If people watch your videos, you can earn from that attention. UFOLOAD includes an ad system in its player: you turn ads on for your videos, viewers see ads according to a schedule, and you receive a share of what those impressions are worth. This guide explains which formats exist, how breaks are placed, how the income is calculated and what you can do to earn more without driving viewers away. It only covers what the player really does today; for current rates and payout rules it points to the pages that always show live numbers.
How ads reach your viewers
Ads run inside the UFOLOAD player, which means you need the player on your page: either the iframe described in how to embed an HLS video or the public watch page. When a viewer presses play, the player asks the ad server what to show. The answer is a standard VAST document (our ad server produces VAST 4.2) that names the creative and the tracking addresses for events such as start, completion and click. Tracking pixels are signed, so impressions can be counted reliably, and the system checks impressions for plausibility.
The ad that wins an impression is chosen by an auction among active campaigns, which can be priced per thousand impressions (CPM) or per click (CPC); a higher bid wins more often. Campaigns can be limited by country, device type and specific videos, and have a frequency cap per viewer. Because the ads are served by the same system that pays you, there is nothing to integrate: the switch is a setting on the video.
If you play the stream in your own <video> element with hls.js instead of our player, there is no ad layer and no earnings. Ads exist only in the UFOLOAD player.
Ad formats available
| Format | Position | What the viewer sees |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-roll | Before the video | A video ad that plays first |
| Mid-roll | During the video | A video ad at a chosen time code |
| Post-roll | After the video | A video ad at the end |
| Overlay banner | Over the lower part of the picture | A banner while the video plays |
| Pause banner | On pause | A banner shown while the video is paused |
| Banner under the player | On the watch page | A banner block below the player |
| Click-under | First click on the player | The advertiser's site opens in a new tab |
Video ads can be a file hosted by us, a direct MP4 link, an external VAST tag or a VPAID 2.0 JavaScript creative. VAST tags let an advertiser plug in a third-party ad server. VPAID creatives run in an isolated sandboxed frame so that they cannot reach your page; keep in mind that VPAID is a legacy standard that the industry has been moving away from. Banner and click-under campaigns use an image with a link, or only a link.
The embedded player shows overlay, pause and click-under display ads. The banner under the player belongs to the watch page, because an iframe has no room outside its frame.
Turning ads on and placing breaks
Monetization is a per-video switch: open the video in your dashboard under Content and use the Monetization section, or enable ads for all eligible videos at once on the Earnings page. Pre-roll and post-roll need no configuration. For mid-roll you have two modes:
- Automatic. Leave the list of time codes empty and the server places the breaks for you.
- Manual. Enter up to 20 time codes such as
5:00or1:12:30. Breaks closer than one minute to the previous one are dropped, because stacked interruptions are what make viewers leave.
The player is considerate about timing. It requests the ad shortly before the break so that the video does not freeze while waiting for a response. If the ad server has nothing to show, playback just continues without a pause. If a viewer skips across several breaks, only the last one they passed is played, the way major video sites behave. A viewer who starts from a time offset, or resumes a video, does not get the breaks that lie before that point.
Whether you can switch ads off depends on your plan. On the Free plan ads are always on for your videos; on paid plans it is your choice, and you can also lower the ad density to 75, 50, 25 or 0 percent, which thins out the pause and banner opportunities that are actually used. You will find the plan differences on the pricing page.
How your income is calculated
You receive a fixed percentage of the value of the ad impressions on your videos. That percentage is shown on your Earnings page, together with the minimum withdrawal amount, so it is always the current figure. The value of an impression depends on the ad and on where the viewer is: rates differ by country, and the Make Money page publishes the current CPM table. The Earnings page also shows your creator eCPM, which is your actual revenue per thousand impressions.
revenue = impressions / 1000 x eCPM_of_those_impressions x your_share
example with placeholder numbers: 100,000 impressions at 1.00 eCPM = 100 of impression value, of which you receive your shareA few rules from the Make Money page matter for estimates. An impression counts only if a minimum portion of the video was watched, with a higher threshold for short videos. Impressions where the viewer blocked advertising earn nothing. Settlements follow a delayed schedule rather than instant payment. The page lists the exact numbers, and they can change, so read them there rather than relying on a blog post.
You can also earn through the referral program: share your link, and you receive a part of the ad revenue from creators you invited. It is described on the same page.
The other side: advertisers
Where the ads come from matters when you think about income. UFOLOAD has a separate account type for advertisers, chosen at registration, with its own Ads cabinet. An advertiser creates a campaign, picks its format, uploads a creative or pastes a direct link or an external VAST or VPAID tag, sets a bid, a budget and a schedule, targets countries, devices or chosen videos, and watches impressions, clicks and spend. Campaigns are paid from an ad balance that the advertiser tops up, and creatives are moderated before they run. A creator account earns from ads; an advertiser account buys them, and the two roles are separate.
Getting paid
Request a withdrawal from the Earnings page once your available balance reaches the minimum shown there. Payouts are made in USDT on the TRC-20 network only, to the wallet address you provide, so double-check the address and the network before you submit. Only earnings can be withdrawn: money you topped up for services stays on your balance for spending. The requested amount is reserved immediately, and if a request is rejected the funds are returned.
Practical tips for earning more
- Watch time is the lever. Longer videos have room for more breaks, and the Earnings page lists revenue per video, so you can see which content pays and make more of it.
- Fewer, better-placed breaks beat many. A mid-roll at a natural pause keeps people watching; one every minute does the opposite. The one-minute minimum exists for that reason.
- Know your audience countries. Rates differ by country; the traffic statistics in your dashboard show where views come from.
- Do not fight ad blockers by tricking them. Blocked impressions earn nothing, and impressions are checked for plausibility, so artificial views do not pay. Spend the effort on content.
- Keep the player fast. Viewers abandon slow starts before an ad ever plays. How adaptive ladders work explains the part of that you control.
- Mind traffic costs. Income scales with views, and so does bandwidth; the cost estimation guide shows how to keep the two in balance.
Ready to start? Create an account, upload a video with the steps in the API and upload guide or from the dashboard, switch ads on, and check the Earnings page after the first views. Details of every player feature are listed on the features page, and the FAQ answers common questions about ads and payouts.
Upload a video, get an HLS player and an API key in minutes. Plan limits are listed on the pricing page.