Interstitial ads

Page Summary

Interstitial ads are full-screen ads that cover the publisher's content.
Interstitial ad opportunities can be identified in the bid request by checking the instl field.
The ad slot size for interstitial ads is determined by factors like format and screen dimensions, and creative sizes have specific criteria to be met based on the ad slot dimensions.
Best practices for interstitial ads include formatting creatives to center ads, filling the ad slot as much as possible, avoiding custom close buttons, using recommended sizes, and having creatives for both vertical and horizontal orientations.
Sizeless interstitials are dynamically resizing ads that require the Rendering: Sizeless AdX attribute to be declared in the bid response and the RENDERING_SIZELESS_ADX attribute to be included when submitting the creative for review.

An interstitial ad (or a full-screen ad) is a type of ad that mostly covers the screen. Thus publisher contents don't appear on the screen when an interstitial ad is shown.

You can identify an interstitial ad opportunity in the bid request by verifying that the bid request's BidRequest.imp.instl field is set to true in Protobuf, or 1 in JSON.

Configure interstitial pretargeting

You can use the Real-time Bidding API to configure your pretargeting with the bidders.pretargetingConfigs resource. To target interstitial ads, you must create a PretargetingConfig resource with the interstitialTargeting field set to ONLY_INTERSTITIAL_REQUESTS. To learn more about configuring your pretargeting configuration with the Real-time Bidding API, see Pretargeting configurations.

The more fields you specify in the PretargetingConfig resource, the more precise your targeting becomes. For example, you can target mobile interstitial ads placed in apps by configuring a PretargetingConfig resource with the following:

The interstitialTargeting field is set to the ONLY_INTERSTITIAL_REQUESTS enum value.
The includedPlatforms field contains the PHONE and TABLET enum values.
The includedEnvironments field contains only the APP enum value.

Learn about interstitial ad formats

You can determine an interstitial ad format based on how the bid request is populated. The following table identifies the BidRequest fields that are populated for supported interstitial ad formats:

Format	`app`	`site`	`imp.instl`	`imp.rwdd`	`imp.ext.is_app_open`
App interstitial ad	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
App rewarded ad	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
App open ad	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Web interstitial ad	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Web rewarded ad	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Bid with app interstitial ads

You can bid on inventory in the app interstitial ad format to place full-page ads that render between screens during navigation of a mobile app. To learn more about this format, see How mobile app interstitials work.

Bid with app rewarded ads

You can bid on inventory in the app rewarded ad format to place full-page ads that render when a user of a mobile app chooses to view an ad in exchange for a reward, such as in-game currency. To learn more about this format, see Overview of rewarded ad units.

Bid with app open ads

You can bid on inventory in the app open ad format to place full-page ads that render in the loading screen of a mobile app. The loading screens appear when the user opens the app, or navigates back to the app from a different app. To learn more about this format, see App open ad guidance and best practices.

Bid with web interstitial ads

You can bid on inventory in the web interstitial ad format to place full-page ads that render as the user navigates and interacts with a website. To learn more about this format, see Traffic web interstitials.

Bid with web rewarded ads

You can bid on inventory in the web rewarded ad format to place full-page ads that render when a user browsing a website chooses to view an ad in exchange for a reward, such as in-game currency. To learn more about this format, see Traffic rewarded ads for web.

Choose an acceptable ad slot size

Ad slot size for interstitial ads indicates the area that can be used to render creatives and depends on several factors such as specific formats and screen dimensions.

The first width and height pair in OpenRTB's BidRequest.imp.banner.format, field, represents the actual ad slot size, and the remaining pairs represent a list of acceptable ad sizes that are within range of the slot's requirements.

Creatives aren't restricted to the recommended sizes in the bid request, but all recommended sizes in the bid request are guaranteed to be within the acceptable size range.

You can bid with any creative whose width and height meet the following criteria:

Less than or equal to the ad slot width and height
Greater than or equal to 50% of the ad slot width
Greater than or equal to 40% of the ad slot height

If the ad size is too big or too small, the bid response is filtered with the rejection reason INTERSTITIAL_SIZE_MISMATCH.

If you don't specify the ad size in the bid response, the response is filtered with the rejection reason MISSING_AD_SIZE.

