X ads in 2026: formats, specs and copy for Gulf brands

Before it is anything else, an ad on X is a post. It has an avatar, a display name, a handle and some text, and it appears in the home timeline among posts from accounts the reader chose to follow. What X has been changing over the past few years is everything around that post: the label, the card that holds the link and, for certain campaigns, an actual button. Anyone whose picture of an X ad was formed in the Twitter years is working from an old image.

What follows draws on X's own creative specifications and ads documentation, and on how X's timeline looked in September 2026.

How an ad is labelled now

X ads used to carry a small Promoted line at the foot of the post. Since 2023 they have shown an Ad label in the top right corner, next to the menu, in the spot where an ordinary post shows its time. X's help pages say ads are clearly marked with an Ad label. Everything else looks like a normal post: the display name in bold, the handle, the text, the media, and the row of reply, repost, like and view counts underneath.

280 characters, and what a link costs

The text of an ad has the same 280 character limit as any post. Each link counts as 23 characters, whatever its real length, because X shortens it. One link therefore leaves 257 characters for everything else. The ads that do well in the timeline tend to use far fewer: a single idea, said plainly, with the link in the card rather than the text.

Website cards: the headline does the selling

Most ads that send people to a website use a website card. It shows an image or video with the headline laid over it and the destination beneath. The headline sits on the image, roughly 8 to 12 pixels in from the left and bottom edges, on a dark band that keeps it legible. Below the card, in small grey text, X shows where it leads, in the form From yourbrand.com.

• Headline: up to 70 characters, shown on no more than two lines before an ellipsis cuts it. X suggests 50 characters or fewer to avoid the cut on most devices.
• Image card: 800 by 418 (1.91:1) or 800 by 800 (1:1). Keep the bottom left of the image plain, because the headline covers it.
• Video card: 800 by 450 (16:9) or 800 by 800.
• The destination URL must begin with http:// or https://.

A standard website card has no button: the whole card is the link. That is why the headline matters so much. It is the only call to action the reader sees.

A button for sales campaigns

Since May 2025, ads bought under the sales objective can use a different layout, with the headline moved below the media and set beside a button carrying a call to action. It looks more like a shop listing than a post, which is the point. If you sell online, test it against the classic card, since it makes the next step obvious. App campaigns have had their own buttons for longer, with labels such as Install, Open, Play, Shop, Book, Connect and Order.

Image and video specifications

• Images: PNG or JPEG, up to 5 MB. For a standalone image, 1200 by 1200 and 1200 by 628 are the standard sizes. X also accepts 16:9 and 9:16, and in February 2026 added 4:5 and 2:3, so creative made for Instagram and Pinterest can run without being recropped.
• GIFs appear as a still image in ads, so animated creative should be supplied as video.
• Video: MP4 or MOV, up to 1 GB. X recommends 15 seconds or less and supports up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Videos under a minute loop.
• Standalone video: 1920 by 1080 or 1200 by 1200.

In the timeline, images sit in a rounded frame with a thin border, as wide as the text column. A tall image takes up more of the screen, which helps stop the scroll, but check how it crops inside the card before you count on it.

Pick the objective you will be judged on

X's ads manager groups campaigns by objective: reach, video views, pre-roll views, website traffic, engagements, app installs, app re-engagements and sales. The objective decides what X optimises for and what you pay for, so it should match the result the campaign will be judged on. A website traffic campaign that is later assessed on sales will always look like a failure. If an agency runs your X ads, agree this with them before anything else.

Writing for the timeline

X is a text-first platform, and ads that read like announcements lose to posts that read like a person talking. A few habits make the difference.

• Put the point first. The opening line is often the only one read, so it should carry the offer or the reason to care.
• Keep the link in the card, not the text, so the post does not give up 23 characters and a line to a URL.
• Write the card headline as a separate sentence that works on its own, since it sits on the image and is read after the post.
• Match the language to the audience. In the Gulf that often means separate Arabic and English ads rather than one bilingual post.
• Add UTM parameters to the link. Traffic from X's apps often arrives without a clear referrer, and is otherwise counted as direct.

Do not underestimate X in Saudi Arabia

X carries more weight in Saudi Arabia than in most markets. DataReportal's analysis of X's own advertising tools put its ad reach in the Kingdom at about 15 million people at the end of 2025, around 43 percent of the population, against about 2.85 million in the UAE, around 25 percent. These are reach figures from the ad tools, not counts of active users, but the gap between the two markets is what matters. A plan built for the UAE should not assume X is a small channel in Saudi Arabia.

Settle brand safety before launch

For many brands, the first question about X is where their ads will appear. X offers adjacency controls that keep ads away from chosen keywords and accounts, and supports third-party verification from companies such as IAS. Set them before launch, agree the lists between the brand and whoever runs the account, and write them into the campaign notes so the decision is on record. X has also been testing Grok inside its ads manager with a limited group of advertisers, offering strategy suggestions and help with writing ads.

Replies happen in public

People can reply to, repost, like, bookmark and share an ad just as they would a post, and those replies are public. That is both an opportunity and a risk. Someone should watch the replies for the first days of a campaign, especially in markets where a clumsy line can travel fast, with agreed answers ready for the obvious questions about price and availability.

Before an ad goes into the ads manager, it also helps to see it as the reader will: mocked up in the timeline with the Ad label, the headline over the image and the From line, and with the text counted the way X counts it, every link as 23 characters.

If you are planning an X campaign for the UAE or Saudi Arabia and would like a second pair of eyes on the copy, the creative or the set-up, ALXO would be glad to talk it through.