MAKING CLIPS

How to add a campaign watermark or logo to your clips

Updated September 28, 2026

SHORT ANSWER

How do I add a campaign watermark or logo to clips?

Put the exact file the campaign provides, usually a PNG with a transparent background or an animated logo, on a video track above your clip. Scale it without stretching, and keep it fully visible for the required time, away from the screen edges and from the app's buttons and captions. Clipster's standard guidelines, for example, reject logos that are more than 50% covered, touch a screen edge, or are stretched, recolored or modified. Any editor with overlay tracks works, including CapCut, DaVinci Resolve, Clipchamp and iMovie.

Why campaigns require a watermark or logo

A watermark tells viewers whose content they are watching. For streamer campaigns it points viewers to the channel. For brand campaigns, the logo on screen is often the product the brand pays for.

It is common. On 2026-09-25, 11 of the 22 public clipping campaigns on Clipster (50%) required a watermark or logo, and 15 of 88 active campaigns were pure logo campaigns (Clipster campaign data). Typical wording in those briefs: "Add provided twitch watermark!", "LOGO MUST BE CLEARLY VISIBLE ON ALL CLIPS", and "Logo must be placed on bottom half or top but Cannot be covered by UI".

Twitch no longer adds a name to exported clips. Its help center says it "removed the Channel Name overlay"; instead, when a clip is posted directly to TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat, Twitch adds the channel name as a hashtag (Twitch Help). A campaign watermark fills that gap.

A watermark is not an ad disclosure. If the campaign pays you, you still need a clear disclosure. The FTC says a video endorsement's disclosure "should be in the video and not just in the description", and "don't assume that a platform's disclosure tool is good enough" (FTC, Disclosures 101).

The rules that decide approval

Each campaign sets its own rules, so read the brief first. Clipster publishes a standard set that "apply to every logo campaign unless a brief explicitly says otherwise". They are a useful model for any campaign.

Rule	Clipster standard guideline
Visibility	The logo must be clearly visible at all times during its required display duration
Coverage	No more than 50% of the logo may be covered by platform UI (captions, usernames, like and share buttons) or by other graphics, effects or foreground objects
Static PNG logos	Visible for the entire video
Animated logos	Play from start to finish without interruption, loop, and play at normal speed with no speed-ups, slow-downs or cuts. Typical length is 7 to 25 seconds or more
File	Use the provided file. Do not stretch, distort, recolor or modify it
Legibility	No filters, effects or transitions that reduce legibility. The logo must contrast clearly with the background
Edges	The logo must not touch the top, bottom or either side of the screen; leave a gap, because platforms can crop the edges

Source: Clipster Logo Guidelines and its "Internal process" page, read on 2026-09-28. Some Clipster briefs add campaign-specific sizing rules in the campaign's Discord.

Placement and safe zones

The app interface covers parts of every vertical video. TikTok tells advertisers not to place "text, logos, or key messages on areas where buttons, usernames, and captions may appear" (TikTok Ads Help). Meta says to keep "the edges (top, bottom and sides) free of key creative elements, text and logos" on 9:16 Reels and Stories ads, and notes that taller phone screens may zoom and crop the video (Meta Business Help).

Usually safe: the upper third of the frame, below the status bar and the app's top tabs, or the middle band beside the subject.
Avoid: the right edge (like, comment and share buttons), the bottom area (account name, post text, sound bar), and any spot where your own captions sit.
Keep a margin: leave clear space between the logo and every edge.
Keep it steady: do not move a static logo around unless the brief asks for motion.
Check it on a real screen: take a screenshot of a posted video in the target app, lay it over your frame in the editor at low opacity, and confirm the logo is clear.

Step by step: CapCut and DaVinci Resolve

Both editors have free versions and work with transparent PNG files.

