Illustration: Video on app open

Video on app open

Video Interstitials When Opening an App · experience 23 of 23

The person taps the app icon and, before seeing the launch screen, a full-screen video ad already appears.

LimitFull-screen video between the tap on the icon and the launch screen. Applies even with a skip button (the test used 30 s, skippable).

Doesn't countStatic image at that same moment.

How to do it rightIn the app opening, use a static image instead of video.

Understand it in 1 minute

This is the video ad that appears after the person taps the app icon, but before the splash screen. The person wants to use the app now and, before seeing anything from it, has to face a video ad. It is like arriving at a shop, pushing the door and having to watch a commercial before you can go in.

In the Coalition for Better Ads tests, the experience evaluated was a full-screen, 30-second video ad that could be skipped, shown after the tap on the icon and before the splash screen. In other words, even with the option to skip, this video falls under this rule. What decides is the moment: between the tap on the icon and the splash screen.

The Coalition also says what did not fall below the standard at that same moment: static interstitials, that is, still ad images, that appear after the tap on the icon and before the splash screen. So the difference at app launch is between a still image and a video. A static image there does not fall below the standard for apps. A video there falls under this rule. For other moments in the app, such as the start or end of a level, the rules for interrupting interstitials apply.

Allowed

Allowed like this

A static ad image after the tap on the icon and before the splash screen.
An app that opens straight away, with no ad before the splash screen.

Not allowed

Not allowed like this

A 30-second full-screen video ad before the splash screen.
The same launch video, even with a skip button.
A video ad that plays between the tap on the icon and the app's splash screen.

In practice

Imagine a weather app that, every time the person taps the icon, shows a video ad before the splash screen. Even if the video has a skip button, this is the case described by the Coalition. If a static ad image appeared instead of the video, it would not fall below the standard.