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Version: 7.1.1

Adblock detection

The THEOplayer Ads API allows developers to detect adblockers, and react accordingly. More specifically, you can either A) specify a stream configuration that disables playback when an ad blocker is detected, and show a default error message, or either B) detect an aderror event and implement a custom handler.

The screenshot below illustrates the default error message.

Ad block detection

SDKs​

Web SDKAndroid SDKiOS SDKtvOS SDKAndroid TV SDKChromecast SDK
YesN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A

Usage​

Adblock detection is typically a challenge in browsers. Hence, SDKs other than the Web SDK are considered "N/A" (i.e. not applicable). THEOplayer does not prevent playback by default when an ad blocker is detected.

As explained in the intro, you can either A) configure your stream configuration to prevent playback and show a default error message, or either B) implement an error event handler to implement a custom behavior.

Stream configuration​

When you set the blockContentIfAdError to true in your stream configuration (i.e. SourceConfiguration), then playback will be stopped, and a default error message will be shown.

The snippet below demonstrates how you could implement this blockContentIfAdError property in a stream configuration.

player.source = {
  sources: {
    src: "//cdn.theoplayer.com/video/big_buck_bunny/big_buck_bunny_metadata.m3u8"
  },
  ads: [
    {
      sources:
        "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640x480&iu=/124319096/external/single_ad_samples&ciu_szs=300x250&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&cust_params=deployment%3Ddevsite%26sample_ct%3Dlinear&correlator="
    }
  ],
  blockContentIfAdError: true
};

Through localization, you could rename the default error message, as demonstrated below.

var player = new THEOplayer.Player(document.querySelector(".video-js"), {
  ui: {
    language: "en",
    languages: {
      en: {
        "Starting ads was not possible. Turn off your AdBlocker and try again.":
          "Disable your AdBlocker."
      }
    }
  },
  libraryLocation: "<your-library-location>"
});

When you go for this approach, it's important that you validate and correctly specify the current default error message. For example, in THEOplayer 2.81.0, the default error message was Starting ads was not possible. Turn off your AdBlocker and try again..

If you want to customize beyond renaming the default error message, then you could try to do custom DOM manipulation and custom CSS queries. However, it might be advised to leverage the aderror event, as explained in the next section, if you truly want to customize the behavior.

Error event​

Alternatively, you can detect an ad blocker through the aderror event. If you detect this event, you could implement a custom behavior, such as stopping playback (e.g. through player.stop()) and drawing an overlay.

The callback event may be differently formatted depending on your selected ad integration.

If you're using the Google IMA ad integration, your callback event will have a problemType property that will equal "adblock".

player.ads.addEventListener("aderror", function (event) {
  // if using the Google IMA SDK, then your event looks like this:
  // {
  //  "type": "aderror",
  //  "date": "2021-03-09T18:18:03.093Z",
  //  "ad": null,
  //  "problemType": "adblock",
  //  "message": "adblock",
  //  "source": {
  //    "src": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?..."
  //  }
  // }
  // so, to detect an ad blocker, you can do
  if (event.problemType == "adblock") {
    // and do something else
  }
});

If you're using the default ad integration, your callback event will have a problemType property that will equal "network".

player.ads.addEventListener("aderror", function (event) {
  // if using the default ad integration, then your event looks like this:
  // {
  //   "type": "aderror",
  //   "date": "2021-03-09T19:22:15.171Z",
  //   "ad": null,
  //   "problemType": "network",
  //   "message": "The ad source could not be loaded.",
  //   "errorCode": 100,
  //   "source": {
  //     "src": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?sz=640x480&iu=/124319096/external/single_ad_samples&ciu_szs=300x250&impl=s&gdfp_req=1&env=vp&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&cust_params=deployment%3Ddevsite%26sample_ct%3Dlinear&correlator="
  //   }
  // }
  // so, to detect an ad blocker, you can do
  if (event.problemType == "network") {
    // and do something else
  }
});

Resources​

Below are some resources on adblock detection through the Ads API: