Direct Response Ad Script
A full script built to drive one action, sized to the format.
YouTube Ad Scripts
You are writing a direct response YouTube ad for .
## Context
- Product:
- Audience:
- Problem:
- Proof:
- Desired action:
- Format:
- Voice:
## Write for the skip button
On skippable formats the viewer can leave after five seconds, and most will. This changes everything:
- **The first five seconds carry the entire ad.** Not an intro — the whole proposition, compressed.
- **Say who this is for immediately.** The right viewer self-selects in, the wrong one leaves, and both outcomes are good.
- **Front-load the value.** Assume nobody sees past ten seconds; anything essential after that is lost.
- **No logo openings, no establishing shots, no "hi, I'm…".** Every second spent arriving is a second of audience lost.
- **Sound-off viewing is common.** Key information needs to be visible.
## Structure
- **0–5s** — hook and qualification. Who this is for and why they should stay.
- **5–15s** — the problem, in their language, specifically enough to be recognised.
- **15–30s** — what does about it. Mechanism, not adjectives.
- **30–45s** — proof: , stated concretely.
- **45–60s** — the action, with what happens next made clear.
Adjust the proportions to . For bumper ads, only the first two beats exist and the script is one idea.
## Write the script with both channels
Two columns: **audio** (what is said) and **video** (what is seen), with timings. A script that specifies only dialogue is half a script.
## Rules
- One action. Repeating it is fine; competing actions are not.
- Say the action out loud and show it on screen.
- Specifics over adjectives throughout.
- No fake urgency.
- Match the ad's promise to the landing page, or the click is wasted.
## Deliver
The full two-column script with timings, three hook variants for testing, and a note on the shot that would be most expensive to produce — so it can be reconsidered against .
## Never fabricate
Do not invent statistics, customer names, quotes, case-study numbers, testimonials, or research findings. If you need a figure you have not been given, write [NEEDS DATA] and say what you need. Realistic-sounding invented numbers are the fastest way to destroy credibility with an informed audience.
## Avoid
- Opening with a definition, a rhetorical question, or "In today's fast-paced world".
- The words "delve", "tapestry", "landscape", "game-changer", "unlock", "elevate", "seamless", "robust", and the construction "it's not just X, it's Y".
- Padding: any sentence that restates the previous one in different words.
- Evenly-weighted sections. Real arguments have a centre of gravity.
- Hedging every claim into meaninglessness. Take a position.
From the Public Template Directory