If you are one who plays games on your computer or mobile phone, you may have experienced advertisements covering your device’s entire screen. You might have felt helpless not to be able to skip until the advertisement is halfway through. Do you know what these advertisements are and why there are placed on your devices? This article will help you understand what those ads are.
Interstitial advertisements are one of the most popular advertisement formats. Contrary to pop-ups, native ads, or banners that take up a portion of the screen, interstitial ads are interactive full-screen advertisements that span the whole game or app interface. They are more effective than other advertisements because they take up the entire app screen making the viewers see it for at least the first half of the advertisement and interact better. But, most developers misunderstand the distinction between pop-up ads and interstitial ads resulting in lower ad engagement and revenue. So let’s understand better about these ads.
Interstitial ads: A brief
Interstitial advertisements are significant ad forms that cover the website’s interface. These advertisements occupy the screen on a mobile device, and on a desktop, they float above a webpage.
Contrary to pop-up advertising, which displays instantly, interstitial advertisements appear after a user takes a specific action, such as clicking on another article. While pop-ups lack this feature, interstitial advertisements have a built-in frequency cap of one interstitial ad per user every hour. In-between game levels in a mobile app is another instance when an interstitial ad could appear.
Interstitial ads vs. pop-ups vs. banner ads
Banner advertisements
Banner advertisements are image-based rectangular graphic displays that take up space in an app’s layout and are typically located at the top or bottom of the device screen. These advertisements are common formats for website advertising and are mostly not text-based.
Pop-up advertisements
An ad that appears in a pop-up window whenever a user comes into contact with a website or app is known as a pop-up. This advertisement appears in a new browser tab over the visitor’s page. Although these advertisements are among the most common online advertising strategies, average web users dislike them, and several products and techniques are available to disable them.
Interstitials, a cross between standard banner advertising and pop advertisements, are often more engaging for consumers because they don’t open in a new browser window but not being quite as obnoxious as the original popup ads. They have some of the greatest CTRs (click-through rates) for any banner advertisement. It’s not uncommon to see an ad CTR of 5% or more, which is unheard of in the digital advertising sector (typical banner and display ad CTRs are 1% or below). Although most frequently referred to as vignette advertising, interstitial ads have even been implemented by Google AdSense for their publishers.
Need for interstitial ads
Let’s examine the factors that make interstitial ad formats so well-liked by publishers.
High Ad Revenue
Compared to normal banner advertising, interstitial advertisements offer higher CPMs (Cost per mille) and CTRs, which boosts publishers’ overall ad revenue. By definition, interstitial advertisements fill the full user screen and cannot be ignored or avoided. Additionally, advertisers want this and are prepared to spend top dollar for it. Interstitial ads are one surefire technique to combat banner blindness, which has become a major problem in digital advertising.
Better Ad Engagement
Interstitial advertisements are perfect for generating an engaging user experience due to their large size, interactive nature, and animated content. They have a higher viewability rate than banner ads, which is a result of their prominence. Full-screen advertisements increase user engagement because they are difficult to ignore. This impact results in the various benefits of the format, which marketers desire.
High Demand
All major ad platforms like Google Ads and AdMob demand interstitial ads, making it one of the most well-liked ad formats in the programmatic advertising sector. Publishers can reduce “banner blindness” by integrating interstitial advertising into their websites’ total ad diversity.
Disadvantages of interstitial ads
Interstitials are a fantastic ad type at this point. However, there are several very important limitations. Here are two common limitations to ads of this kind.
User experience
Imagine browsing a website searching for information when suddenly, just as you are about to reach it, a full-screen advertisement pops up. Interstitial advertisements must be positioned at user-natural stopping places, yet they still constitute some disruption. Moreover, nobody enjoys interruptions. As a result, to put it mildly, the user experience with interstitial advertisements is decreased.
Inappropriate implementation penalties
Publishers should also bear in mind that implementing interstitial advertising must be done extremely carefully and with consideration for all of Google’s standards and recommendations. There are several best practices to adhere to if you decide to install interstitial advertising, even though their use depends on the publisher’s beliefs regarding the significance of user experience, user retention, and revenue goals. These can help you avoid receiving fines or alienating your users.
Nevertheless, interstitial advertisements are a fantastic opportunity for mobile games and apps to market and advertise themselves or, alternatively, to monetize by hosting them. If done properly, it is one of the most effective forms of advertising and frequently produces excellent outcomes. They are highly viewable and have a big impact on user experience. If you continue to provide a positive user experience for your audience, they might contribute a sizable portion of your earnings.
