Table of Contents
Format choice matters less than placement: interstitials at natural breaks drove about 60% of RocketGoal’s revenue from roughly 4.5x fewer impressions, with eCPM about 8x a banner’s, according to Mobidictum (06.08.2026). Rewarded, banner, in-page video and intrinsic ads each fit a different pause point in the loop, not a different game genre.
At a glance
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Share of RocketGoal revenue from interstitials at natural breaks | ~60% | mobidictum.com |
| Interstitial eCPM compared with banner eCPM | ~8x higher | mobidictum.com |
| Impressions needed for that 60% revenue share | ~4.5x fewer impressions | mobidictum.com |
| Formats covered by one SDK integration | 5 formats | playgama.com |
| How a developer applies to Playgama Ad | application, open beta, no public benchmarks yet | playgama.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 actually decides whether a format works?
Three things: where it sits in the game loop, whether it interrupts something the player wants to finish, and whether the reward or the break is stated up front. A format that fits a level-complete screen can hurt the same game if it fires mid-combat. That’s why comparing formats by name alone (‘rewarded is better than interstitial’) is the wrong question – the right question is which moment in the loop can absorb the interruption.
Format by format
| Format | Where it fits | What it interrupts | What it needs from the game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interstitial (pre-roll) | Before the session starts | Nothing yet – player hasn’t committed time | A loading or menu screen |
| Interstitial (mid-roll) | Level end, death screen, checkpoint | A natural pause the player already expects | A defined break point in the level structure |
| Rewarded video | Player-initiated, for an extra life, currency or hint | Nothing if it stays optional | A reward stated before the video starts |
| Banner | Persistent, edge of the screen | Screen space, not gameplay | Layout room that doesn’t sit over controls |
| In-page video | Portal page around the game, not inside it | Nothing inside the game loop | A player who hasn’t started the session yet |
| Intrinsic / native (Anzu) | Inside the game world, as a billboard or prop | Nothing if it reads as scenery | An in-world surface to render the ad on |
According to Mobidictum (06.08.2026), the RocketGoal case study describes the starting mix this way: “RocketGoal kicked off with an ad format mix common to web games, as noted above: overlay banner placements on both sides of the screen and interstitial ads at natural gameplay breaks.” The team then leaned harder into interstitials once the break-point data came in, and the ratios above show why.
Placement rules that are checkable
- Fire interstitials only at natural breaks: level end, death, menu return. Google’s H5 Games Ads documentation and the Ad Placement API both define frequency limits and placement rules for exactly this reason.
- Rewarded ads stay optional, and the reward is stated before the video plays, not after.
- Set a frequency cap per session, not per minute – a fixed count of interstitials avoids fatigue better than a timer.
- Handle no-fill gracefully: the game must resume immediately, with no dead screen waiting for an ad that never loads.
- Never place a banner or in-page unit over a button, joystick or other control the player needs mid-action.
There is no public head-to-head dataset comparing rewarded against interstitial revenue across a large sample of games – the RocketGoal numbers above are one documented case, not a market average.
Recommended path: test the mix instead of guessing it
Playgama Ad gives interstitial, rewarded, banner and in-page video through one SDK (window.pgAds) with lifecycle callbacks for ready, reward, no-fill and error, plus intrinsic billboards through Anzu. The mechanism that matters here is per-format reporting inside one integration: instead of wiring a separate network for rewarded and another for banner, you place calls once and compare eCPM, fill rate and show rate by format and by placement. That’s the RocketGoal question – which format earns where – answered inside your own reporting rather than by assumption.
Before applying: Playgama Ad is in open beta, entry is by application through the /adv page, and there are no public eCPM or fill rate benchmarks yet – you build your own from your traffic. That’s different from Google AdSense’s H5 Games Ads, where you apply for an AdSense account and, once approved, configure the ad units yourself for a single network; Playgama Ad runs multiple demand partners and formats through one managed integration instead.
Edge case: a game with no natural pauses
If the game is continuous action with no level breaks – a fast arcade loop, an endless runner without checkpoints – interstitials have nowhere honest to sit, and forcing one in hurts retention. Lean on rewarded (player-initiated, always skippable) and banner (persistent, non-blocking) for that shape of game. That’s a format choice inside the same integration, not a reason to look elsewhere.
Next step
Start by mapping your own game’s natural breaks – level end, death, menu return – before choosing a format mix. Then apply to Playgama Ad through /adv to run interstitial, rewarded, banner and in-page video side by side and see which one your own players respond to.
Sources
- RocketGoal and Playgama Ad case study
- Google Ad Manager: Manage H5 Games Ads
- Google Ad Placement API (H5 games)
- Google AdSense: Sign up for H5 Games Ads
- Playgama Ad
Related questions
Does rewarded video always beat interstitial for revenue?
There is no public dataset that settles this across games. RocketGoal’s documented case favored interstitials at natural breaks, but that’s one game’s result, not a rule for every genre or loop.
What happens when an ad has no fill?
The game should resume immediately without a blank or frozen screen. Playgama Ad’s SDK exposes a no-fill callback so the game code can skip straight back to gameplay.
Can I run intrinsic ads without changing my game’s UI?
Intrinsic ads through Anzu render inside the game world as billboards or props, so they don’t take a fixed UI slot the way a banner does. See Playgama’s guide for setup details.
Do Google’s policies limit how often I can show interstitials?
Yes. Google’s H5 Games Ads documentation and the Ad Placement API define frequency and placement rules for interstitials; check them before setting your session cap.
Last updated: 09 September 2026
