Mid-rolls are breaks within the edit where advertisements will later be inserted.
They are now a requirement for all digital pieces across the company (except sponsored)
For VICE VIDEO deliverables, these ad breaks must be created manually in the edit by adding a 1-second black gap or slug at the appropriate time within the export (see placement below).
For YOUTUBE deliverables, these ad breaks do not require the addition of a 1-second black gap, and should fall naturally within an act or narrative break within the piece. If needed, you can add a second of additional b-roll on YouTube deliverables to account for the ad break placement.
NEVER USE 1-SECOND BLACK GAPS on ANY YOUTUBE deliverable.
See program format guidelines for detailed placement but generally:
VV
If a piece is going to VICE Video and is above 5 mins, it needs mid-roll ad breaks. This means 1 second of black frame is added in the edit.
If a piece is going to VICE Video and is under 5 mins, it does not need mid-roll ad breaks.
YT
All YouTube videos (regardless of TRT) should not have black frames added for mid-roll ad breaks.
Rather than having the 1s black frame for YT variants, we can insert extra b-roll or preferably, find a natural spot with a break in between scenes and then insert the advertisement there. We can only insert midroll ads into YT videos above 10 mins, so this applies to videos that fit this TRT requirement.
Timecodes should fall at the same mark as VV versions for simplicity, and timecodes should continue being added to VL2 in seconds.
FB
All Facebook videos (regardless of TRT) should not have black frames added for mid-roll ad breaks.
Rather than having the 1s black frame for FB variants, we can insert extra b-roll or preferably, find a natural spot with a break in between scenes and then insert the advertisement there. We can only insert midroll ads into FB videos above 3 mins, so this applies to videos that fit this TRT requirement.
Timecodes should fall at the same mark as VV versions for simplicity, and timecodes should continue being added to VL2 in seconds.
General Guidelines
Additional acts should be created with lengths between 7-8 mins depending on the total length, and adjusted accordingly to align with the piece's overall narrative.
Example: If your piece is 59 minutes, the last 30 mins should have 4 acts and 3 breaks (Act 5, 6, 7 & 8).
For the remaining 29 minutes beyond the first 30 mins, divide by # of acts (4), to reach 7.25 minutes per act.
Ideal mid-rolls should both follow the guideline and be conducive to the story.
All pieces should be delivered with mid-roll time codes on the Metadata tab (1st tab) in the "Ad Breaks" section
For example, the following time codes would look like this converted into seconds