A playable ad is an interactive advertisement that lets a person try a cut-down version of a mobile app, almost always a game, inside the ad unit before deciding whether to install it. The viewer taps, swipes or drags through a short scripted slice of gameplay and is then shown a card with a button leading to the App Store or Google Play. The format exists because installs are expensive and many are wasted. When Google introduced its first interactive install formats in December 2015, Sissie Hsiao, then its vice-president for apps, video and display advertising, wrote that "one in four installed apps is never even used". A playable lets people who dislike the gameplay drop out before the advertiser pays for them.

How a playable is built and served

Technically, a playable is a small web application. Studios build it in HTML5, the current version of the web's HyperText Markup Language, and JavaScript, often exporting from a game engine, and inline every image, sound and script so nothing needs fetching once the ad starts. Size limits are almost identical across networks. Google's App campaigns accept a ZIP of up to 5MB containing no more than 512 files. Unity requires a single minified index.html under 5MB; AppLovin asks for one HTML file of 5MB or less with assets encoded in base64; TikTok wants a ZIP below 5MB after compression, holding an index.html and a config.json that sets orientation to 0 (either), 1 (portrait) or 2 (landscape). AppLovin and TikTok ban external network calls outright, while Unity permits only analytics calls stripped of personal data, according to their documentation.

On the sell side the unit runs inside the publisher app's software development kit (SDK), which renders the HTML in a web view and exposes a bridge defined by the Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions (MRAID), the in-app rich media standard maintained by the Interactive Advertising Bureau's technical arm, IAB Tech Lab. MRAID tells the ad whether it is visible and lets it ask the host to open the store. Unity requires MRAID 3.0 and tells creatives to wait for the viewableChange event before starting play. AppLovin requires MRAID 2.0 and warns that click-throughs not routed through mraid.open() fail. Others go their own way: Google requires its ExitApi script in the page head, Meta's format depends on a FbPlayableAd.onCTAClick() call, according to PlayCanvas documentation, and TikTok forbids MRAID in favour of its own JavaScript SDK.

A typical serve runs in four steps. A player reaches a break in a free-to-play game, or opts into a rewarded slot. The publisher's mediation layer, such as AppLovin MAX, Unity LevelPlay or Google AdMob, runs an auction among networks and bidders. The winner delivers a playable alone or a video followed by one; on Meta's News Feed the video comes first, according to its developer documentation. Finally the call to action opens the store, and a mobile measurement partner (MMP) matches the install to the ad. AppLovin also requires audio to stay muted, and timers frozen, until the first touch.

OpenRTB, the open real-time bidding protocol, has no playable flag, so the unit is described indirectly. In version 2.6 a request for a full-screen rewarded slot carries instl = 1 and rwdd = 1, a field that version added, while the banner object's api array lists supported frameworks from the Advertising Common Object Model (AdCOM), where 5 is MRAID 2.0, 6 is MRAID 3.0 and 7 is Open Measurement Interface Definition (OMID) 1.0. A demand-side platform (DSP) returning a playable sets mtype to 1, banner, because the markup is HTML, declares apis [5] and places the page in adm. The nearest standard label is creative attribute 13, "User Interactive (e.g., Embedded Games)", which a seller can block through battr. AppLovin's exchange keeps rewarded MRAID units, which it calls playable ads, switched off for DSPs by default and caps them at 30 seconds.

On iOS, the exit shapes attribution. Apple's SKAdNetwork assigns a fidelity-type of 1 to StoreKit-rendered ads, where the product page appears in-app through SKOverlay or SKStoreProductViewController, and 0 to view-through ads the network renders itself. Apple says the value can affect which ad receives credit.

Buyers are mostly game studios' user acquisition (UA) teams, paying against cost per install (CPI) or return-on-spend targets through AppLovin, Unity, Mintegral, TikTok, Meta and Google App campaigns, or through DSPs such as Moloco. Tooling has consolidated: ironSource bought Luna Labs, which built playables from Unity projects, on February 23, 2021, according to TechCrunch, and later merged with Unity itself.

