Glossary

Plain definitions of the words you'll see across Commercial Cue.

Updated October 20, 2026 · 2 min read

Short version

A break is filled with spots. A pod is a saved running order. The slate fills the gaps. Everything that airs is logged as proof of play.

Breaks and spots

  • Break: a commercial break in your stream, 30, 60, 90 or 120 seconds long.
  • Spot: one commercial video, from your Google Drive.
  • Length: a spot's length is the length of the Drive folder it's in. A file in the 30s folder is a 30-second spot.
  • Running order: the spots in a break, in the order they play.
  • Break pod: a running order you build ahead of time and play on demand, like "Halftime". Its target is 30, 60, 90 or 120 seconds.
  • