A playable ad is an advertisement the viewer operates. It loads as a self-contained HTML5 document inside an app's ad slot, gives the person something to do with one finger, and ends on a card that asks for the next step. No download, no page load, no separate runtime.
The anatomy of a unit
- Hook — the first frame, readable in under a second, with an implicit instruction.
- Tutorial — usually a pulsing hand or an arrow, never text. Fires within the first 500 ms.
- Mechanic — ten to twenty seconds of interaction that rehearses a real product decision.
- End card — the outcome, the offer and the call to action, with the network's click handler wired to it.
Where they run
Playables are bought as a creative format inside app-install and performance campaigns on Google App campaigns, AppLovin, Unity Ads, Mintegral, ironSource, Meta and TikTok. The slot is a rewarded or interstitial placement inside another app, so the technical envelope is an SDK WebView rather than a browser tab.
How it differs from adjacent formats
- Video ad — linear, measured by view-through. A playable is non-linear and measured by what the person did.
- Interactive end card — a tappable frame appended to a video. A playable is the whole unit.
- Rich media / HTML5 display — same technology, different context: display runs in a browser with network access, a playable runs offline inside an SDK.
Why non-gaming brands are buying them
The format was built for game publishers who could show a level. Retail, fintech, travel, delivery and subscription brands adopted it once it became clear the mechanic does not have to be the product — it has to be the decision. Filling a basket, moving a slider, picking between two destinations: each rehearses something the customer already does, and each returns choice data a video never could.
The constraint that kept them out was production cost. A hand-built unit is roughly twelve hours of specialist work per network variant. Generating the first draft from a brand's own site removes that floor, which is the reason the format is spreading outside gaming now rather than five years ago.
Have a playable ready to ship? Check it against every network with the free playable ad tester. No signup.
Keep going
- Reference
Playable ad specs, network by network
File size, packaging, entry point, click handler and the one requirement each network fails you on. A working reference rather than a marketing page.
- Guide
How to make a playable ad with AI
From a URL to four network-ready packages: brand analysis, brief review, build, deterministic QA and handoff. What the model does and what you must still decide.
- Craft
Eight mechanics for brands that don't sell games
Baskets, sliders, matches, reveals. Each one maps to a decision the customer already makes, and each one tells you something when they make it.