Pause Ads
A pause ad is a non-linear ad: it doesn't interrupt the main content. It is shown after the viewer pauses playback and stays until playback resumes or the viewer closes it. Instead of a position on the media timeline, pause ads are scheduled with a pause trigger. See the platform guides for how to schedule them.
How Pause Ads Work
- You schedule one or more pause ads, either upfront in the advertising configuration or at runtime through the ads API
- The viewer pauses the content. Once the pause has lasted for the activation delay of one second, the pause ad becomes eligible
- The player resolves the VAST tag, picks the creative that fits the ad container best, and renders it over the paused player
- The player emits the non-linear ad lifecycle events and fires the VAST tracking for the presentation. See the platform guides for the events on your platform
- The presentation ends when the viewer resumes or closes the ad
Requirements
- Pause ads are resolved through Bitmovin Advertising
- The VAST response must contain a
NonLinearAdscreative with aStaticResourcethat is a PNG or JPEG image. Other resource types are not supported - An ad container must be available for rendering. A default one is provided; see the platform guides for details
Frequency and Consumption
- At most one pause ad is presented per pause. Remaining pause ads stay scheduled for a later pause
- Once a pause ad has been presented, no other pause ad is shown until playback resumes and is paused again, even if the viewer closes it
Pause ads are loaded only when a pause becomes eligible, and nothing is cached: every presentation requests the tag again.
What the Player Renders
The creative is drawn across the full ad container, above the video and below the player UI, with its aspect ratio preserved.
If several NonLinear variations are offered in the VAST response, the player picks the one that fits the ad container best and takes the first supported static resource from it. If the response contains an ad pod, only the first ad of the pod is taken.
Controls
| Integration | Resume control | Close control |
|---|---|---|
| Bitmovin Player UI | Provided | Provided |
| Custom UI or no player UI | Yours to provide | Yours to provide (optional) |
Close fires VAST close; resume doesn't. The close control is available immediately; there is no countdown.
If you build your own UI, make sure a resume control is always reachable while a pause ad is shown.
Events and Tracking
VAST tracking fired for a pause ad:
| Situation | Tracking |
|---|---|
| Creative becomes visible | impression, creativeView |
| Viewer opens the clickthrough (not on TV platforms) | NonLinearClickTracking |
| Viewer explicitly closes the ad | close |
| Presentation ends | overlayViewDuration |
| Loaded creative is discarded without ever being rendered | notUsed |
| Resolution or presentation fails | Matching VAST error |
| Ad is resolved through a VAST Wrapper chain | Matching Wrapper and Inline trackers are combined |
Failures are reported through the platform's ad error event with a matching VAST error code.
Interaction With Linear Ads
Linear and pause ads are mutually exclusive. A pause ad is never loaded or rendered while a linear ad is active, even if the viewer pauses the linear ad. If a linear ad starts while a pause ad is on screen, the pause ad is finished and removed first.
Platform Guides
Updated about 2 hours ago