CTV & video · also called Ad break, commercial pod
Ad pod
An ad pod is a group of video ads played back to back in a single ad break, like a traditional TV commercial break, common in CTV and long-form streaming.
On television, a break usually contains several ads in a row. Streaming copied the idea: an ad pod might be two minutes long with four 30-second slots, or a mix of 15-, 30- and 60-second ads. Each slot can be sold separately.
Pods create specific challenges for ad tech. Sellers want to fill the whole pod efficiently, avoid showing competing brands next to each other (competitive separation), avoid the same ad twice in a pod, and manage the total duration. OpenRTB 2.6 added pod-bidding features so buyers can bid on specific slots or whole pods, and sellers can describe pod structure, such as a pod ID and slot position. First and last positions are often priced higher, because viewers are most attentive then.
Pods are usually filled via SSAI in CTV and FAST environments. Poor pod management, such as repeated ads or excessive length, harms viewer experience. Pod data also helps detect fraud: implausible pod structures or impossible numbers of ads per hour can signal spoofed supply.
Think of it like this
An ad pod is like a bus with several seats: each advertiser buys a seat, and the driver makes sure two rival brands are not sitting side by side.
An example
A US streaming service fills a 120-second mid-roll pod with one 30-second and six 15-second ads, ensuring no two car brands appear in the same pod.
Related terms
Mid-roll
Mid-roll is a video ad or ad break that plays partway through content, interrupting it, like a traditional TV commercial break.
SSAI (server-side ad insertion)
SSAI (server-side ad insertion) stitches video ads directly into the content stream on a server before it reaches the viewer, creating seamless, TV-like playback that ad blockers find hard to detect.
CTV (connected TV)
CTV (connected TV) is any television connected to the internet, such as a smart TV, streaming stick, games console or set-top box, and the advertising shown in streaming apps on it.
Pre-roll
Pre-roll is a video ad that plays before the content the viewer chose to watch begins.
OpenRTB
OpenRTB is the open technical standard, maintained by IAB Tech Lab, that defines how bid requests and bid responses are formatted and exchanged in real-time bidding.