What is a playable ad in mobile game advertising?

Short answer. A playable ad is a short interactive demo that runs inside the ad itself, so a person can try the core of a game or app before installing it. It runs full screen, ends with a call to action to the app store, and has to meet each ad network's technical specs.

This entry is the definition. For how to build, test and place playables, read our playable ads guide, and for who makes them, playable ad studios compared.

The definition

Unity's documentation puts it simply: "Playable ads allow users to play a short interactive demo of your game." Its spec page adds that a playable is "a short interactive experience that gives players an impression of what your game or app is about", and that playables run "either as a standalone playable ad or as a playable end card after a video ad."

Digital Turbine describes playables as "full-screen ads showing interactive content that allow users to preview and interact with app content", which "should include a call to action to encourage users to download or further engage with your app."

The technical shape

Networks are strict about the file. Unity requires a single minified file under 5 MB with all assets inlined, "No network requests at runtime, and no attribution events of its own", and that it open the store "only after gameplay and a player tap". Digital Turbine gives a recommended file size of 2 MB. Specs differ by network, so build to the strictest one you plan to run on.

A worked example (illustration)

These numbers are made up. A playable serves 10,000 impressions. 3,000 people interact, 600 finish the loop, 150 tap the call to action and 60 install. That is 6 installs per thousand impressions (IPM). The drop from 3,000 to 600 says the loop is too long or unclear; the drop from 600 to 150 says the end screen is not asking clearly enough.

What a good or bad reading tells you

Interaction rate tells you whether the opening frame invites a tap. Completion tells you whether the mechanic is understood. Installs per impression tells you whether it sells the game. A playable can score well on interaction and poorly on installs if it shows a mechanic that is fun in the ad but is not what the game is.

In games and in consumer brands

Playables started in games because a game is easiest to demonstrate by playing it. Our guide covers how consumer brands apply the same logic, for example a quick interactive product choice.

Common mistakes

• Too long and too instructive. Unity's guidance is that players "need to understand the core mechanic within the first 3 to 5 s because the Unity close button can appear after only 5 s", and to teach "with one visual hint". We make the same argument in playables: the shortest possible version wins.
• Redirecting to the store on the first touch, which Unity's specs tell you not to do.
• Opening on logos or splash screens instead of a state the player can act on.

Flixr's view

We make playables alongside video and end cards from the same brief. Our rule is one interaction, no tutorial, payoff in seconds. See our playable ads page.