How to make a Product Hunt launch video

These are the media rules in Product Hunt's own help center and launch guide at the time of writing. Check them again before you submit, since they can change.

• YouTube only. Product Hunt supports video only as a YouTube link, so you cannot upload a video file directly.
• Full URL. Paste the full YouTube address. Shortened links will not load.
• Not private. Upload the video ahead of launch day and confirm it is not set to private.
• Gallery images. The recommended size is 1270x760, and you need at least two images before the gallery shows on your post.
• Thumbnail. Square, 240x240 recommended, under 3MB. Animated GIFs are allowed, but Product Hunt asks you to avoid strobing, quick cuts and unreadable text.
• Tagline. 60 characters maximum.

Product Hunt does not set a video length, and it describes video as helpful but not always necessary. Its launch guide notes that about 53% of products that reached Product of the Day since 2021 included one.

Product Hunt visitors are mostly makers, early adopters and people who browse new tools for work or for fun. They scroll past many launches in a day, they are comfortable with software, and they are good at spotting vague promises. A few things follow from that:

• Show the product in the first five seconds. This audience wants to see the interface, not a mood piece.
• Match your tagline. The first line of the video should say the same thing as your 60-character tagline, so the page and the video reinforce each other.
• Show the core loop. The input, the product doing its work, the output. If people can see the loop, they can judge whether it is useful to them.
• Sound like a maker. Plain, specific and a little personal reads better here than polished ad copy.

Many visitors never press play, so the video does not replace a strong gallery and a clear first comment. It is the quickest way for the people who do press play to understand what you built.

1. The pitch, 0 to 5 seconds. Your tagline idea, with the product already on screen.
2. The input, 5 to 10 seconds. What the user gives your product: a prompt, a file, a link, a few clicks.
3. The work, 10 to 17 seconds. A brief moment of processing, then the result building on screen.
4. The proof, 17 to 24 seconds. The thing that makes it worth trying: the output in use, responses arriving, how little effort it took.
5. The invitation, last 5 seconds. Logo and one action, such as trying the free plan or claiming a launch-day offer.

Do not end by asking for upvotes. Product Hunt's launch guide says asking specifically for upvotes is against its policies, and it suggests asking for feedback, comments and help spreading the word instead. "Try it and tell us what you think" is both allowed and more useful, because the comments you get back are the real value of launch day.

Handle the logistics a few days before launch, not at midnight:

• Upload the final video to YouTube with your product name and tagline as the title, and confirm the visibility setting is not private.
• Paste the full YouTube URL into your Product Hunt draft and preview the post to make sure it plays.
• Prepare at least two gallery images at 1270x760 that use the same colors and screens as the video, so the gallery reads as one piece.
• Make one gallery image a clear shot of the core result, for visitors who never press play.
• Write the first comment: who you are, why you built it and what feedback you want.
• Have the same video ready as a native upload for your launch-day posts on LinkedIn and X, so you are not only sharing a link.

After launch, keep using it. The same video can become your homepage clip, the link in your first sales emails and the first upload on your YouTube channel.