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johnmarsden
Visitor

Roku RAF: Skipping Ads?

Is there a flag/ability to show a Skip button for ads?

I saw in some threads the answer "No." 
I saw some thread mention using the back button would be against Channel Certification.
I saw some threads talking about custom players, but then again, would that void Channel Certification?

My question really stems from the fact that the RAF docs (https://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc ... +Framework) have events under tracking for "Skip," where it says "User skipped ad (if skippable)". I can't find any references on how to skip ads with RAF other than that one clue. So how would that event be fired for Skip if ads can't be skipped? 

Thanks!
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4 REPLIES 4
EnTerr
Roku Guru

Re: Roku RAF: Skipping Ads?

There is a well-documented way to allow skipping ads and that is:
RAF.setAdExit(true)

See also the return of `RAF.showAds(adPods)` - if False, that flags you the ad was user-exited, so you can distinguish between fully and partially played (e.g. you can play another ad or upsell to a premium no-ads version)

I have no clue what's the intent of "11.14. Ads can't be skipped by pressing the "back" button on Remote Control" and where it came from, nor why is it P2 and not P3 - but either way, only P1 are show-stopper priority. Perhaps this applies only to RokuCo ad inventory.
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johnmarsden
Visitor

Re: Roku RAF: Skipping Ads?

"EnTerr" wrote:
There is a well-documented way to allow skipping ads and that is:
RAF.setAdExit(true)

See also the return of `RAF.showAds(adPods)` - if False, that flags you the ad was user-exited, so you can distinguish between fully and partially played (e.g. you can play another ad or upsell to a premium no-ads version)

I have no clue what's the intent of "11.14. Ads can't be skipped by pressing the "back" button on Remote Control" and where it came from, nor why is it P2 and not P3 - but either way, only P1 are show-stopper priority. Perhaps this applies only to RokuCo ad inventory.

I saw this method but the documentation doesn't describe it as a SKIP button. Does this actually put a "Skip" button on the screen?

"The default behavior is to enable exiting ad render (e.g., via “Back” button) to return to content selection screen in the application. Some use cases may require disabling this behavior if the user should not be allowed to skip ads when there is no applicable content selection mechanism."

I know you can exit via the Back button and decide what you want to do, but that's not what I'm looking for. The documentation makes it sound like you have two choices: Allow back button to exit ad and disable the former behavior.

I'm currently setup to exit an ad and return back to the springboard by capturing the Boolean result of showAds, but I want to know if there's a built in way of having a "Skip" button appear on the screen that is acceptable. If the "setAdExit(true)" you suggested does exactly that, then the documentation is a bit misleading :)
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EnTerr
Roku Guru

Re: Roku RAF: Skipping Ads?

"johnmarsden" wrote:
... I want to know if there's a built in way of having a "Skip" button appear on the screen that is acceptable. If the "setAdExit(true)" you suggested does exactly that, then the documentation is a bit misleading 🙂

It was unclear to me in the original question that you expected a visual cue that an ad is skippable (not obvious at all, some publishers - like me - may want the ad to be exitable with Back but not promote the fact)

No, .setAdExit() does not add a visual button on screen. And there is no built-in way to add such button on screen, AFAIK.
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EnTerr
Roku Guru

Re: Roku RAF: Skipping Ads?

"EnTerr" wrote:
I have no clue what's the intent of "11.14. Ads can't be skipped by pressing the "back" button on Remote Control" and where it came from, nor why is it P2 and not P3 - but either way, only P1 are show-stopper priority. Perhaps this applies only to RokuCo ad inventory.

Serendipitously - only a day after we mentioned this 11.14 arcanum - a new "Channel certification checklist 3.0" was published today and there is no such requirement anymore.

So rejoice people - and let the skipping begin! As long as the publisher and the advertisers are fine with it.
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