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Definition: Superstitial


An animated advertisement on a Web page from Enliven Marketing Technologies, New York that uses video, 3D content or Flash to provide a TV-like advertisement. Superstitials are also known as "Unicast Transitional" ads because they were originally developed by Unicast Communications. Unicast was acquired by Viewpoint Corporation in 2004, which changed its name to Enliven in 2008.

Preloaded into the Browser
The ad is "politely" preloaded into the browser cache while the user's bandwidth is idle and appears in a separate window only after it has been entirely sent. If you leave the page that triggered the Superstitial before it is fully downloaded, it will not play. In 2003, the company introduced the Full Screen Superstitial, a 15-second, 300k full-screen ad that plays transitionally as users are moving between pages. See interstitial ad.