Review sample bid requests

Here are some sample bid requests for interstitial ads.

OpenRTB Protobuf

Show sample

[Serialized request](/authorized-buyers/rtb/data/request-response/openrtb_protobuf_mobile_app_interstitial_ad_request.bin){: .download}

id: "iPwd6qWwe759U5389nKgZ2"
imp {
  id: "1"
  banner {
    w: 390
    h: 764
    pos: AD_POSITION_FULLSCREEN
    api: MRAID_1
    api: MRAID_2
    format {
      w: 390
      h: 764
    }
    format {
      w: 160
      h: 600
    }
  }
  displaymanager: "GoogleMobileAds-iOS"
  displaymanagerver: "12.1.0"
  instl: true
  tagid: "6515547538"
  bidfloor: 0.01
  bidfloorcur: "USD"
  secure: true
  exp: 3600
  clickbrowser: true
  metric {
    type: "click_through_rate"
    value: 0.071259871125221252
    vendor: "EXCHANGE"
  }
  metric {
    type: "viewability"
    value: 0.93
    vendor: "EXCHANGE"
  }
  [com.google.doubleclick.imp] {
    billing_id: 20458168637
    publisher_settings_list_id: 7415902580159294065
    publisher_settings_list_id: 3858265210976003530
    allowed_vendor_type: 0
    allowed_vendor_type: 4513
    ampad: AMP_AD_NOT_ALLOWED
    excluded_creatives {
      buyer_creative_id: "EXCLUDED_BUYER_CREATIVE_ID"
    }
    excluded_creatives {
      buyer_creative_id: "EXCLUDED_BUYER_CREATIVE_ID"
    }
    skadn {
      sourceapp: "com.google.testapp"
      skadnetids: "jLL135hf"
      versions: "2.0"
      versions: "2.1"
      fidelities: STOREKIT_RENDERED_ADS
      fidelities: VIEW_THROUGH_ADS
    }
    creative_enforcement_settings {
      policy_enforcement: POLICY_ENFORCEMENT_NETWORK_AND_PLATFORM_POLICY
      publisher_blocks_enforcement: PUBLISHER_BLOCKS_ENFORCEMENT_APPLIES
    }
    jsver: "test-sdk_123456789"
    highengagement: true
  }
}
app {
  name: "Test App"
  ver: "18.6.0"
  bundle: "com.google.testapp"
  publisher {
    id: "pub-5899129488172801"
    [com.google.doubleclick.publisher] {
      country: "IL"
    }
  }
  content {
    url: "https://www.google.com"
    language: "en"
  }
  storeurl: "https://www.google.com"
}
device {
  ua: "OMITTED"
  geo {
    lat: 0
    lon: 0
    country: "COL"
    region: "CO-DC"
    city: "Bogota"
    zip: "110851"
    type: IP
    utcoffset: -300
    accuracy: 1236
    [com.google.doubleclick.geo] {
      geo_criteria_id: 9216139
    }
  }
  ipv6: "2800:e2:5780::"
  language: "es"
  make: "Apple"
  model: "iPhone14,7"
  os: "iOS"
  osv: "18.7"
  connectiontype: WIFI
  devicetype: HIGHEND_PHONE
  hwv: "iPhone14,7"
  w: 390
  h: 844
  pxratio: 3
  sua {
    browsers {
      brand: "Mozilla"
      version: "5"
      version: "0"
    }
    browsers {
      brand: "AppleWebKit"
      version: "605"
      version: "1"
    }
    platform {
      brand: "iPhone"
      version: "18"
      version: "7"
    }
    mobile: true
    bitness: "64"
    model: "iPhone"
    source: USER_AGENT_STRING
  }
  [com.google.doubleclick.device] {
    atts: 2
    audioout: AUDIO_SPEAKER
    ifv: "5fcebf5e-462f-47fe-a528-e982d9512348"
  }
}
user {
  [com.google.doubleclick.user] {
    session {
      depth: 0
      requestssinceappopen: 5
      priorclicks: 0
    }
  }
}
at: FIRST_PRICE
tmax: 700
cur: "USD"
bcat: "32"
bcat: "33"
source {
  schain {
    complete: true
    nodes {
      asi: "testssp.com"
      sid: "pub-1111111111111111"
      hp: true
    }
    ver: "1.0"
  }
  [com.google.doubleclick.source] {
    omidpn: "Google"
    omidpv: "afma-sdk-i-v12.1.0"
  }
}
cattax: GOOGLE_CATEGORIES
[com.google.doubleclick.bid_request] {
  google_query_id: "ANy-z7CT2R-7uB8g5aR7v8neLD9N5p9e04ON1C2ob93u7SZlV346yw69237l5d6p2bZ43x62"
  fcap_scope: FREQUENCY_CAPPING_SCOPE_APP
  privacy_treatments {
    allow_user_data_collection: true
  }
}

