Placement types

All calls to adBreak() must specify a placement type. This is a string that describes the state of your game when the ad will be shown. Is your game just loading? Has the player paused the game play? Or have they reached a point in your game where they could be offered a reward?

The precise type that you use is important. As it can directly affect the kind of ad experience that will be shown (an interstitial versus a rewarded ad). But it can also have other less visible effects on behaviour of the API. It’s important that you specify the placement type correctly so the API can work optimally.

Placement type	Description
'preroll'	Your game has not loaded its UI and is not playing sound. There can only be one ‘preroll’ placement in your game for each page load. Example: a player clicks on your game within a game catalogue. The game canvas is displayed, and before your game renders its UI or enables sound an ad is shown. The player can click on the ad or dismiss it at which point the game will start.
'start'	Your game has loaded, the UI is visible and sound is enabled, the player can interact with the game, but the game play has not started yet. Example: You display a brief loading screen "Loading..." and an interstitial ad is shown. The player can click on the ad or dismiss it to continue to the game. NOTE: A preroll does quite a bit more work for you than a start placement. preroll waits for the API to initialise and automatically preloads ads. You should use preroll instead of start for the very first ad that’s shown while your game is loading, before the UI has rendered. start is a better placement once your UI has rendered and the player is able to interact with the game. start can also be used when the game restarts—there can be multiple start placements per page load. If a start placement is the very first placement in your game (i.e. you don't use the preroll placement), you may need to manually request that ads are preloaded.
'pause'	The player pauses the game. Example: the player pauses the game and an interstitial ad is shown. The ad remains on the screen until the player dismisses it. When they return the game is still paused. The player can then resume the game and keep playing.
'next'	The player navigates to the next level. Example: The player has just completed a level. They tap a button "Next level…" an interstitial ad is shown. They view the ad, dismiss it, and proceed to the next level.
'browse'	The player explores options outside of the gameplay. Example: The player wants to alter the style of their character. They tap the button "Options..." an interstitial ad is shown. They view the ad, dismiss it, and proceed to the character editor.
'reward'	The player reaches a point in the game where they can be offered a reward. Example: The player has just died and run out of lives. They are offered a bonus life at this point if they watch an ad. The Ad Placement API calls your code to offer the reward to the player. They tap the reward button and watch all of a video ad. They then receive a new life and keep playing.

Note: this set of placement types is an area of active development.

If you have placements in your game that don’t naturally fit into one of these categories, let your Google Account Manager know, and we will use this feedback over time to refine these categories.