Glossary A–ZLetter S
Spot length
Spot length is the duration in seconds for which a single advert or item of content is shown on screen in one go.
In screen networks it is usually fixed so that the loop remains predictable. Short lengths of a few seconds are common.
A network with a sixty-second loop might offer six slots of ten seconds each; a twenty-second spot then takes up two slots. Unlike television, public screens usually play no sound, and people are walking past. The message therefore has to be clear within the first few seconds.
Operators should state the permitted spot lengths in their technical specifications and check delivered creatives against them. A video that is one second too long shifts the whole loop or gets cut off. For still images the operator sets the display time; there, spot length is a setting in the schedule, not a property of the file.