Cards
Cards are small rectangular pop-ups that appear in the upper-right of a long-form video while it plays. A single video can host up to five cards, each pointing to another video, a playlist, a channel, a poll, or an approved external link. Cards are dismissable; their click-through rates are typically under 1%, far lower than end screens.
YouTube cards are mid-video pop-ups that link to other videos, playlists, channels, or polls — small interactive elements that appear during long-form playback.
Why Cards matters for YouTube creators
Cards are a low-effort, low-payoff tool — best used surgically rather than reflexively. The most effective use of cards is referencing a specific concept ("I covered this in detail in my other video — card link") at the exact moment a viewer might want a deeper dive. Sprinkling cards through every video adds noise; placing one at the precise reference point converts. Cards also work as polls: asking viewers a quick question mid-video can lift engagement signal at the cost of a small attention break.
Cards in practice
A how-to creator references a foundational tutorial at the exact moment it becomes relevant — card click-through hits 3.2% (versus the ~1% norm) because the timing matched intent.
A vlog channel uses a single poll card at the 2-minute mark of every episode ("Where should I film next week?") and gets 8K+ poll responses per video, feeding back into content planning.
See Cards on real channels
FameLifter pulls public cards data for 500K+ YouTube channels — refreshed hourly via the official YouTube Data API v3.