Interstitial ads are the kind of ad format that marketers either love, or love to hate, it all depends on who you ask. The numbers demonstrate exactly why clever marketers are falling more in love with them. Recent data shows that interstitial ads can achieve eCPMs as high as $10.80 in premium markets such as Japan, while some publishers have increased revenue from interstitial ads by more than 130% following the integration. So for digital marketers trying to reach audiences in the US, it isn't just useful to know how to utilize the best format, it's increasingly becoming a competitive necessity for 2025's cluttered digital environment.
As Tom Fishburne, founder and CEO of Marketoonist says:
i"The best marketing doesn't feel like marketing."
— Tom Fishburne, Founder and CEO of Marketoonist
This is of particular relevance with interstitial advertising, where timing can turn potentially invasive encounters into engaging experiences, and you want the best execution possible.
Interstitial ads operate by generating what industry insiders call "forced engagement moments." The main difference between banner ads and video ads is that while users can easily scroll past, ignore or otherwise diminish the effectiveness of a banner ad (hello, banner blindness!) interstitials are designed to get in your face. As a user taps the back button after viewing content or user has done certain action in the app the interstitial ad covers the whole screen, the interstitial ad can be a static interstitial or video, interactive ad.
It is simple but intricate mechanics. Interstitial ad units, as the name suggests, are activated during natural break points in the user's task flow to deliver ad messages. Users have the choice to interact with the ad, and can click to go to the advertiser's site, or shut down the ad through a well-defined close action, usually displayed after 5 seconds for video. This coercion has created engagement rates that traditional display advertising can only dream of achieving.
What makes those interstitials so effective isn't just how big they are, it's when they appear. By showing up at natural transition moments, however, these ads take advantage of times when users are already prepared to mentally change gears. And that psychological sweet spot means more people are open to messaging, which is why we have seen engagement rates soar so high across all sectors.
As of June 2022, the market with the highest eCPM (effective cost-per-mille) for full-screen in-app interstitial ads in Android apps was the United States, with an eCPM of 10.45 U.S. dollars, proving that such ads were monetizable.
The bottom line: interstitials work because they fit a desired user behavior, rather than one that's directly opposed. Smart implementation would be understanding this and optimizing for it.
Here's how leading brands and platforms are rocking those interstitial ads in different industries:
Candy Crush Saga broke through on monetising mobile games when it in 2018 added and only then reintroducing interstitial ads. The game now provides rewarded interstitials between levels, where players can earn rewards by watching 30-60 second ads. With over 240 million monthly active users, this approach is helping to drive King's multi-billion dollar income in addition to revenue from in-app purchases. The key? They display ads only to non-paying players, in order to keep the premium experience around for the people who do spend money.
"For our gaming clients, we've helped them execute these types of strategies with an emphasis on timing and frequency when it comes to getting the most value out of engagements, both in improving user experience as well as revenue," says Armin Haneefa, head of digital at Arfadia.
i"Interstitial ads represent the perfect intersection of user psychology and revenue optimization. When implemented at natural transition points, they transform moments of cognitive pause into valuable engagement opportunities that benefit both users and publishers."
— Tessar Napitupulu, CEO of Arfadia and Digital Marketing Expert
Supercell's mobile games also demonstrate a viable alternative. Their in between game interstitial integrations drive extremely high engagement around delivering value relevant to game progression, creating a win-win situation for players and advertisers.
Amazon is the king of strategic interstitial placement. Have you ever seen those full-screen product recommendations that come up between adding something to your cart and checking out? That's interstitial advertising at work. Their Prime Membership interstitials show up at just the right time, when users are ready to buy. This timing is not a coincidence, it's all based on optimizing conversion when purchase intent is at its greatest.
The results speak for themselves. By inserting interstitials at these pivotal decision points, Amazon effectively sells more associated products and subscriptions to their Prime service that are unthinkable for traditional banner ads. Their approach demonstrates that interstitials are most effective when the message is one of addition rather than interruption.
As is common with CNN and other big news outfits, they use interstitial ads to strike a balance between free exposure and putting food on the table. The interstitials, which go between articles, convert readers to subscribers at rates that are, frankly, leagues above run-of-the-mill persistent banner ads. These use cases prove that even today, interstitial ads remain most lucrative for mobile app publishers because they are nearly impossible for users to ignore.
The New York Times pursues a similar strategy, displaying full-screen interstitials that promote digital subscriptions and newsletter sign-ups. By placing these adds right after natural chapter content end stops instead of mid page, they don't piss the reader off and still convert.
The numbers don't lie. Per AnyMind Group's comprehensive analysis of 565 mobile app publishers, Japan hit a high of $10.80 in February and the U.S. hit a high of $8.6 in July on interstitial eCPM. Now compare that to banner ads' 0.05% average CTR, which equals 5 clicks per 10,000 impressions, and you start to understand the advertising budget migration to interstatial formats.
Interstitial ads also appear to solve the biggest problem with digital advertising: capturing someone's attention. At 100% share of screen, these ads are hard not to notice. That visibility turns into immediate impact.
