How to add end screens to your YouTube videos

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A YouTube channel is a must for any dance music producer as it is the biggest online channel for music videos. You’ve probably tried to post a YouTube link on your social media and you may have noticed that it doesn’t reach a large audience. That’s because Facebook wants to keep everything in their own environment and it is not a fan of links to other websites. So, if you’ve managed to get a click on one of your YouTube videos and your audience likes it, you want to keep them engaged. A clever way to do that is by using an end-screen. In this article, we will explain how you can set it up and what the advantages are.

End screens are ‘’visual overlay elements that show up the last 15-20 seconds of a video; they’re a kind of annotations, however, they are mobile-friendly’’.

Take yourself as the example, which percentage of your music do you consume via mobile and how much via desktop? There is a significant chance that you use your phone almost 24/7 and that’s why media must be mobile-friendly. One of the advantages is that end screens work for both iOS and Android devices.
These are the functions which are available to use for end screens:

  • Get your viewers to check out other videos, playlists, or channels
  • Ask your viewers to subscribe to your channel
  • Send traffic to an approved website
  • Offer merchandise
  • Get fans involved in a crowdfunding campaign

You can add up to four end screens during the last 20 seconds of your video, and each element can expand to show more info when you hover over (on the desktop) or tap (on phones and tablets). Even though you can use four, we wouldn’t recommend displaying more than one at a time because they’ll compete with one another for your viewer’s attention. Any viewer who has disabled annotations will still see the end screens on your videos, however: you won’t be able to put end screens on a video that already has annotations. Our recommendation is that you pick end screens. If you decide to add end screens you’ll be promoted to “unpublish” the annotations first (they can be republished later if you change your mind).

YouTube’s instructions on how to add end screens to your videos

  • Sign in to your YouTube account.
  • In the top right, click your account icon > Creator Studio.
  • In the left menu, select Video Manager > Videos.
  • For the video you want to add the end screen to, click Edit.
  • In the top tab bar, click End screen.
  • If the selected video contains annotations, follow the instructions to unpublish them. You can re-publish them at any time.
  • You’ll see your video with the predefined grid and a timeline below that indicates the available part for the end screen. Click Add element. You can add up to four elements, and one of them must be a video or playlist.
  • Choose how to build your end screen:
    • Add element: You can add up to four elements to a video. At least one element must be a video or playlist. Select each element and fill in the required information, then click Create element.
    • Copy from video: You can copy an end screen from another one of your videos and edit the elements.
    • YouTube template: You can choose from predefined formats that show combinations of elements. You’ll need to define the content for the elements in the end screen, such as add the channel to be featured.
  • Adjust the placement and size of each element on the grid. Adjust the time for the element to show in the timeline below.
  • Click Save.

While you’re adding end screens you can select to preview how they’ll appear in the player, and you can go back to edit end screens at any time.

Four tips to increase the effectiveness of end screens

  • Feature elements that are relevant to your video.
  • Encourage viewers to click by using unique calls-to-action for different end screen elements.
  • Leave enough space and time at the end of the video for an end screen. Make sure you consider the video’s last 20 seconds when editing it.
  • Consider timing end screen elements to appear at different times so they don’t compete with one another.


Example of an end screen: We Rave You’s Youtube