How to create playable Ads for Unity

In the previous guide, How to launch your first Unity Ads Campaign, we set up a complete Unity Ads campaign from scratch. We went over attribution, budgets, targeting, and creative packs. We also addressed playable ads several times because their overall performance beats traditional video and static ads*. Playable ads are ad units which offer users a snippet of interactive gameplay, letting users try out the advertised app before installing. In this article, you’ll learn how to create playable Ads with Unity Playworks.

There are two paths. One is for people who aren't developers and need creatives fast. The other is for developers who want full control straight from their Unity project. By the end of this guide you'll have your playable ad ready to test.

What we'll cover:

1. Why playables outperform video and static ads
2. Setting up Unity Playworks
3. Method 1: interactive templates (no code)
4. Method 2: the Unity plugin (full control)
5. Game variables: build once, test endlessly
6. Adding your playable to a Unity Ads campaign
7. Testing strategy and what Playworks Pro adds

Meet Unity Playworks

Unity Playworks is the tool we're using. It's built into the Unity ecosystem, so everything integrates with your Unity Ads campaigns.

It offers two ways to create playables:

Interactive templates: Pre-built playable formats. You upload your game footage, add your assets, customize, and you're done.

The Unity plugin: For developers. You install a plugin, create a new Unity project, import assets and scripts from your original game project, and build playables with full control over the mechanics.

We'll do both so you can see which fits your workflow.

Setting up your account and app

1. Create an account at playworks.unity.com. If you're already using Unity Ads, the same login works.
2. Add your game to the dashboard: copy your Google Play URL and paste it in, then do the same for the iOS version.
3. Click Create App.

Method 1: interactive templates

Templates are the faster route, so we'll start here.

In the sidebar, click Creatives, select your game, then click Add Concept. You'll see two options: Interactive Templates and Upload a Playable Archive (that second one is for builds you make with the Unity plugin, covered later). Click Interactive Templates.

Choosing a template

Each template is a different playable format:

• Tap to engage: Video background with interactive tap points.
• Universal end card: Quick reveal after a video.
• Tap to reveal: A tappable object that shows hidden content.
• Tap to swipe: A swipe-through mechanic for iOS end cards.
• iOS end card: Custom end card templates for iOS.
• Choose the result: The user picks between options and sees an outcome.
• Choose and reveal: Multiple choices leading to a final screen.

For this walkthrough we used Tap to engage. It's a solid general-purpose format that works for most game types.

Click the template you want and you'll get a preview of how it works plus a list of what it includes. Tap to engage covers a video background, 1 to 10 interactive points, tap hints, an optional pointer to guide the first interaction, a banner, a store button, sound (background audio plus interaction sounds), and an end card.

Click Use Template.

The Asset Assistant

This is a step-by-step wizard that walks you through the required assets.

Step 1: Gameplay footage.

This plays in the background. Requirements are listed right in the wizard: file size under 3.5 MB, duration under one minute, height between 100 and 4096 pixels. Click Upload File and select your video.

Step 2: Banner text

This appears at the top of the playable as a tooltip or instruction. Leave it empty and the banner won't show, or add something like "Tap to survive" or "Help them escape," whatever matches your game.

Step 3: End card layout

This is what appears after the playable interaction. Options include icon plus description plus button, icon plus button, description plus button, or button only. We went with icon description, and button, the standard format.

Step 4: Game icon

Requirements are between 32 and 4096 pixels wide and high, in a standard image format.

Step 5: Game name or short description

This shows on the end card below the icon.

What's actually worth customizing?

Once the wizard is done you land in the editor. The left panel has sections for Content, Background, First Hint, Asset Overlay, Store Button, Banner, End Card, App Store® Controls, Sound, and Advanced Settings. The middle shows a live preview, and you can switch between portrait and landscape using the icons at the top.

Here's where to spend your attention.

The video background is your biggest file size contributor

If your playable is too large, start here. Keep videos under 15 seconds and shorter if possible. Use 720p instead of 1080p, since mobile screens don't need 4K. Export at a lower bitrate, test different compression settings, and strip audio from the video file if you're adding sound effects separately anyway.

The first hint needs to be exactly where the first interaction happens

That hand or pointer animation should sit on the main interaction point, positioned so players tap within the first two seconds. If they don't know what to do immediately, they'll skip the ad. In our example we placed the hint directly on the character.

