How Audio Blocks and Insertion Points Work Together

Learn how these two components work together to create the magic of Dynamic Insertion

Audio Blocks and Insertion Points are intimately tied. They can’t really work without the other. The most typical use of Audio Blocks and Insertion Points are for ads procured through RAP (the RedCircle Ad Platform).

For example, let’s say you opted in to RAP and are ready to start monetizing. You would first place Insertion Points at specific spots within your episode:

Next, you would assign either (or both!) the Default Pre & Post Roll Ad Block and the Default Mid Roll Ad Block to one or more of those recently-placed Insertion Points:

Every time someone tunes in to your show, our system checks whether or not there’s an Insertion Point and adds in the audio for that listener. If you placed a Pre-Roll Insertion Point at the 00:01:00 (one minute) timestamp and assigned the Default Pre & Post Roll Ad Block, then the listener should hear either a Programmatic (pre-recorded) or a Host-Read Ad at that exact timestamp.

We dynamically insert ad audio based on your active campaigns and available inventory. (See our Insertion Points Help article for a more detailed look at how this works.)

Whatever Audio Block you assign to an Insertion Point plays at the exact moment the Insertion Point is placed in your episode.

It’s important to note that Insertion Points in the Pre-Roll position can shift the timestamps of Insertion Points in the Mid-Roll and Post-Roll position.

For example, let's say "Episode 1" has a raw length of 10 minutes. You add 1 Insertion Point in the Pre-Roll Position at 00:00:00. You then add 1 Insertion Point in the Mid-Roll Position at 05:00:00.

And now let's say that the ad dynamically inserted in the Pre-Roll spot is exactly 1 minute long. This would mean that the entire episode is now 1 minute longer due to the dynamically inserted ad.

So, the Mid-Roll spot won't play until the 06:00:00 minute mark on the various listening apps as a 1-minute ad played in the first Pre-Roll spot pushing back the timestamps. The Mid-Roll ad is still assigned at the 05:00:00 timestamp in the raw audio which means that it plays where it should in your episode.