OpenRTB JSON

Show sample

{
  "id": "iPwd6qWwe759U5389nKgZ2",
  "imp": [
    {
      "id": "1",
      "banner": {
        "w": 390,
        "h": 764,
        "pos": 7,
        "api": [
          3,
          5
        ],
        "format": [
          {
            "w": 390,
            "h": 764
          },
          {
            "w": 160,
            "h": 600
          }
        ]
      },
      "displaymanager": "GoogleMobileAds-iOS",
      "displaymanagerver": "12.1.0",
      "instl": 1,
      "tagid": "6515547538",
      "bidfloor": 0.01,
      "bidfloorcur": "USD",
      "secure": 1,
      "exp": 3600,
      "clickbrowser": 1,
      "metric": [
        {
          "type": "click_through_rate",
          "value": 0.07125987112522125,
          "vendor": "EXCHANGE"
        },
        {
          "type": "viewability",
          "value": 0.93,
          "vendor": "EXCHANGE"
        }
      ],
      "ext": {
        "billing_id": [
          "20458168637"
        ],
        "publisher_settings_list_id": [
          "7415902580159294065",
          "3858265210976003530"
        ],
        "allowed_vendor_type": [
          0,
          4513
        ],
        "ampad": 2,
        "excluded_creatives": [
          {
            "buyer_creative_id": "EXCLUDED_BUYER_CREATIVE_ID"
          },
          {
            "buyer_creative_id": "EXCLUDED_BUYER_CREATIVE_ID"
          }
        ],
        "skadn": {
          "sourceapp": "com.google.testapp",
          "skadnetids": [
            "jLL135hf"
          ],
          "versions": [
            "2.0",
            "2.1"
          ],
          "fidelities": [
            1,
            0
          ]
        },
        "creative_enforcement_settings": {
          "policy_enforcement": 2,
          "publisher_blocks_enforcement": 1
        },
        "jsver": "test-sdk_123456789",
        "highengagement": 1
      }
    }
  ],
  "app": {
    "name": "Test App",
    "ver": "18.6.0",
    "bundle": "com.google.testapp",
    "publisher": {
      "id": "pub-5899129488172801",
      "ext": {
        "country": "IL"
      }
    },
    "content": {
      "url": "https://www.google.com",
      "language": "en"
    },
    "storeurl": "https://www.google.com"
  },
  "device": {
    "ua": "OMITTED",
    "geo": {
      "lat": 0.0,
      "lon": 0.0,
      "country": "COL",
      "region": "CO-DC",
      "city": "Bogota",
      "zip": "110851",
      "type": 2,
      "utcoffset": -300,
      "accuracy": 1236,
      "ext": {
        "geo_criteria_id": 9216139
      }
    },
    "ipv6": "2800:e2:5780::",
    "language": "es",
    "make": "Apple",
    "model": "iPhone14,7",
    "os": "iOS",
    "osv": "18.7",
    "connectiontype": 2,
    "devicetype": 4,
    "hwv": "iPhone14,7",
    "w": 390,
    "h": 844,
    "pxratio": 3.0,
    "sua": {
      "browsers": [
        {
          "brand": "Mozilla",
          "version": [
            "5",
            "0"
          ]
        },
        {
          "brand": "AppleWebKit",
          "version": [
            "605",
            "1"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "platform": {
        "brand": "iPhone",
        "version": [
          "18",
          "7"
        ]
      },
      "mobile": 1,
      "bitness": "64",
      "model": "iPhone",
      "source": 3
    },
    "ext": {
      "atts": 2,
      "audioout": 1,
      "ifv": "5fcebf5e-462f-47fe-a528-e982d9512348"
    }
  },
  "user": {
    "ext": {
      "session": {
        "depth": 0,
        "requestssinceappopen": 5,
        "priorclicks": 0
      }
    }
  },
  "at": 1,
  "tmax": 700,
  "cur": [
    "USD"
  ],
  "bcat": [
    "32",
    "33"
  ],
  "source": {
    "schain": {
      "complete": 1,
      "nodes": [
        {
          "asi": "testssp.com",
          "sid": "pub-1111111111111111",
          "hp": 1
        }
      ],
      "ver": "1.0"
    },
    "ext": {
      "omidpn": "Google",
      "omidpv": "afma-sdk-i-v12.1.0"
    }
  },
  "cattax": 500,
  "ext": {
    "google_query_id": "ANy-z7CT2R-7uB8g5aR7v8neLD9N5p9e04ON1C2ob93u7SZlV346yw69237l5d6p2bZ43x62",
    "fcap_scope": 4,
    "privacy_treatments": {
      "allow_user_data_collection": 1
    }
  }
}

