End Screen YouTube

What is an end screen on YouTube?

An end screen is an interactive overlay that YouTube can show in the last 5–20 seconds of a video. It promotes your other content, invites viewers to follow the channel, or sends them to an approved external site. A video has to be at least 25 seconds long to carry one.

Why end screens matter

The last seconds of a video are where a viewer either continues with your channel or goes back to the feed. An end screen makes that a choice you designed rather than one the feed makes for you.

YouTube measures end screens on their own, so the payoff is easy to check: you can compare element types, see which videos collect the most end screen clicks, and drop elements nobody uses.

How to add an end screen

Sign in to YouTube Studio, select Content in the left menu, click the title or thumbnail of the video, then select Editor and End screen. You can also add and customise an end screen while uploading a video.

YouTube offers these element types:

• Apply template — a ready grouping of elements that you can customise.

• Video — your most recent upload, a video YouTube picks to suit the viewer, or a specific video.

• Playlist — a public playlist.

• Subscribe — a prompt that asks viewers to become subscribers.

• Channel — another channel, with a custom message.

• Link — an external website, available if you are in the YouTube Partner Program. A linked site has to comply with the Community Guidelines and the Terms of Service.

Click SAVE when you are done. You can add up to 4 elements on a standard 16:9 video, and other aspect ratios may allow fewer. If you sell merchandise, you can feature it by tagging products in your content.

Where to check end screen performance

Open the video in YouTube Studio, select Analytics, then the Engagement tab, and scroll to “End screen element click rate”. For the whole channel, the “Top end screen element types” card compares element types and the “Top videos by end screen” card shows the videos viewers clicked most.

When an end screen does not show

End screens are not available for videos set as made for kids. Viewers also cannot see them on mobile web, with iPad mobile web as the exception, in the YouTube Music and YouTube Kids apps, in Flash videos, or in 360 videos. Card teasers and video watermarks are suppressed while the end screen is on screen, and viewers can hide end screens themselves.