Full-screen exposure removes the effect of 'banner blindness' seen in classic display advertising. You can't just keep scrolling or pretend you didn't lose your train of thought for a minute, you have to click through or close the ad. This forced engagement is what Wendy Montes de Oca, MBA and marketing guru at AdWeek with almost two decades of experience is talking about when she says:
i"Interstitial ads are a great way to capture the attention and action of your website visitors."
— Wendy Montes de Oca, MBA and Marketing Expert at AdWeek
The engagement metrics speak volumes. Because banner ads can rarely break the 0.05% CTR barrier, interstitials make it much closer to 4-5% when served on mobile. That isn't just a measly increment, it's an extraordinary difference in efficiency of advertising.
So, let's talk money, the thing that drives your bottom line. Not by a little, interstitial ads not only perform better but also pay better. Way better.
Based on in-depth market research covering user traffic in 565 mobile app publishers worldwide, Japan and the US showed the highest eCPM rates among mature markets, with Japan achieving their highest value of $10.80 in February, and the US reaching $8.60 in July. Compare that to below dollar averages of banner ads, and you suddenly have revenue multiples that completely change the game for monetization.
"With the right integration, interstitial ads can be a wonderful way to monetize your app," say Publift's monetization specialists, citing industry research:
i"Leveraging both playable and video interstitials, developers can see average eCPM performance between $7.03 and $15.30 and above in the majority of tier 1 markets."
— Publift Monetization Team, Ad Revenue Optimization Specialists
Interstitials have creative possibilities that banner ads can't match. From rich media experiences to interactive playable ads, the new format caters to a variety of content types.
Video interstitials take advantage of the increasing prevalence of video content, as mobile video ad spend is set to surpass $200 billion in 2024. Interactive formats allow users to "try before they buy", be it by playing a mini-game or sampling an AR product demonstration. Rich media allows you to tell stories that connect with people emotionally.
This flexibility in creativity results in improved congruence between advertising messages and user expectations resulting in improved engagement and conversion metrics.
Contemporary interstitial implementations are well-suited for devices and platforms, and scale them on various screen sizes and user contexts appropriately.
It's designed for mobile, incorporating Google's AdMob platform guidelines to adhere to for UI consistency across Android and iOS. Desktop execution uses the larger canvas for more creative impact while keeping the full screen benefit. Tablet designs help to fill this void with dimensions that make the best visual impression possible.
Here's one that has only become more valuable: These interstitial ads mostly bypass ad blockers. Even though industry research estimates that almost 40% of adult internet users use ad blockers, interstitials (especially the ones that are served via app SDKs) are still being shown and working.
This is immunity, in the sense that it enables the authority and media channels to reach more constantly and also have more reliable revenue bases. For publishers struggling with high ad block rates, interstitials provide a sturdy framework that ensures monetization, while not interfering with a user´s ability to access content.
Fullscreen interstitial ad is a kind of advertisement unit displayed at natural transition points of a mobile app/website or mobile web (for example, during page/game level transition or as a video pre-load, usually it's inserted between game pages or level selection). While banner ads merely take up a small part of the screen, interstitials appear as a single front-and-center ad the user must engage with or opt out of.
Interstitial ads fill rather than interrupt natural points of pause in the user experience, between game levels, article pages, or sections of an app. They pop up only when users are already switching between content, creating a less interruptive ad experience than a random pop up. I suspect this snappy timing is what makes these ads click so much more than paid click on banners or native ads.
Interstitials have 100% screen attention, hence why they achieve 4-5% on mobile where banner is 0.1%. And users can't avoid them, which has created what experts describe as "forced engagement moments." Full screen also means richer creative and bigger more obvious call to action buttons.
Best practices dictate that interstitials should be shown only at natural stopping points, not when people are in app content consumption mode. Best Time To Do: Between levels, post-article, app section toggle and significant actions performed by the user. Google's recommendations are against interstitials right at app open or website entry.
Interstitial ads are particularly effective for mobile apps, gaming, e-commerce and media companies. They work especially well with businesses that have natural content breakpoints. But businesses that are service based, or need immediate access to the information, may not find them workable. The success is largely dependent on the implementation strategy and user experience, they said.
The biggest cons are users could get annoyed if overused, slower load times than banner ads and users leaving the application in a higher rate if badly implemented. They also slap a penalty on sites that display invasive interstitials on their mobile landing pages that appear in the search results, something that can lead to SEO penalties.
Revenue is highly variable by country, with top countries like the U.S. seeing eCPMs of $8.6 and Japan $10.80 in VIP markets. As a matter of fact, the publishers who implement it correctly report up to 130% increase in their total revenue, and 300-500% higher eCPMs when compared to banner ads.
The fine line between a good interstitial and a bad interstitial? Timing. Only show ads in a natural transition moment, before game level start, after a article finish or when changing section on your app. If you can, avoid asking questions when they are in the middle of a task or the moment they open the app! Google's Search Quality recommendations uniquely punish sites with intrusives interstitials that appear on landing pages from search results.
