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Interstitial

Interstitial ads are fullscreen advertisements displayed over the application content.

They are best used at natural transition points, such as after completing a level, between matches, or before opening a new section. Avoid showing them during active gameplay or at moments when the user does not expect an interruption.

The general initialization and loading workflow is described in Basic Usage. This page focuses on interstitial-specific behavior.

Interstitials should be shown only at clear pauses in the user experience.

Suitable placements include:

  • after a level or match has ended;
  • between gameplay sessions;
  • while transitioning between major screens;
  • after the user completes an action and before the next section begins.

Avoid showing an interstitial immediately after the application starts, while the user is actively controlling the game, or in response to frequent interface actions.

The application should remain usable even when an interstitial is unavailable.

Loading and Reuse

An interstitial must be loaded before it can be shown.

Wait for On Loaded before calling Show Interstitial. You can also use Is Interstitial Ready when the application needs to check whether an ad is currently available.

A loaded interstitial can be shown only once. After it has been displayed, a new ad must be loaded before the next show request.

For this reason, it is usually better to load the next interstitial in advance rather than waiting until the exact moment when it should appear.

Note

A successful load does not guarantee that the ad will remain available indefinitely. Check the current state before showing if there may be a long delay between loading and display.

Display Options

Auto Reload automatically requests another ad with the same Ad Unit ID after the current ad is closed. When disabled, load the next ad manually.

Immersive Mode requests fullscreen presentation with system interface elements hidden where supported. Its exact behavior depends on the platform and device.

Callbacks and Events

The interstitial show function provides several callbacks:

  • On Started — the ad began displaying.
  • On Completed — the ad was closed or finished displaying.
  • On Failure — the ad could not be shown.
  • On Event — reports click and impression events through EFullScreenAdEventType.

Use On Started and On Completed when the application needs to pause and resume gameplay, audio, input, or other systems around the fullscreen ad.

On Completed does not indicate that the user clicked the ad. Click and impression information is reported separately through On Event.

If On Failure is triggered, the application should continue normally without blocking the user.

Application State

A fullscreen ad temporarily takes control of the screen.

Before showing an interstitial, consider pausing:

  • active gameplay;
  • timers that should not progress while the ad is visible;
  • player input;
  • game audio, when appropriate.

Restore the required state from On Completed or On Failure.

Do not rely only on a successful show request to resume the application, because the display operation may fail.

For a reliable interstitial implementation:

  1. Load the ad before the intended transition point.
  2. Wait for On Loaded or verify Is Interstitial Ready.
  3. Show the ad only during a natural pause.
  4. Pause any application systems that should not continue behind the ad.
  5. Resume the application from both On Completed and On Failure.
  6. Load the next ad manually or enable Auto Reload.

Avoid forcing the user to wait for an interstitial to load. If no ad is ready, continue to the next screen or gameplay state.

For exact function signatures and callback parameters, see AdMob API.

For fullscreen events and error values, see Enumerations.

For official Android and iOS demo Ad Unit IDs, see Testing.