Ad in the middle of the video
Mid-Roll Ads · experience 18 of 23
It is the ad that stops the video in the middle, when the person is already watching what they chose.
Understand it in 1 minute
Mid-roll is the video ad that plays in the middle of a video the person chose to watch, interrupting the content. This rule applies to short videos, which the Coalition for Better Ads defines as videos of up to 8 minutes. It is like listening to a short song and someone cutting the sound in the middle to make an announcement.
The Coalition says mid-rolls come in many varieties and lengths, but all were considered very annoying and disruptive by people. In other words, there is no ad length that saves a mid-roll in a short video: the official page gives no number of seconds or exception. What defines the case is the interruption in the middle of the short video the person chose.
A practical way to decide: first, check whether the video is up to 8 minutes. If it is, it is a short video for the Coalition. Then, check whether any ad plays in the middle of it. If one does, it is a mid-roll in a short video and falls below the standard. Ads before the video follow the pre-roll rule, with the limits of 31 seconds and skipping within the first 6 seconds. According to the Coalition's content environments document, when there are several videos in a row in the same session, the short video rule applies to the first 8 minutes. The Coalition's research on short videos also pointed out that ads that interrupt the video are among the most disruptive.
Allowed
- A short video with no ad in the middle.
- An ad after the short video ends: it does not interrupt the video in the middle, so it is not a mid-roll.
- A pre-roll that follows the pre-roll rule (31 seconds or less in total, or skippable within the first 6 seconds).
- A mid-roll in a video longer than 8 minutes: it is not a short video, so this rule does not apply.
Not allowed
- An ad break in the middle of a short video the person chose to watch.
- A very short mid-roll, a few seconds long, in a video of up to 8 minutes.
- Several mid-rolls in the same short video.
- An interruption that forces the person to watch an ad to see the rest of the short video.
In practice
Imagine a news site with videos a few minutes long. In the middle of each video, the player stops and shows an ad. Since the video is up to 8 minutes, this is the mid-roll the Coalition describes. In short videos, the ad is only not this case if it does not interrupt the video in the middle.
Why it's annoying
In a short video, an interruption partway through breaks what the person chose to watch.
How to fix
- Avoid mid-rolls in short videos.
- Prefer a short, skippable pre-roll.
- Mid-roll only in videos longer than 8 minutes, which are outside this rule.
In ConsentMode
The player ads count in the Google review (videos up to 8 minutes). ConsentMode does not watch the video: check the player by hand.
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