You can add Banners and Ads to your community to customize and brand your community and link to content and events within Gradual, or any external URL or website.
Banners appear at the top of the home page, while Ads appear on the right-hand side of supported community pages. Ads can be configured for the community as a whole or for an individual piece of Content.
Community Ads can appear across supported Content, Forum, and Club pages. Content-level Ads appear only on the detail page of the specific Content where they are configured.
Add multiple banners or ads, and they’ll rotate automatically to catch your members’ attention and drive traffic and engagement.
Banners
They are now added and managed from the Customization tab of the dashboard → Pages → Home Page after sign-in. You can also now add video banners in addition to images.
These banners promote and link to other parts of the community or external sites and can be fully customized to match your branding. Banners can be JPG images, moving GIF graphics, or mp4 videos. If more than one is uploaded and visible, they will carousel and change every few seconds. There is a limit of 20 banners that can be visible and enabled at one time.
Dashboard settings
Adding, editing, and managing the banners is done in the Customization tab of the dashboard → Pages → Edit
Adding banners to your community home page
Log into your dashboard.
Select Customization from the main menu → Pages → Edit the Homepage before sign in
Select +New Banner button in the upper right.
Upload an image, gif or video and enter the URL where you’d like the banner to link to. Toggle the visibility status 'on' if you’d like the banner to be visible, or 'off' if you’d like it to be hidden.
Save your work.
Once saved, this banner will appear in the Banners list and can be toggled on or off, and also sorted to prioritize which banner you’d like to populate first, second, etc.
Video banners
Video banners allow you to display motion content on your community Home page.
Video requirements:
When adding a video banner, the video must meet the following requirements:
Use a direct video file URL ending in
.mp4or.m3u8.For MP4 files, the file size must be under 20 MB.
We recommend using a wide aspect ratio (12:5) for the best viewing experience.
Use a horizontal or landscape video to minimize cropping, as section backgrounds automatically resize based on the visitor's browser window.
Obtaining a direct video URL:
The banner requires a direct video file URL, not a standard sharing link.
Your video should be hosted on a platform that provides direct access to the video file. Depending on your hosting provider, this may be labeled as:
Video File URL
Direct File Link
Asset URL
Important: Share links (such as standard YouTube URLs) are not supported. YouTube does not provide direct video file URLs that meet the banner requirements.
Supported hosting options include:
Vimeo
Wistia
Your own website or CDN
Cloudinary
Using Cloudinary (Free Plan):
If you don't already have a hosting platform that provides direct video file URLs, you can use Cloudinary's free plan.
Create a free Cloudinary account.
Upload your video to your Media Library.
Open the uploaded video and copy its Delivery URL.
Ensure the URL ends with
.mp4(or use an.m3u8delivery URL if available).Paste the URL into the Video URL field when creating your banner.
Cloudinary-hosted videos satisfy the direct file URL requirement, making them a simple option for hosting banner videos.
First Frame Image
To avoid an empty banner before the video loads, and to enable seamless playback after loading, you are also asked to upload a screenshot of the video's first frame.
All details can be found in the dashboard when adding a banner, and selecting the 'Video' banner type:
Video banner example
Ads
Adding Community Ads
Community Ads can appear across supported pages in your community, including Content, Forum, and Club pages.
Log into your dashboard.
Select Customization from the main menu, then select Ads.
Select +New Ad in the upper right.
Upload an image and enter the URL where you’d like the ad to link. Toggle the visibility status on if you’d like the ad to be visible, or off if you’d like it to be hidden.
Save your work.
Once saved, the ad will appear in the Ads list. You can turn individual ads on or off and reorder them to control their display order.
Adding Ads to an individual Content page
You can also add ads to an individual piece of Content. These ads appear only on that Content’s detail page, making them useful for promotions or calls to action related to the Content being viewed.
For example, you can feature a podcast sponsor, promote a related event or course, link to a survey or registration form, or direct members to another relevant resource.
To add an ad to a specific piece of Content:
Log into your dashboard and select Content.
Open the Content you want to manage.
Select the Ads tab.
Turn Ads on for the Content. Ads are off by default.
Add a new ad and upload the image you want to display.
If you want the ad to link somewhere, enter the destination URL. The URL is optional.
Save your work.
You can return to the Ads tab to add additional ads or edit or delete existing ads.
Content-level Ads can be used with supported Content types and are not limited to podcasts.
Using multiple Content Ads
You can add multiple ads to the same piece of Content. The ads appear within a single ad area, with one ad displayed at a time.
When multiple ads are configured, they rotate automatically. Members can also use the left and right controls to move between ads.
When Content Ads and Community Ads are both active
A Content page can display both Content-level Ads and Community Ads.
When both are available, they appear as separate ad areas on the right-hand side of the Content page. Content-level Ads appear above Community Ads.
If multiple ads are configured in either group, they rotate independently.
If Content-level Ads are turned off or no Content-level Ads have been added, the Content-level ad area is not displayed and applicable Community Ads continue to appear normally.
Note: Content Admins and Managers can turn Content Ads on or off and add, edit, or delete ads. Content Editors and users with view-only access cannot manage Content Ads.