Keep the store button visible from the start

Some people argue players should have to earn the install button by playing first. That hurts conversion. Keep it visible the whole time. Players who want to skip straight to install will do it, and that's fine: you want people who are ready to install, not to force gameplay on people who aren't interested. Test different button text too. “Play now” works well for games, “Download” is more direct, and “Install free” emphasizes no cost.

The end card is your last chance to convert

Make sure the game icon is clear and high quality (at least 512 by 512 pixels), the game name is readable, and the button stands out visually. We kept the default icon, name, button layout. Clean and simple.

When you're happy, click Save Creative in the top right.

Test on a real device before publishing

Go to Creatives in the sidebar, find your creative, and click into it. You'll see a Show Preview option. Scan the QR code with your phone and you'll see exactly how the playable looks and feels on a real device.

Test both portrait and landscape. If something looks off, such as a button that's too small, video that doesn't sit right, or a tap area in the wrong place, go back to the editor and adjust.

Publish your playable

Click into your creative and click Publish. There are two tabs.

The Publish tab sends creatives directly to an ad network's media library through their API. You'll see Unity Ads, Meta, AppLovin, AdColony, and others. Note that Unity Ads is available on the free tier, while the other networks require a Playworks Pro subscription.** Check the Unity Ads box, note the file size shown next to each network (Playworks optimizes automatically for each platform's requirements), and click Publish. Your playable is sent straight to Unity Ads and appears in your creative library there.

The Download tab supports even more networks, but instead of an API integration you download the file and upload it manually. That's useful when your network has no API integration, when you want to test playable files locally first, or when you need the raw file for a custom implementation. Select your target network from the dropdown, click Download, and you'll get a zip optimized for that network.

For most developers starting with Unity Ads, the Publish tab is all you need. One click and the creative is live.

Method 2: the Unity plugin

This path is for developers who want to build a playable directly from their game project using actual game mechanics rather than pre-made templates.

Installing the plugin

1. In the Playworks dashboard, go to Downloads, scroll to the bottom, and press Download.
2. Unzip the archive and then go to Unity.
3. In Unity, go to Window, then Package Manager, click the plus button, and choose Install Package from Disk.
4. Navigate to the unzipped folder, open Scripts, and select the package file.

Once it installs you'll see a new menu: Tools, then Unity Playworks plugin.

Playworks tests and verifies specific Unity versions as stable and supported, so check their documentation and match one of those versions exactly before you start.

Touring the Playworks console

Open Tools, then Unity Playworks plugin. The left sidebar has:

• Settings
• Assets
• Asset library management
• Code
• Runtime Analysis
• Build and Upload
• Size Breakdown
• Plugin Updates

Project diagnostics

On the right you'll find the Project Diagnostics panel, and this part matters. It runs health checks across four categories:

• Core functionality: Critical issues that will prevent the playable from working.
• Ad networks: Compatibility with different platforms.
• Technical performance: Issues that might affect load times or gameplay.
• Best practices: Optimization recommendations.

Each category shows a count. Click the details to see specifics. You don't need to fix everything before building, but do fix the critical ones.

Basic settings and size

Set orientation to portrait, landscape, or responsive, matching your actual game.

Then open the Size Breakdown tool before you build. Select your target platform at the top (Unity Ads, ironSource, Meta, and so on) since each has different file size limits. There's also an Optimize Scripts button that enables code stripping automatically.

Optimization: the goal is 2 to 5 MB

Some ad networks have hard limits, and anything over 5 MB won't even upload. Your full game might be 200 MB, so the playable should include only what the demo needs.

Scope the scene down

Create a separate scene for the playable containing just the core mechanic. Don't include multiple levels, unused characters or enemies, menu systems, settings screens, tutorials, localization files, or your analytics SDK (Playworks provides its own creative-level tracking, so your game's analytics aren't needed inside the playable). Think of it as a vertical slice: the smallest version of your game that still feels fun.

Textures are usually the biggest drain

For every texture in the playable scene, set max size to 512 or 1024 rather than 2048 or 4096. Use compressed formats such as ASTC, ETC2, or Crunch compression, and lower the compression quality slider to 50% to 70%. You'll save substantially on texture size with almost no visible difference on mobile. Project diagnostics will also flag textures with non-repeat wrap mode, which use more memory than needed. Fix it by changing wrap mode to repeat in the texture import settings.