From streamed demos to HTML5 units

The plumbing came first. MRAID launched in 2011 for expandable banners; later revisions added resizing, device features, orientation handling and full-screen interstitials. MRAID 2.0 was finalised in September 2012, according to MediaPost.

Google tried two routes on December 3, 2015. Trial Run Ads, in AdMob beta, streamed the real game from a server for up to 60 seconds on Android, while interactive interstitials ran HTML5 on Android and iOS, according to Google's announcement. On March 14, 2016 it extended streaming to search ads, with trials of up to 10 minutes. Each platform specification cited above follows the HTML5 route.

MRAID 3.0 went to public comment on November 30, 2016 and was finalised in July 2017, according to the IAB. It added viewability and audibility measurement, standardised the close button and deprecated useCustomClose(), which had let ads draw their own exits.

Facebook began testing playables in News Feed with about two dozen developers in April 2018. The format became available globally on August 2, 2018. Rick Kelley, Facebook's vice-president of global gaming, said the format let advertisers give players "a chance to experience a game in Feed before they install it", according to MarTech. In May 2019 Facebook extended it to Audience Network's rewarded and interstitial placements and claimed that users who installed through playables opened apps 60% more often and were six times likelier to buy in-game items, according to Adweek. It released a Playable Preview Tool that September.

Why app marketers pay for play

Acquisition costs are climbing. Adjust's 2026 trends report found gaming CPI rose 30% year on year, and a unit that filters out indifferent users promises more value per install. Adam Foroughi, AppLovin's chief executive, said in February 2026 that advertisers spend well over $11bn a year on its platform. Those ads are full-screen units, roughly half shown between game levels and half in rewarded placements, the slots where playables usually run.

Brands outside gaming now borrow the format. Unity said gaming-derived audiences delivered a 290% click-through liftin a test using playable and end-card units, a vendor figure, and adidas ran playable ads inside Uber's app across Europe in 2026. Apple's age-rating questionnaire names playable ads among declared advertising formats.

Fake gameplay, forced taps and fragmented specs

The first objection concerns honesty. In October 2020 the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned Facebook ads for Playrix's Homescapes and Gardenscapes after seven complaints, according to law firm RPC, finding that the pin-pulling puzzles shown in the ads appeared only once every 20 levels. A "not all images represent actual gameplay" disclaimer did not save them. The regulator's guidance, updated on May 20, 2025, says such small print is unlikely to prevent an ad misleading. A playable is, by construction, a claim about gameplay.

Accidental taps are the second. AppLovin and Unity both write bans on automatic store redirects into their specifications. Culper Research alleged on February 26, 2025 that AppLovin used deceptive user experience design to trigger inadvertent installations; Foroughi published a rebuttal the same day. Google Play has barred full-screen interstitials that cannot be closed after 15 seconds since September 30, 2022, with rewarded ads exempt, according to TechRadar.

Fragmentation is the third. One playable needs separate builds for MRAID 2.0, MRAID 3.0, Google's ExitApi, Meta's call and TikTok's SDK. Measurement is thin as well. The IAB's Gaming Measurement Framework of June 26, 2025 lists playables alongside session duration and engagement metrics, but the framework document does not define the term. Most performance figures come from the platforms selling the inventory.

Not the same as

Rewarded ad. A placement type, flagged by rwdd, in which a user opts in for an in-game reward. The creative can be video or playable.

End card. The closing screen after a video, carrying the install button. A playable can act as one, as AdMob now allows, but an end card need not be interactive.

Instant games and streamed demos. TikTok's Mini Games are full games inside TikTok that carry ads rather than being ads, and Google's Trial Run Ads streamed the real app instead of an HTML5 imitation.

YouTube Playables. A catalogue of free games that began rolling out on May 28, 2024 with more than 75 titles, according to YouTube, and was later integrated into live streams. It is a consumer product, not an ad format.

