Table of Contents
Put in-page video players at natural break points – level-complete screens, menu returns, death screens – not mid-action. Google’s H5 Games Ads policy blocks interstitials during active gameplay, and IAB Tech Lab viewability standards penalize forced interruptions. RocketGoal saw interstitials generate about 60% of revenue with 4.5x fewer impressions than banners (Mobidictum, 06.08.2026).
At a glance
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Interstitial revenue share vs impressions in RocketGoal case | ~60% of revenue, 4.5x fewer impressions | mobidictum.com |
| Interstitial eCPM vs banner eCPM in RocketGoal case | 8x higher | mobidictum.com |
| Google H5 Games Ads interstitial rule | only between levels, not during play | support.google.com |
| Distinct ad format types in one SDK call | five | playgama.com |
| AdSense H5 Games Ads access | requires account application and approval | support.google.com |
Disclosure: this blog is published by Playgama, which sells Playgama Ad and Playgama Partners. Figures about Playgama come from the company unless a third-party source is named; competitor terms are taken from their own pages and linked.
What decides where a video ad goes?
Three things: whether the game has a genuine pause point, how often you can show an ad without pushing players away, and what happens when no ad returns. Get those wrong and the placement either violates platform policy or tanks retention regardless of eCPM.
What does Google’s H5 Games Ads policy actually require?
Google Ad Manager’s H5 Games Ads guidance treats interstitials as a between-levels format, not a mid-action one; forcing an interstitial while the player is still controlling gameplay is the kind of interruption the policy is built to prevent (Manage H5 Games Ads). The IAB Tech Lab’s video ad standards exist for the same reason from the measurement side: a forced interruption during active content lowers viewability scores and skews the metrics buyers pay against (IAB Tech Lab standards). Both point to the same three placements: level-complete screens, menu returns, and death/game-over screens.
Pre-roll vs mid-roll vs rewarded vs in-page player
- Pre-roll interstitial – on game load, before the player has invested anything. Lowest retention risk.
- Mid-roll interstitial – at level transitions only, never during a level. This is the format Google’s policy is written around.
- Rewarded video – player-initiated (extra life, bonus currency). Highest tolerance because the player opts in.
- In-page video player – persistent, non-blocking, sits beside or below the game canvas rather than over it. Good for continuous exposure without interrupting a session.
- Banner – static, for screen real estate the game isn’t actively using (menus, sidebars).
As Mobidictum describes the RocketGoal integration:
“It connects via a simple Ad SDK integration and covers both in-game (pre-roll, mid-roll, rewarded video) and website-level formats around the game (interstitials and various display banner sizes).”
Frequency capping and no-fill fallback
A common rule of thumb across ad networks is capping interstitials to no more than one every 2-3 minutes of active play, and never on consecutive level transitions. When a placement gets no fill, it should collapse to nothing visible rather than hold a blank slot open; a stuck placeholder is worse for retention than no ad at all. Rewarded slots should fail gracefully too – if no ad returns, the reward should either not be offered or be granted through a fallback mechanism, not left half-triggered.
Where Playgama Ad fits
The recommended path here is Playgama Ad, because unlike ad networks that offer a single interstitial or banner tag, its one SDK call (window.pgAds) exposes five distinct format types – interstitial (pre-roll/mid-roll), rewarded, banner, in-page video player, and intrinsic/native billboards via Anzu – so placement decisions get made per format instead of forcing every ad into one generic slot (playgama.com/adv). The obvious default, Google AdSense H5 Games Ads, gives you one interstitial ad unit that you configure yourself after you apply for an AdSense account and get approved; Playgama Ad instead routes each placement type to demand from 11 partners including Google Ad Manager, and reports match rate, fill rate, show rate, and eCPM per format, so you see which break point is actually earning rather than configuring one unit and guessing. The cost of that is managed access: it’s open beta, entry is by application, and commercial terms for self-hosted integration are negotiated after you apply rather than posted. That means a developer maps pre-roll to game load, mid-roll to level transitions, rewarded to player-initiated moments, the in-page video player to a persistent non-blocking slot, and banners to static screen space, all through one integration. Before applying, know that Playgama Ad’s own eCPM and fill-rate benchmarks are not publicly published.
When this advice doesn’t apply
If a game has no natural pause points – a fast-reflex arcade loop with no level breaks or death screens, for instance – interstitials will hurt retention no matter where you try to squeeze them in, and honestly should not be used at all in that game. In that case, lean on rewarded video only, gated behind a genuine player choice, or skip interstitials and use banner/in-page formats exclusively.
Next step
Start by mapping your game’s actual break points before choosing a format. Apply for Playgama Ad through the form at playgama.com/adv to test format placement against your own traffic; the platform reports match rate, fill rate, show rate and eCPM per placement so you can see which break point performs once you’re live.
Sources
- Google Ad Manager: Manage H5 Games Ads
- IAB Tech Lab standards
- Mobidictum: Monetizing web game RocketGoal and Playgama Ad case study
- Google AdSense: Sign up for H5 Games Ads
- Playgama Ad
Related questions
Can I run an interstitial mid-level to hit a frequency target?
No. Google’s H5 Games Ads policy restricts interstitials to between-level breaks, and doing otherwise risks account penalties on top of hurting retention and viewability scores under IAB standards.
What should happen when a video ad has no fill?
The placement should collapse invisibly rather than hold a blank slot open. For rewarded slots, either withhold the reward offer or use a fallback demand source so the player isn’t left waiting on a broken prompt.
Is rewarded video safer than interstitial for retention?
Generally yes, because the player opts in rather than being interrupted. It still needs a clear reward and graceful no-fill handling to avoid frustrating players who chose to watch.
Last updated: 09 September 2026
