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Advertisements: AVOD Advertising That Pays for the Free Tier

Run sponsored placements and video ads across your catalogue, so viewers who never subscribe still fund the platform.

A pre roll ad break playing in the video player on a laptop, and a sponsored slot on the home screen of the phone app

A Non Paying Audience Is Still an Audience

Vodlix advertisements let a non paying audience fund your platform. Many viewers enjoy your content and will never subscribe; a hard paywall loses both them and their attention. Advertising turns that attention into revenue through an ad supported tier, and one setting decides whether paying subscribers see ads at all. Video ad breaks run across your catalogue and live channels, and sponsored slots sit in your TV and mobile apps, all from the same platform as your subscriptions. For OTT operators, AVOD is how the free tier pays for itself.


Earn from free viewers

Attention becomes income.

Sponsored slots

In your TV and mobile apps.

In player ads

Same player, nothing to install.

A pre roll ad playing inside the same video player as the programme, with pause, volume, time and full screen controls

Video Advertising Inside the Player

Video advertising in Vodlix plays inside the same player your viewers already use. There is no second player and nothing to install: the ad takes over the screen with its own simple controls for pause, volume, time and full screen, then hands straight back to the programme. Ads arrive as VAST tags through Google IMA, the default ad engine, or through the Vodlix VAST engine, which plays tags without the IMA SDK and gets round browser autoplay restrictions. In player advertising keeps the viewing experience consistent while opening a revenue stream from every free tier session.


Campaigns and Creatives in One Place

Every campaign lives in Ads Manager, in one table: its name, the apps it runs in, its priority, its start and end dates, its status and its impressions. Beside it, Video Creatives holds the ads you host yourself, each an MP4 with its duration, its skip setting and a click through address. A campaign can call a VAST tag from your ad server or network, or play one of your own creatives, and either can be switched on or off without touching a title. Keeping campaigns and creatives in one place is what lets a small team run advertising without a separate ad operations tool.


Ads Manager campaigns with app, priority, dates, status and impressions, above the list of VAST video creatives
Pre roll

Plays after the viewer presses play and before your video begins. Nothing has started yet, so there is nothing for anyone to abandon, which is why pre roll completes more often than any other break. It is the usual home for a brand campaign or a house promo.

Mid roll

Plays part way through the programme. The viewer is already invested in what they are watching, so mid roll earns the strongest rates of the three. It suits longer titles, where a break feels like an intermission rather than an interruption.

Post roll

Plays once the video has finished. Fewer viewers stay for it, so completion is the lowest of the three, but it carries the least risk of any break, because anyone who leaves has already watched the whole programme.

Close up of an ad break showing the time left, the Skip Ad button and the ad's own progress bar

Clear Ad Breaks Viewers Can Trust

Vodlix is straightforward with viewers about ad breaks. Each break is clearly marked as an advertisement with the time it has left, shows its own progress bar and, on skippable ads, counts down to a Skip Ad button. Being honest about the length of a break is what stops viewers leaving during it. Clear ad presentation maintains trust with the audience, which protects both engagement and the value of your ad inventory.


Create New Ad in Ads Manager filled in for a Harbor Lights season sponsor: VAST URL ad type, ad tag, skippable with a 5 second skip time, mid roll every 600 seconds and priority 30, above the campaigns list with each campaign's priority

Who Sees It, Where, and For How Long

A campaign is more than a file and a slot. Ads Manager sets the rules around it, and most of the revenue difference between two operators running the same inventory lives in these fields.


Placement. Ad interval decides whether the break is a pre roll, a mid roll or a post roll, and ad priority decides which campaign wins when more than one could play.


Skipping. A campaign can be skippable or not, and when it is, you set the skip time in seconds. That single number is the lever between completion rate and goodwill, and it is yours rather than a platform default.


Targeting. Schedule a campaign with start and end dates, then limit it by country, by category, by a maturity range, and by which apps it is allowed to run in, so a sponsor bought for the television is not spent on a phone.


Content targeting. Point a campaign at specific videos, live channels or series and cap impressions, which is what makes a directly sold sponsorship of one show possible rather than theoretical.


TV app home screen with a sponsored banner below the featured title and above the Editor's Pick row

The Biggest Screen in the House

Television is where advertising still commands the highest rates, and it is also where a badly placed ad does the most damage. The sponsored slot on your TV apps sits below the hero, in the natural resting place between deciding what to watch and pressing play. It is reachable with a remote, it never blocks the content behind it, and it carries the same creative you are already running in your mobile apps. For an operator selling airtime directly, that is a living room impression with none of the production cost of a traditional spot.


