Publishers should not ignore New Interstitial Triggers update
Google has announced an important update for publishers who use web interstitial in Ad Manager. Google will automatically enable a new set of eligible interstitial triggers across your network. These triggers are designed to help you monetize high-intent, highly engaged users without disrupting their reading experience.
This update may look small on the surface, but for publishers, it has meaningful implications. Interstitial continue to be one of the strongest formats for generating incremental revenue, especially when shown at natural breaks in user interaction. With Google now enabling more trigger types by default, publishers can capture additional monetization opportunities that were previously untapped.
In this deep-dive guide, we’ll break down:
Why Google is adding new triggers
What each trigger does
How they affect your revenue
When you should keep them enabled
When you might want to opt out
Where to manage these settings inside Ad Manager
What this means for your long-term monetization strategy
By the end, you’ll know exactly how this update impacts your site and what actions if any you should take.
Why Google Is Introducing New Interstitial Triggers
Google’s communication highlights a simple goal:
Give publishers new, non-disruptive ways to increase interstitial impression volume.
Interstitial have some of the highest CPMs in display advertising. They work because they occupy full screen, capture full user attention, and typically appear at natural pause points. However, Google has historically been conservative about when interstitial can show because poor implementation can cause UX issues.
So instead of leaving publishers to configure advanced triggers themselves, Google is selecting safe, user-friendly trigger conditions and enabling them automatically for networks already using interstitial ads.
This is Google’s way of:
Expanding monetization opportunities
Preserving user experience
Ensuring interstitial appear only at meaningful, intent-friendly moments
Reducing manual configuration work for publishers
Creating consistency across sites
In short, if you already use interstitial, you’re getting three new “intelligent” moments where these ads can show — without needing to change anything.
What’s Being Added: The Three New Interstitial Triggers
Google has introduced three new eligible triggers. Let’s break each down in detail and understand how these behave in real user journeys.
1. End-of-Article Trigger
How it works:
This trigger fires when the user reaches the bottom of your article and then either:
scrolls back upward slightly, or
remains idle long enough for the end-of-article timer to pass
This is one of the most natural points to show an interstitial because:
The user has finished reading
There is no content left to consume
They may be preparing to exit or navigate elsewhere.
Showing an interstitial here captures a high-value end-of-session impression without interrupting the reading flow.
Why publishers should care:
Users who complete articles are among your most engaged audience segments. They often carry:
Higher time-on-site
Better engagement
Greater monetization potential
This trigger lets you convert that engagement into revenue without harming UX.
2. Inactivity Trigger
The Inactivity Trigger activates when a user stops interacting with the page for 30 seconds and then returns with a click, scroll, or tap. Google treats this pause as a sign of temporary disengagement maybe the user switched tabs, paused reading, or was simply viewing without touching the screen. When they come back, the system uses that moment to serve an interstitial ad, recovering impressions that would otherwise be missed. This makes it a subtle, user-friendly way to increase monetization without interrupting the browsing experience.
Key Points:
• Activates after 30 seconds of no interaction
• Shows ads only when the user re-engages
• Great for long articles and informational pages
3. Backwards Navigation Trigger
The Backwards Navigation Trigger activates when a user taps the browser’s back button on supported browsers. This action signals that the user intends to leave the current page, return to a previous one, or is simply disengaging from the content. Instead of letting the user exit without an impression, Google uses this final, user-initiated moment to serve an interstitial ad. This helps publishers capture valuable revenue at a point where engagement would otherwise drop to zero.
Key Points:
• Fires when users tap the browser’s back button
• Captures impressions at the moment of exit
• Ideal for pages with high bounce or exit rates
Why publishers should care:
Exit-intent triggers are among the most effective ways to gain incremental impressions.
Backward navigation is one of the cleanest forms of exit intent and this trigger allows monetization without interrupting browsing.
How These New Triggers Improve Monetization
These new interstitial triggers are designed around natural user behavior, which is why they tend to perform well. Instead of interrupting reading or scrolling, they only appear at moments when users naturally pause like finishing an article or returning after inactivity.
Because interstitial take up the full screen and hold attention, they usually deliver stronger CPMs compared to regular display ads. Even a small increase in eligible triggers can create meaningful revenue growth for publishers.
In simple terms, these triggers help because:
They appear only at natural breakpoints
They offer full-screen attention, which drives higher CPMs
They increase eligible impressions without adding extra clutter
Will These New Triggers Affect User Experience?
Google designed these triggers to feel smooth and non-disruptive. They don’t appear in the middle of content or while someone is actively engaging with the page. Instead, they show up only when a pause is expected.
This ensures your readers are not surprised or interrupted mid-flow, and the overall experience stays clean.
What makes them safe for UX:
No mid-article interruptions
No forced pauses or takeover moments
They only activate when users naturally stop or exit
Should You Keep These Triggers On?
For most publishers, keeping them enabled is the better choice. You get more monetization opportunities without doing any setup, and without risking user frustration.
You should keep them on if:
You want extra revenue from natural pauses
Your site has long-form or high-scroll content
You want higher CPM impressions with no extra work
Boosting Revenue Without Compromising User Experience
Google’s new web interstitial triggers offer a smart way to increase revenue from your most engaged users without harming user experience. End-of-article, inactivity, and backward-navigation triggers are all natural moments to serve high-impact ads, making them ideal for publishers who want incremental uplift.
Since these triggers will be enabled automatically, you don’t need to take action unless you want to opt out of specific trigger types. In that case, you can easily toggle them off through the Ad Manager UI once the rollout window passes.
Have questions about how this update impacts your site? Contact us @support.magicbid.ai