CapCut (desktop): import your clip and the logo file. Drag the logo onto a track above the video so it plays over it. Select it in the player to resize and position it, and drag its end on the timeline to match the clip's full length. CapCut's overlay guide covers position, size and duration controls. If you used a template, delete any CapCut-branded ending clip or logo layer before export, as CapCut's watermark help describes.
DaVinci Resolve (free): import the PNG into the Media Pool and place it on track V2 above your clip on the Edit page. Resolve's manual says an embedded alpha channel "automatically creates transparency" with "no need for you to do anything", and that PNG supports alpha. Stills are 10 seconds long by default, so drag the logo's end to cover the whole clip. Use the Inspector's Transform controls (Zoom and Position) to size and place it; keep Zoom X and Y linked so you do not distort it (DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual, chapters 56–57).
Animated logos in either editor: if the campaign gives a logo on a green or blue background, use the editor's chroma key to remove it. Clipster notes that animated logos "may require background removal". Keep the animation at normal speed and loop it for the full clip.

Step by step: Clipchamp and iMovie

Clipchamp: import the JPEG or PNG into My media, then drag it onto the timeline above your video. Microsoft notes that if the image sits below the video, "the logo will not be seen". Brand kit logos can be PNG, JPEG or SVG up to 10 MB; the brand kit needs Clipchamp Premium or a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plan (Microsoft Support). Clipchamp does not add its own watermark to exports (Microsoft Support).
Clipchamp background removal: Clipchamp can remove a white background from a logo image. Use it only if the brief allows. Campaign logos usually "must not be altered", so ask for a transparent PNG first.
iMovie (Mac): drag the logo clip above a clip in the timeline, open the video overlay settings, choose Picture in Picture, then drag the inset to position it and drag its corners to resize it. Remove any border and shadow so the logo is not changed (Apple iMovie User Guide). Apple's guide does not say whether a PNG's transparent background is kept. Test with your file; if a box appears around the logo, use one of the other editors.

Common rejection reasons

Covered by the interface: the logo sits under the buttons, the username or the post text.
Touching an edge: part of the logo is cropped on some phones.
Too small or too faint: the logo cannot be read on a phone, or it blends into the background.
Modified file: stretched, recolored, cropped, or with a filter or effect applied.
Not visible for the required time: the logo starts late, ends early, or disappears during a transition. Animated logos that are cut, sped up or not looped.
Wrong file or old version: the brief linked a new file. Download it again from the campaign's folder for each campaign.
Extra branding: a leftover editor watermark or another brand's logo on a clip that must be fully branded to one creator or company.
Covered by your own captions or hook text: plan the layout so text and logo each have their own zone.

Questions

What file format should a watermark be?

Use the file the campaign provides. For static logos that is usually a PNG with a transparent background, which DaVinci Resolve, CapCut and Clipchamp can overlay. Animated logos may come as video on a green or blue background, which you remove with a chroma key.

Where is the best place to put a logo on a TikTok or Reel?

In the upper third of the frame or the middle band, with a margin from every edge. Avoid the right-side buttons and the bottom area with the username and post text. Always follow the brief if it names a position.

How big should a campaign logo be?

There is no universal size. Follow the brief, and ask in the campaign's Discord if it gives none. The logo must be readable on a phone without covering the subject.

Can I make the logo semi-transparent?

Only if the brief allows it. Clipster's standard guidelines require that the logo is clearly visible, contrasts with the background, and is not modified. Lowering opacity can break all three.

Does a watermark count as an ad disclosure?

No. The FTC says video disclosures should be in the video itself and that a platform's disclosure tool alone may not be enough. Add a clear disclosure such as "ad" or "paid partnership" as the campaign and platform require.

Which free editor is best for adding a watermark?

DaVinci Resolve's free version and CapCut both handle transparent PNG overlays and precise positioning. Clipchamp's free plan also works and does not add its own watermark. iMovie works for simple overlays, but test transparency first.

Sources

We checked every claim on this page against these sources on the date above. Platform rules and rates change often. Found an error? Tell us and we will fix it.

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