The same sponsored banner on the TV app home screen and in the phone app

One Placement, Every Screen

Sell the slot once and it renders on every app. The same sponsored placement reflows from the television into your mobile apps without a separate creative, a separate booking or a separate conversation with the advertiser. That matters commercially as much as technically, because a campaign that reaches the phone and the television as one buy is worth considerably more than two fragmented ones.


Free, Paid, or Both at Once

Advertising does not have to be your whole business model. The most durable services run more than one at a time: a free tier funded by ads that feeds a paid tier, so the catalogue does the acquisition work for you. Vodlix runs advertising alongside subscriptions and rentals on the same platform, and a single setting decides whether subscribers still see ads on ad supported titles or watch them ad free. Your reports and sales dashboard show what each model actually returns, which is the only honest way to decide how much of your catalogue should stay free. The full picture of OTT monetization covers how the three fit together.


A free viewer watching an ad break before the programme, with the Ads To Premium Users setting switched off so subscribers watch without ads

Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions about taking advantage of this limited-time offer? Check out the FAQ for answers.

How does Vodlix advertising earn from free viewers?
Vodlix plays video ads inside the player and shows sponsored slots in the TV and mobile apps for viewers on an ad supported tier, so non paying viewers still generate revenue through advertising.
Do paying subscribers see ads on Vodlix?
Only if you want them to. The Ads To Premium Users setting decides whether subscribers see ads on ad supported videos. Switch it off and subscribing is what removes the ads.
Where do ads appear on a Vodlix platform?
Vodlix ads appear as pre roll, mid roll and post roll breaks inside the player, and as labelled sponsored slots on the home screen of the TV and mobile apps. Video campaigns are set up in Ads Manager in the CMS.
Is there a separate player for ads on Vodlix?
No. Vodlix video ads play in the same player as your content, with their own simple controls for pause, volume, time and full screen, so there is no second player and nothing for viewers to install.
Are ad breaks clear to viewers on Vodlix?
Yes. Each Vodlix ad break is marked as an advertisement with the time it has left, shows its own progress bar and, on skippable ads, counts down to a Skip Ad button, so viewers know how long the break lasts.
What is a post roll ad?
A post roll ad plays once the video has finished. Fewer viewers stay to watch one, so completion is the lowest of the three, but it is also the safest break to run, because anyone who leaves has already seen the whole programme.
What is a VAST tag?
VAST is the standard format ad servers and networks use to hand an ad to a video player. Point a break at a VAST tag and the ad is requested at playback, which means campaigns can change without anyone editing the title. It is the route to take when you are selling through a network or filling programmatically.
When should I attach a creative instead of using a VAST tag?
Whenever you want certainty about exactly what plays. A creative plays an MP4 you host, with the duration, skip time and click through address you set, and no ad server in between. It suits house promos, trailers for your own catalogue, and sponsors you sold yourself. Many operators attach creatives as a guaranteed floor and let a VAST tag fill whatever is left.
Can different titles have different ad breaks?
Yes. Content targeting points a campaign at specific videos, live channels or series, so a two minute clip can run without an interruption while a feature carries a sponsor of its own. Nothing forces one pattern across the whole catalogue.
Can viewers skip ads?
That is a per campaign setting. A campaign is marked skippable or not, and when it is, you set how many seconds must play before the skip becomes available. The player then shows the countdown, along with a counter for how much of the ad is left and its own progress bar.
How precisely can we target a campaign?
By start and end date, by country, by category, by a maturity level range, and by which apps the campaign is allowed to run in. You can also point it at specific videos, live channels or series and cap the number of impressions, which is what makes sponsoring a single show workable.
What happens when two campaigns could fill the same break?
Each campaign carries a priority, so you decide which one wins rather than leaving it to chance. That is how a directly sold sponsorship takes precedence over network fill.
Can I use my own ad network?
Yes. Any ad server or network that issues VAST tags can fill your breaks, so you are not locked into one source of demand, and campaign targeting decides which countries, categories, apps and titles each one reaches.
Do paying subscribers still see advertising?
That is your call, and it is one setting. Most operators switch off Ads To Premium Users so that subscribing is what removes the ads. Because advertising and subscriptions run on the same platform, you can set that boundary wherever it makes commercial sense.
Can advertising run on live channels as well as on demand content?
Yes. Ads for Live TV is a switch in the Live TV settings, and content targeting can point a campaign at specific live channels, so a channel lineup can carry advertising in the same way your catalogue does.
How do I know whether advertising is earning more than a subscription would?
Your reports and sales dashboard show what subscriptions and rentals earn, and every campaign in Ads Manager carries its impressions, so you can compare what the free tier returns against what subscribers pay and move titles between the two on evidence rather than instinct.