--- title: "What Is a Mid-Roll Ad? Definition and Examples | RentAnOTT" description: "A mid-roll ad plays in a break during a video, like a TV commercial break. See where to place breaks, how many ads per break and why mid-rolls earn most." url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/mid-roll" markdown_url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/mid-roll.md" category: "Advertising" updated: "2026-10-05" --- # What is a mid-roll ad? A mid-roll ad is a video advertisement that plays in a break partway through the content, in the manner of a television commercial break. It is the main ad position for long-form and live video. ## How mid-roll works The content carries cue points: timestamps where a break may occur. In live streams these are signalled in the feed as it runs. When playback reaches a cue point, the program pauses, one or more ads play in sequence, and the program resumes from the same point. A group of ads played back to back in one break is called an ad pod. ## Why mid-rolls earn the most By the time a mid-roll appears the viewer is invested in the program and far more likely to sit through the break than to leave. Completion rates are high, so advertisers pay more, and a long title can carry several breaks where a pre-roll offers only one opportunity. ## Placing the breaks - Put breaks at natural pauses: scene changes, act breaks, between rounds or halves - Never cut mid-sentence or mid-action; automated placement at fixed intervals does this - Leave the first several minutes clear so the viewer settles in - Space breaks evenly, for example every 8 to 12 minutes in long-form - Keep breaks short on streaming: 30 to 90 seconds, not the several minutes of broadcast - Show a countdown so viewers know when the program returns ## Operational details Decide what happens when a viewer skips forward past a break: most services play the most recent missed break and no more. Avoid repeating the same ad within a pod or across consecutive breaks, and make sure an unfilled break is skipped silently instead of showing a blank screen. ## Mid-roll ad on RentAnOTT Advertising is included on every RentAnOTT plan as part of AVOD, with frequency control and ad reporting in the advanced advertising add-on. For how ad-supported video earns, see the AVOD entry. [Read about AVOD](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/avod). ## Related terms - [Pre-roll ad](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/pre-roll) — A pre-roll ad is a video advertisement that plays before the content a viewer chose. It is the simplest ad position to implement, since it needs no markers inside the video. - [Ad load](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/ad-load) — Ad load is the amount of advertising shown per hour of viewing, expressed either as minutes of ads per hour or as the number of ads per hour. It is the main lever an ad-supported service has over both revenue and viewer tolerance. - [SSAI](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/ssai) — SSAI (server-side ad insertion) is a way of delivering video advertising in which the ads are stitched into the stream on the server before it reaches the viewer. The player receives one continuous stream containing both program and ads. - [AVOD](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/avod) — AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) is a streaming model where viewers watch on-demand video for free and the service earns from the ads shown before, during or after it. ## Further reading - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing) - [OTT revenue calculator](https://www.rentanott.com/tools/ott-revenue-calculator) - [Content monetization platforms compared](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs/content-monetization-platforms) ## Frequently asked questions ### How many mid-roll breaks should a video have? As a starting point, one every 8 to 12 minutes for long-form content, and none for videos under about 8 minutes. Adjust by watching drop-off at each break. ### How are mid-roll positions set? By cue points stored with the title, entered by an editor or detected automatically at scene changes and then reviewed. ### Do mid-rolls work in live streams? Yes. Markers in the live feed signal each break, and ads replace the break for each viewer, usually by server-side insertion. All 163 terms: [Streaming and OTT glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary). ## Book a demo Tell RentAnOTT what you are launching. The team walks through the platform and maps the path to go-live around your catalog, markets and revenue model. Book a demo: https://www.rentanott.com/contact ## More from RentAnOTT - [Home](https://www.rentanott.com/index.md) — What RentAnOTT is, what every plan includes, and how launch works - [Features](https://www.rentanott.com/features.md) — Every core feature and optional add-on - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing.md) — Platform tiers, apps, add-ons, usage rates and example bills in INR and USD - [Free tools](https://www.rentanott.com/tools.md) — OTT app builder and calculators for streaming revenue, bandwidth, bitrate and pricing - [Insights](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs.md) — All streaming business articles - [Glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary.md) — Definitions of streaming and OTT terms - [Book a demo](https://www.rentanott.com/contact.md) — Talk to RentAnOTT about your launch Full site in one file: https://www.rentanott.com/llms-full.txt