Preroll Ads

Preroll ads are video ads that play before your content in a PlayerView. The SDK manages playback automatically using Google IMA. The ad auto-plays with no user-visible controls. Users can skip the ad when the creative allows it.

Each ad format uses a Zone ID to identify the ad placement. Zone IDs are configured in the Empower dashboard.

tip

Load the preroll when your video screen opens. The ad plays first and your content video follows automatically, whether the ad completes, is skipped, or fails.

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XML Layout Setup

Add a PlayerView to your layout:

<androidx.media3.ui.PlayerView
    android:id="@+id/playerView"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

---

Loading a Preroll Ad

Kotlin

val playerView = findViewById<PlayerView>(R.id.playerView)

EMAManager.loadPrerollAd(
    zoneId = "YOUR_PREROLL_ZONE_ID",
    playerView = playerView,
    contentUrl = "https://example.com/your-content-video.mp4"
)

Java

PlayerView playerView = findViewById(R.id.playerView);

EMAManager.INSTANCE.loadPrerollAd(
    "YOUR_PREROLL_ZONE_ID",
    playerView,
    "https://example.com/your-content-video.mp4",
    false,
    null,
    null
);

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
zoneId	String	Yes	none	The zone ID for the preroll placement
playerView	PlayerView	Yes	none	The Media3 PlayerView where the ad and content will play
contentUrl	String	Yes	none	URL of the content video that plays after the ad
muted	Boolean	No	false	Whether to mute audio during ad playback
prerollListener	PrerollAdListener	No	null	Preroll-specific event listener
adStatusListener	AdStatusListener	No	null	Generic ad status listener

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Listening to Preroll Events

The SDK handles playback and fallback

All ad listeners are optional. The SDK loads the ad, plays it, and falls back to your content video automatically. Use listeners only if you need to track ad states for analytics, UI updates.

Callback	Called when
onAdReady()	Ad loaded and about to auto-play
onAdStarted()	Ad playback started
onAdCompleted()	Ad finished, content video is now playing
onAdSkipped()	User skipped the ad, content video is now playing
onAdFailed(error)	Ad failed, content video is now playing
onAdClicked()	User clicked the ad

If you need to react to preroll events:

Kotlin

EMAManager.loadPrerollAd(
    zoneId = "YOUR_PREROLL_ZONE_ID",
    playerView = playerView,
    contentUrl = "https://example.com/your-content-video.mp4",
    prerollListener = object : PrerollAdListener {
        override fun onAdReady() { }
        override fun onAdStarted() { }
        override fun onAdCompleted() { }
        override fun onAdSkipped() { }
        override fun onAdFailed(error: String) { }
        override fun onAdClicked() { }
    }
)

Java

EMAManager.INSTANCE.loadPrerollAd(
    "YOUR_PREROLL_ZONE_ID",
    playerView,
    "https://example.com/your-content-video.mp4",
    false,
    new PrerollAdListener() {
        @Override
        public void onAdReady() { }
        @Override
        public void onAdStarted() { }
        @Override
        public void onAdCompleted() { }
        @Override
        public void onAdSkipped() { }
        @Override
        public void onAdFailed(String error) { }
        @Override
        public void onAdClicked() { }
    },
    null
);

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Lifecycle Management

The SDK automatically observes the Activity lifecycle through the PlayerView's context. Pause, resume, and cleanup are handled for you, no manual lifecycle calls are needed.

For special cases like pausing playback when the view scrolls off-screen in a RecyclerView, use:

Kotlin

EMAManager.pausePreroll("YOUR_PREROLL_ZONE_ID")

EMAManager.resumePreroll("YOUR_PREROLL_ZONE_ID")

Java

EMAManager.INSTANCE.pausePreroll("YOUR_PREROLL_ZONE_ID");

EMAManager.INSTANCE.resumePreroll("YOUR_PREROLL_ZONE_ID");