Follow best practices

Google recommends the following best practices:

Include formatting attributes in your HTML creative snippets to center ads within the ad slot. Otherwise, ads render on the top left of the ad slot.
Respond with an interstitial ad that takes up as much space as possible within the ad slot. Don't fill an interstitial ad slot with a much smaller ad. For example, a 320x480 ad is too small for a 420x800 interstitial slot.
Don't add any close button:
- Our SDK automatically shows a close button (where applicable) to ensure that users can click the button.
- MRAID useCustomClose() is not supported.
Use the recommended sizes from the bid request to choose acceptable ad sizes for your bid response.
Compare BidRequest.device.w and BidRequest.device.h fields to choose creatives with an appropriate orientation.
- We recommend having vertical and horizontal creatives so you can bid with the appropriate orientation.

Bid with sizeless interstitials

Sizeless interstitials (also known as responsive or fluid interstitials) dynamically resize to take up the entire ad slot width and height. Authorized Buyers doesn't resize creatives for you. You must supply a creative that dynamically resizes.

You only need to submit sizeless interstitials for review once, even though they can serve at multiple sizes. To ensure your creative isn't re-reviewed for each individual ad slot size, we recommend the following:

Populate `BidResponse` fields

Use BidResponse.seatbid.bid.ext.attribute to declare Rendering: Sizeless AdX (attribute 105) in your bid response. Declarable creative attributes can be found in the buyer-declarable-creative-attributes.txt data file.
Populate BidResponse.seatbid.bid.w and BidResponse.seatbid.bid.h with the size you want the creative to render based on ad size requirements; for example, 360x480 for a 360x480 ad slot. The creative might still serve at other sizes. For the deprecated Google RTB protocol, you would populate BidResponse.Ad.width and BidResponse.Ad.height.

If you add the Rendering: Sizeless AdX attribute to an existing creative, the creative must be re-reviewed.

Submit creatives for pre-approval

When submitting a creative for review, include the RENDERING_SIZELESS_ADX attribute in the declaredAttributes field. In Real-time Bidding API, creative attributes are represented using a string enum value. To learn more about how these correspond to the numerical IDs from buyer-declarable-creative-attributes.txt, see the mapping guide.
Submit the creative using a size that you expect to serve, that is, a common size for interstitial creatives. The creative can still serve at other sizes.
Each sizeless creative only counts against your creative limit once, even if it serves at multiple sizes.

Next steps

Attribute iOS installs with SKAdNetwork: Learn how to attribute iOS app installations to advertisers using SKAdNetwork.
Best practices for mobile app inventory: Learn more about best practices for interstitial ads placed in apps.

Interstitial ads Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.

Page Summary

Configure interstitial pretargeting

Learn about interstitial ad formats

Bid with app interstitial ads

Bid with app rewarded ads

Bid with app open ads

Bid with web interstitial ads

Bid with web rewarded ads

Choose an acceptable ad slot size

Review sample bid requests

OpenRTB Protobuf

Show sample

OpenRTB JSON

Show sample

Follow best practices

Bid with sizeless interstitials

Populate BidResponse fields

Submit creatives for pre-approval

Next steps

Interstitial ads

Populate `BidResponse` fields