More isn't always better. Best practices in the industry suggest up to one interstitial per hour per unique user as a maximum, not a goal. Begin with 1 ad for every 2-3 major user actions and tweak based on engagement metrics and user feedback.
Chad Pollitt, a prominent SEO specialist has said:
i"SEO is not something you do anymore, it's what happens when you do everything else right."
— Chad Pollitt, Digital Marketing and SEO Expert
This is for interstitials, put user experience first and performance will follow.
Close buttons should be prominently displayed, large enough for touch, and easy to find. A video ad should be skippable after 5 seconds. Suppressing or disguising exit options might boost "engagement" metrics in the short run, but it squanders user trust and long-term value.
Nowadays slow loading interstitials are driving 23% higher abandonment as recent research papers report. Pre-load ads when user is not in app state for seamless rendering on trigger. Interstitial ads expire after one hour, keep that in mind and apply some smart refresh.
What is effective for one audience can fall flat in front of another. Experiment with creative format (static vs. video vs. playable), timing (which points of transition work best), frequency (when you hit your audience's tipping point) and targeting (demographic, behavioral, contextual).
Each platform has unique characteristics. iOS users tend to be of higher value but lower volume than Android with iOS eCPMs are generally higher than for Android across all markets. Desktop users have more patience for interstitials, but they want the creative to be better. The growing number of mobile users expect quick load times and simple ways to dismiss these interruptive experiences. Gaming apps may raise the frequency limits above what utility apps can push. Tailor your approach accordingly.
Interstitials tripped up even seasoned marketers. Here are the most expensive mistakes we witness:
Excessive frequency begets app uninstalls and user rebellion. Just because you are able to put an ad one place doesn't mean you should. Keep a close watch on user retention metrics and turn off the tap at the first hint of decay.
Bad timing is the biggest killer of user experience. Displaying an interstitial as soon as the app is opened or the site visited is the equivalent of slamming the door in someone's face digitally. Don't post it when people have clicked on your content and got to a logical end of it.
Ignoring mobile considerations costs conversions. Screens are small, fingers are clumsy, and people are impatient. Be sure touch targets are accessible, and close buttons are clear as daylight.
Ad spend wasted and users aggravated, it costs money building and advertising the content and if everyone leaves the page because it'll never load your campaign has failed. As the load time increases, it eats away a chunk of engagement every second. Use aggressive caching and hooking techniques.
There is the risk of being banned or penalized for breaking a platform's terms. There are clear instructions on when and where to use interstitial in Google, Apple, and other platforms. Keep yourself updated on policy changes and whenever in doubt, it is better to err on the side of erring too much.
Consider Google AdMob's implementation recommendations for best results. Make sure ads load fast, are formatted properly for portrait and landscape orientations, and are seamlessly integrated into your app navigation.
Leverage mediation platforms such as Appodeal or Google AdMob to tap into multiple demand sources and boost fill rates. This strategy generally delivers 20-40% higher eCPMs overall when compared with single-network integrations.
As content marketer extraordinaire Ann Handley puts it:
i"The customer is the hero of our story."
— Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs
Yes, this cutely suggests living up to this principle of interstitial creative, but then again, make ads useful for users, not just advertising! Provide real value, entertainment, or incentives.
Would be beneficial to introduce rewarded interstitials where players are rewarded with in-app utility for viewing ads. This strategy converts potential frustration into a good user experience and keeps the engagement rates high.
Monitor other critical metrics other than CTR and eCPM. Track user retention, session length, and app store ratings to make sure interstitials are not killing users' experience. The ideal interstitial strategy will monetize without decreasing the quality of the user experience.
According to Neil Patel, a leading digital marketing expert:
i"Mediocre marketers think in terms of campaigns. Great marketers think in terms of growth frameworks."
— Neil Patel, Digital Marketing Expert and Entrepreneur
Use this thought process to interstitial optimization, think about long-term user value, not short-term revenue spikes.
Interstitial ads are more than just a new ad format, they represent a broader transformation in how we imagine digital advertising engagement. The format has already demonstrated its value across all major digital platforms, with eCPMs of $4.80 for interstitials vs $2.80 for banners by the end of 2024.
The key to success is not how much you show it, but how carefully you implement in a manner that considers the user experience alongside the revenue opportunity. The brands making interstitials work know that the money in monetization is creating value, not just interrupting to capture attention.
As digital marketing strategist Jay Baer puts it:
i"Content is fire. Social media is gasoline."
— Jay Baer, Digital Marketing Strategist and Author
Also for interstitial ads: the spark that ignites engagement when included in a full-blown digital strategy.
By 2025, the issue for digital marketers is not whether to use interstitials, but how to make the most of them. Focus on organic transition points, respect frequency caps, and make certain your implementation doesn't negatively impact user experience in the name of revenue goals. Monetizing a mobile app, driving e-commerce conversions or building a media subscription business, across all of these opportunities, interstitial ads offer unparalleled potential for revenue growth.
Just keep in mind, with great screen space comes great responsibility. Use it properly, and the success will come.
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