About featured thumbnail videos on ZenVideo OTT

This article discusses featured thumbnail videos for OTT mobile apps, including how to upload a thumbnail video in the OTT admin and requirements for video thumbnail assets.

In this article:

• What are featured thumbnail videos?
• Where to set featured thumbnail videos in the OTT admin
• Video thumbnail asset requirements
• How do featured thumbnail videos display on mobile apps?

What are featured thumbnail videos?

ZenVideo OTT is adding support for video thumbnails on mobile apps, allowing you to add a short Featured thumbnail video to any video or collection, which will playback when a viewer sees it in the Featured category carousel on mobile apps. The video thumbnail will loop twice and then display as a static image to viewers.

Where to set featured thumbnail videos in the OTT admin

To set a featured thumbnail video, follow these steps:

1. In your OTT admin, go to Content > Videos and select the video you would like to feature within your featured category.
   • To set a Featured Thumbnail Video for a collection, go to Content > Collections and select the collection you would like to feature within your featured category.
2. Scroll down to the Featured Thumbnail Video section.
3. Here, you can choose thumbnail videos for Default and Vertical aspect ratios.
   
4. Save your changes using the button in the upper right corner.

Video thumbnail asset requirements

If you want to use video thumbnails for your videos or collections, be sure each video asset meets these requirements:

• Videos should be uploaded in 16:14 or 2:3 aspect ratio.
  • The asset that plays back will be determined by the category content appearance setting chosen for the Featured category (more on this below).
• Videos should be 30 seconds or shorter.
• Videos must have their “Plan” set to Anyone.
• Video cannot have DRM enabled.
• When a Preview Video is present for an item in the Featured category, the video will play in the full Featured video section with no text or buttons overlaid, so be sure to add any text or branding directly within the video file, such as the video or collection title. 

How do featured thumbnail videos display on mobile apps?

Here’s what your viewers will see:

• When a video or collection is added to the Featured category and has a video thumbnail asset, the video thumbnail will play through twice, then revert to the static thumbnail. 
• Captions (if provided) will be enabled on the video by default. 
• Volume will be set to OFF by default, but users can toggle either on or off for the duration of the session.
• Featured Thumbnail Videos will be supported on iOS and Android. On web and TV apps, only your static thumbnails will display.