Want to give your video a live-news feel or add continuous updates at the bottom of the screen? A rolling news ticker is the perfect solution. This guide walks you through how to build one from scratch in After Effects — no plugins required.

A well-designed ticker can convey real-time updates, stock market info, headlines, or promotional text. While they may seem complicated, they’re straightforward to build using keyframes, expressions, and masks.

You’ll learn how to:

• Animate a looping text scroll
• Mask it cleanly within a ticker bar
• Add logos or icons for branding
• Optimize for different screen sizes and formats

By the end, you’ll have a reusable, editable template ready for any video project.

🔧 Step-by-Step Guide: How to Make a Scrolling News Ticker in After Effects

1. Create a New Composition in After Effects

• Go to File > New > New Composition
• Name it NewsTicker_Main
• Set resolution to 1920×1080 (or your video resolution)
• Duration: at least 30 seconds to allow long scrolls
• Frame rate: match your project (e.g., 24fps, 30fps)

2. Add a Solid Background for the News Ticker

• Choose Layer > New > Solid
• Name it Ticker_BG
• Select a dark color (navy, charcoal, black) to mimic real news tickers
• Scale it: fit to width, then adjust height to 100px or less for a sleek bar

3. Add and Style the Ticker Text in After Effects

• Use the Text Tool (T) to write your ticker content: “Breaking: Tech stocks soar… | Sports: Local team wins finals… | Weather: Rain expected tomorrow…”
• Choose legible fonts like Roboto Condensed Bold, Arial Bold, or Helvetica Neue
• Font size: 40–50px typically works well
• Set color (white or yellow works best on dark backgrounds)
• Align horizontally and center vertically within the ticker bar

4. Animate the Scrolling Text Effect in After Effects

• Move the text off-screen to the right
• At the timeline start, set a Position keyframe
• Move to the end of the comp, and slide the text fully off to the left
• Right-click the keyframes > Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease
• Preview to adjust speed — longer distances = slower movement

5. Loop the Scrolling News Ticker Seamlessly

• Pre-compose the text: Right-click > Pre-compose > check “Move all attributes”
• Enable Time Remapping: Right-click > Time > Enable Time Remapping
• Alt + click stopwatch > type this expression:loopOut("cycle")
• Make sure your scroll is wide enough to repeat without visible jumps

6. Mask the Scrolling Area of the News Ticker

• Duplicate Ticker_BG and place it above your precomp
• Set the Track Matte of the text comp to Alpha Matte (or Alpha Inverted Matte as needed)
• The text will now only be visible within the ticker strip

7. Add a Logo or News Icon to the Ticker

• Import your logo or PNG icon
• Drag it to the timeline and position it to the left of the ticker
• Scale as needed and ensure it doesn’t cover the scrolling text
• Align with the ticker vertically using Align Panel if needed

8. Enable Motion Blur for Smooth Scrolling Animation

• Click the Motion Blur switch (the three-circle icon) for the text layer
• Enable global Motion Blur in the timeline controls
• This softens the scroll and mimics real broadcast visuals

9. Enhance Ticker Design with Color and Style Effects

• Apply Effects > Layer Styles > Drop Shadow for depth
• Try Glow, Bevel & Emboss, or Gradient Ramp for custom styling
• You can add an outline or ticker separator line using shape layers

10. Add Sound Effects (Optional)

• A subtle typewriter or news beep SFX can make your ticker feel live
• Import an audio clip and sync it with the start of the ticker

11. Render the News Ticker Animation in After Effects

• Go to Composition > Add to Render Queue
• Choose output settings (H.264, match source frame rate)
• Click Render, or export via Adobe Media Encoder for more format options

🧠 Pro Tips to Customize and Optimize News Tickers in After Effects

• Use Text Animators to animate word-by-word appearance if you want more dynamic entry
• Make a Master Template: Pre-compose your ticker and use Essential Graphics Panel to expose text fields for quick edits in Premiere
• Use Expression Controls: Add a slider to control ticker speed or toggle layers like logos
• Time Stretch the precomp to adjust scroll speed without reanimating
• Design for multiple resolutions: Use a responsive layout or keep safe margins

🛠️ Advanced Automation: How to Make a Data-Driven News Ticker in After Effects

To automate your news ticker with real-time or prewritten headlines:

• Use CompsFromSpreadsheet.jsx (free script) to load ticker content from a CSV
• Use Dataclay Templater to sync After Effects with Google Sheets or Excel
• Combine this with looping precomps and expressions to scale up efficiently
• Ideal for broadcasters, YouTube news channels, or digital signage systems

❗ Common Problems with News Tickers in After Effects (And How to Fix Them)

• Text is cut off → Double-check the mask boundaries or track matte setup
• Ticker is too fast or too slow → Tweak keyframe distance or apply Time Stretch to the precomp
• Loop isn’t seamless → Ensure text has enough spacing and matches start/end positions
• Text not showing up → Confirm track matte or Alpha Matte is set correctly
• Motion blur makes it jittery → Reduce blur length or disable for previews

✅ Final Thoughts: Mastering Rolling News Tickers in After Effects

Rolling news tickers are more than just visual flair — they add real-time communication to your videos and elevate production value. Once you build your first ticker, you’ll see how versatile and reusable they are. Use them for YouTube lower-thirds, finance streams, live news, and more.

Now that you’ve built a custom scrolling ticker in After Effects, take the next step by integrating it with live data or building a motion graphic package for your channel.