Simplify shaders and effects

Custom shaders add file size. If you're on the standard shader, switch to mobile, diffuse, or unlit. Disable post-processing for the playable. Reduce particle counts and simplify particle textures. Mobile players won't notice the difference in a 20 second playable.

Audio best practices

Set load type to streaming rather than decompress on load, use Vorbis compression at 50% to 70% quality, keep clips under 10 seconds, and use mono instead of stereo. Honestly, most players watch ads with sound off, so audio is nice to have but not worth sacrificing file size for.

Strip unused code

In Player Settings, under Other Settings, enable managed stripping and set it to High, and disable development build.

Build and test locally

Click Build and Upload in the sidebar. Choose Build Develop for testing or Build Release for the final export. Unity compiles your game into a WebGL playable, which takes a few minutes depending on project size.

The Build Develop section includes a local test option that opens the playable in your browser. Check four things:

• Does it load in under 5 seconds?
• Are tap interactions responsive?
• Does the install button work?
• Any visual glitches or missing assets?

If load time exceeds five seconds, keep optimizing. Players won't wait.

Upload to your creative library

Click the Upload to Creative Library tab in the Playworks console. Select your app from the Available Applications dropdown, then pick a concept from Available Concepts (or create a new one). The Playable Health Status panel runs the same diagnostics as before across ad networks, core functionality, technical performance, and best practices. Click details on any warning to see what needs fixing.

When everything looks good, or good enough for testing, click Build and Upload at the bottom. The upload takes a minute or two, after which the playable is in your Playworks creative library and ready to publish to ad networks. From there you preview, device-test, and publish exactly as you did with the template.

Game variables: build once, test endlessly

This is one of the most useful features in Playworks and it's easy to miss.

When you build a playable with the Unity plugin, you can mark fields in your code so they become editable in the Playworks dashboard without rebuilding. Add the LunaPlaygroundField attribute to any field you want editable, and LunaPlaygroundAsset for assets like textures or videos.

Build once, upload to Playworks, and you're done on the Unity side. All your marked fields now appear in the dashboard. Change values, swap images, adjust colors, then click Save as New Variation. Now you have multiple playables from a single build.

Want to test easy mode against hard mode? Change coins-to-collect from 10 to 50, save as a new variation, done. Your marketing team can test different hooks, characters, difficulty levels, and messaging without ever opening Unity.

Adding playables to your campaign

In your Unity Ads campaign, go to the Creative Pack section and click Add Creative Pack. You have two relevant choices:

• Video plus playable end card: Video plays first, then the playable.
• Standalone playable: Just the playable, no video intro.

For a first test, go with video plus playable end card, since it gives players context before the interaction.

Upload your video in portrait and landscape, then in the playable end card section click Select from Playworks. Pick the playable you just created and click Save. Preview it to confirm the video-to-playable transition looks smooth.

Which method should you use?

Interactive templates are fast and need no code, which makes them ideal for marketers who need variations quickly. Upload footage, customize, publish.

The Unity plugin gives you full control and uses your actual game mechanics, at the cost of real optimization work to hit file size targets.

Both end up in the same place: published to Playworks and ready to use in your Unity Ads campaigns.

The real point is testing

Don't make one playable and call it done. Make three or four variations:

• Different hooks: puzzle vs action vs progression
• Different mechanics: tap vs swipe vs drag
• Different characters or themes

Run them all in a campaign, let Unity's algorithm identify the best performer, then double down on that style.

Templates let you do this without touching Unity at all. Your marketing team can spin up a new test in 20 minutes, which means you can A/B test hooks and concepts far faster than rebuilding from Unity every time. Browse the template library and you'll see the range of options available with zero dev time. That's the real power here.

What Playworks Pro adds

As your UA scales, a few Pro capabilities become close to essential for larger studios:

• Up to 256 variations inside a single playable file.
• Insights that show what happens inside the playable in aggregate: where users drop off, what they click, when they install. Add custom events in your Unity code and the data appears visualized in the Insights dashboard. This lets you optimize the playable experience itself, not just your targeting.
• Downloads for 25 or more networks including Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat, each export automatically optimized for that network's requirements.
• Direct access to Playworks engineers for build issues, SDK problems, and optimization guidance.

That's playable ads with Unity Playworks. Paired with the earlier campaign setup guide covering attribution, budgets, and targeting, you now have the complete user acquisition workflow.

Next up in this series, we’re analyzing an actual running campaign and learning what the data says, what's working, what isn't, and how to optimize based on real numbers.