Recent developments

Placement options keep widening. Google announced on August 14, 2025 that playables could run as end cards after video ads on select AdMob inventory. TikTok's playables require its upgraded Smart+ experience, according to a help centre page updated in April 2026. Snap's Unified Attribution, rolled out globally in August 2026, limits supported formats to four, playables among them.

The code inside the unit has become contested property. AppLovin filed a petition on September 28, 2026 in San Francisco Superior Court seeking to stop Unity's Ad Quality SDK collecting data from impressions AppLovin wins, and a hearing was set for today. Its demand lists the HTML and JavaScript of playable and end-card units among the material collected. Gary Bornstein of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, representing Unity, said "Ad Quality does not collect any data from AppLovin".

Timeline

  • 2011: IAB launches MRAID, initially for expandable in-app ads
  • September 2012: MRAID 2.0 finalised
  • December 3, 2015: Google puts Trial Run Ads (60-second streamed demos) and HTML5 interactive interstitials into AdMob beta
  • March 14, 2016: Google extends streamed trials of up to 10 minutes to search ads
  • November 30, 2016: MRAID 3.0 released for public comment until January 30, 2017
  • July 2017: MRAID 3.0 finalised
  • April 2018: Facebook tests playable ads in News Feed with about two dozen developers
  • August 2, 2018: Facebook makes playable ads available globally in News Feed
  • May 2019: Facebook extends playable ads to Audience Network rewarded and interstitial placements
  • September 2019: Facebook releases its Playable Preview Tool
  • October 2020: The ASA bans Playrix ads that misrepresented Homescapes and Gardenscapes gameplay
  • February 23, 2021: ironSource acquires playable production platform Luna Labs
  • 2022: OpenRTB 2.6, released for public comment on December 9, 2021, is finalised with the rwdd field for rewarded placements
  • September 30, 2022: Google Play's ban on full-screen interstitials not closeable after 15 seconds takes effect
  • May 28, 2024: YouTube begins rolling out its Playables games catalogue
  • February 26, 2025: Culper Research alleges AppLovin used deceptive UX to trigger inadvertent installs
  • May 20, 2025: The ASA updates its guidance on mobile game ads
  • June 26, 2025: The IAB publishes its Gaming Measurement Framework, listing playables as a custom format
  • August 14, 2025: Google enables playables as end cards after video ads on select AdMob inventory
  • April 2026: TikTok updates its playable ads documentation to require Smart+
  • August 2026: Snap rolls out Unified Attribution globally with playables among four supported formats
  • September 28, 2026: AppLovin petitions San Francisco Superior Court over Unity's Ad Quality SDK
  • September 30, 2026: Hearing scheduled in AppLovin's case against Unity

Summary

Who. Game studios and other app developers commission playables through their user acquisition teams and creative studios; ad networks and platforms including AppLovin, Unity, Mintegral, Google, Meta, TikTok and Snap serve them; publisher apps render them through SDKs and mediation layers; IAB Tech Lab maintains MRAID and the OpenRTB fields that describe them; Apple, Google Play and advertising regulators such as the ASA set the rules on how they behave and what they may show.

What. An interactive HTML5 advertisement, typically capped at 5MB, that lets a person play a short scripted slice of an app, usually a game, before an end card sends them to an app store to install it.

When. In-app rich media standards date from MRAID in 2011. Google trialled interactive and streamed install ads from December 2015, MRAID 3.0 was finalised in July 2017, and Facebook took playables global in August 2018. Regulation of misleading game ads followed from 2020, and playables spread to end cards, brand campaigns and attribution products in 2025 and 2026.

Where. Mostly in full-screen interstitial and rewarded placements inside free-to-play mobile games, and in feeds on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, with the markup travelling through SDK networks, mediation auctions and OpenRTB bid responses.

Why. App installs are costly and many are never used. Letting people try gameplay before installing aims to deliver users who will keep playing, although misleading demos, accidental taps, fragmented specifications and largely self-reported performance data remain disputed.