YouTube Brain

End Screens and Cards

2 min read

End Screens and Cards

End screens and cards are YouTube’s two native interactive tools for steering a viewer to the next watch, and they are the most direct lever a creator has on the session-continuation signal that the Recommendation System rewards. A video that ends with a dead stop wastes the attention it just earned; an end screen routes that viewer into another watch. This is the on-video complement to good Audience Retention.

End screens

End screens require a video at least 25 seconds long and occupy the last 5 to 20 seconds. A standard 16:9 video can show up to four elements, with lower limits on other aspect ratios. Element types are:

  • A video (most recent, best-for-viewer, or a specific pick).
  • A playlist, which chains an entire Playlists and Series set.
  • The subscribe button.
  • Channel promotion.
  • An external link, for YouTube Partner Program members only.

End screens are unavailable on made-for-kids content, and while an end screen shows, card teasers and the watermark are suppressed. See Made for Kids and COPPA.

Cards

Cards differ from end screens: up to five per video, available throughout the runtime rather than only at the end, in four types (Video, Playlist, Channel, Link, with Link restricted to YPP members). A card surfaces as a timed teaser or via the card icon in the top corner. Cards are also blocked on made-for-kids videos.

Reading the payoff

The Engagement tab in Studio Analytics reports end screen element click rate and card click rate, so you can see which destinations actually move viewers. Treat a low click rate as a signal to change the destination or the timing, not to remove the element.

How to apply

  • Leave editing room in the last 20 seconds and design the ending to hand off, not to stop.
  • Send viewers to a closely related video or a series playlist that triggers autoplay; see Playlists and Series and Shorts-to-Long-Form Funnel.
  • Use cards to catch interest mid-video at the moment a related topic comes up.
  • Track element click rates and iterate on the destination.

Sources

Graph View

Backlinks