1] Select End screen and select the element you want to add.[1] Click SAVE.[1]
A template is a grouping of elements you can customize.[1] Video, in that first list, is your most recent upload, best for viewer, or a specific video.[1] Keep that phrase. The page says "best for viewer," not "best for the viewer." Playlist, in that same list, is a public YouTube playlist.[1] Subscribe encourages subscriptions to your channel.[1] Channel promotes another channel with a custom message.[1] Link is only if you're in the YouTube Partner Program, and then you can link to an external website.[1]
I didn't open the eligibility page. This page doesn't give a subscriber count or a watch-hour floor for Link. Leave that button alone until you've checked the other page yourself.
You can also add and customize end screens while uploading a video.[1] I left that upload article closed, so I'm not listing those clicks. If the video is already on the channel, use the Editor path above.
Keep the two playlist lines apart
Further down, the page uses different sentences for the same jobs. Don't fold them into one rule.
You can feature your most recently uploaded video.[1] You can allow YouTube to select a video from your channel to best suit the viewer.[1] You can pick any video or playlist, public or unlisted, from your channel or any other channel.[1]
The add menu calls the playlist element a public YouTube playlist.[1] The later section allows a public or unlisted playlist.[1] If an unlisted playlist is missing from the first menu, that's the page being two sentences, not you missing a click. I'd try the later picker before I decide the playlist can't be used.
Subscribe is still your channel. Channel is still someone else's, with a message you write.[1]
Set the time, then drag the spot
End screen elements show at the same time by default.[1] You can customize individual elements to show at different times.[1] If you want one element first and another after it, you have to move them. The default stacks them on the same seconds.
To the left of the video, find the boxes containing end screen time, and update the start time or the end time.[1] You can also drag the element on the end screen row of the Editor.[1] You can drag the ends of the timeline, or type the time in the box next to Delete element.[1]
In the player, drag the element to the position you want.[1] The page names Snap to grid and Snap to element.[1] Click the grid in the player if you want a grid over the preview.[1] Click SAVE after you move it.[1]
If you use a custom image, the page recommends an image that's at least 300 x 300 pixel width.[1] That's a recommendation, not a listed requirement.
Preview is the play button on the video player.[1] It shows how the end screen looks while the video is playing.[1] It is not the click-rate card.
To pull an element off, click Delete element.[1] Click Add element if you want a different one, then SAVE.[1]
Check who will actually see it
Viewers can't see your end screens on mobile web, except iPad mobile web.[1] They also can't see them in the YouTube Music or YouTube Kids apps, in Flash videos, or in 360 videos.[1] An earlier note says end screens aren't available for videos set as made for kids, in the YouTube music app, flash videos, mobile web, or 360 videos.[1] One line says "YouTube music app." The viewer list says "YouTube Music" and adds YouTube Kids.
If you check on a phone browser and the end screen is missing, try the app, or an iPad browser, before you rebuild the layout. That's my read of the mobile-web line. The page doesn't name a test. It says mobile web won't show it, with that iPad exception.[1]
End screens aren't available for videos set as made for kids.[1] Even if you previously added an end screen, viewers won't see it when the audience is set as made for kids.[1]
Viewers have the ability to hide end screens while watching your videos.[1] Your end screen may not always show, or may show differently than designed.[1] The page says this happens as they improve end screens based on performance, viewer behavior, device, and context.[1]
Read the click rate after you save
You can check the performance of your end screens on the Engagement tab of YouTube Analytics.[1] For one video, open Content, click the video, select Analytics, then select Engagement.[1] Scroll down to End screen element click rate.[1] That card is how often viewers click the elements on that video.[1]
For the whole channel, use the Top end screen element types card to compare element types.[1] To see videos with end screens that viewers clicked the most, use the Top videos by end screen card.[1] Use the single-video card when you changed one video. Use the channel cards when you want the element type that's ahead across the channel. That split is my read of the two headings.
Read the card after you save. The help page doesn't publish a rate to chase, and I didn't open Studio, so I don't have a number from a channel to hand you.
The clicks, in one place
This table is my condensation of that same help page. Not a second source.
| What you are doing | Where you click | What the help page says |
|---|---|---|
| Check the cut | Before Editor | At least 25 seconds, or no end screen |
| Open the video | Content, then the title or thumbnail | That is the video you edit |
| Add it | Editor, then End screen, then an element | Up to four elements on 16:9 |
| Save | SAVE | Saves the end screen |
| Split the timing | Time boxes to the left of the video | They show together until you move them |
| Place it | Drag in the player | Snap to grid and Snap to element |
| Preview | Play on the player | How it looks while the video plays |
| One video | Analytics, then Engagement | End screen element click rate |
| The channel | Top end screen element types, or Top videos by end screen | Channel cards, not the single-video card |
If the cut is already over 25 seconds, I'd add one element, save, and read that card before I fill the other slots. Four on a 16:9 frame is the ceiling the page allows.[1] It isn't an instruction to use all four. That last line is my read of "up to four," not a second rule on the page.
Which element are you putting in that window, a subscribe prompt or one specific video?
To learn more follow @MichaelGannotti on X
Sources
[1] https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6388789?hl=en — Add end screens to videos - YouTube Help