LinkedIn video ads in 2026: which formats work in the Gulf

LinkedIn is treating video as its next big advertising business. On its January 2026 earnings call, Microsoft said paid video ads on LinkedIn had grown 30 per cent, and in April LinkedIn's Daniel Shapero put growth at almost 30 per cent again. At its NewFront in March 2026, LinkedIn announced changes to BrandLink and to the ways its TV ads can be bought. For a brand advertising in the Gulf, the useful question is which of these formats can actually reach people here, because several cannot.

Four ways to buy video on LinkedIn

• Feed video ads: sponsored videos published from a Company Page.
• Thought Leader Ads: a person's own post, promoted by the brand.
• BrandLink: the brand's video runs before videos from publishers and creators that LinkedIn partners with.
• Connected TV: ads on streaming television, targeted with LinkedIn's professional data.

Open to Gulf advertisers: Thought Leader Ads

Feed video is available here, and so are Thought Leader Ads, which promote an individual's post rather than a brand post and usually sit more naturally in the feed. LinkedIn's overview help page, updated in August 2026, says a brand can promote posts from employees, creators, people who attended its LinkedIn events and members at any degree of connection, with their permission. A second LinkedIn help page still limits this to employees and first or second-degree connections, so confirm in Campaign Manager what your account allows.

• Posts that qualify: public text, single images, video, articles, newsletters and collaborative posts.
• Posts that do not: documents, polls, posts with several images, and reposts.
• Objectives: brand awareness, engagement and video views. There is no call-to-action button.
• Conditions: the person must make the post public, show their full last name and disclose the relationship, for example with #SponsoredPost. In the UAE, a creator publishing paid content also needs the advertiser permit.

In June 2026 LinkedIn added a Creator Marketplace to Campaign Manager, linked to Thought Leader Ads. It is invitation-only, and trade reports say it is limited to North America and English for now.

BrandLink: confirm access before you plan on it

BrandLink places a brand's video, 3 to 30 seconds long, ahead of videos from LinkedIn's publisher and creator partners. In March 2026 LinkedIn made it self-serve in Campaign Manager for selected customers, added publishers including Axel Springer, The CEO Magazine, NYSE, TIME and Times Network to more than 40 existing ones, and began paying creators through Stripe. It also introduced bundles with live events such as the Forbes Under 30 Summit, and a creator sponsorship called Top Voices 360. LinkedIn says members who see a BrandLink ad first are up to 18 per cent more likely to become a lead.

Two cautions for Gulf brands. None of the named partners is a Gulf publisher, and LinkedIn's product page still describes BrandLink as a beta sold through its sales team. Ask your LinkedIn representative whether it is open to your account before it goes into a media plan.

Connected TV: North America only

LinkedIn's TV ads are not new. They arrived in Campaign Manager in April 2024, with inventory from Paramount, Roku and Samsung Ads. What 2026 added is more ways to buy them: programmatically through The Trade Desk, announced in March, and through Amazon's demand-side platform, announced in May, both with targeting by job title, industry and seniority.

LinkedIn's help pages, updated in September 2026, restrict connected TV to the US and Canada, to English-language audiences and to the brand awareness objective, so it cannot reach a Gulf audience yet. It becomes relevant if your business sells into North America, and then LinkedIn's research is worth knowing: a Kantar study it published found its TV ads 2.6 times more effective than competitors' at raising awareness among business audiences, with the best results at about 12 views per person and with several creatives rather than one.

Specs for feed video

• Length: 3 seconds to 30 minutes, with 15 to 30 seconds recommended.
• File: MP4 between 75 KB and 500 MB, under 30 frames per second, with captions supplied as an SRT file.
• Shape: 16:9, 1:1, 4:5 or 9:16. For vertical video, 720 by 1280 is recommended, and up to 1080 by 1920 is accepted.

LinkedIn Live now needs an event

Since 22 June 2026, every LinkedIn Live broadcast has to be attached to a scheduled event. Spontaneous broadcasts are gone, although an event can be scheduled just minutes ahead. In April LinkedIn also let event ads promote events held outside LinkedIn and collect registrations through its lead forms.

Putting it into practice

• Build video for Gulf audiences around feed video ads and Thought Leader Ads, since both are available here.
• Let your founders and specialists front the brand's video, and promote their posts as Thought Leader Ads.
• Check BrandLink access with LinkedIn before building a plan around it.
• Keep TV for campaigns aimed at the US or Canada.
• Produce vertical and square versions, and upload captions for people watching with the sound off.

Planning video for LinkedIn and unsure which format suits your audience? ALXO would be glad to talk through the options with you, and the versions and cuts each one needs.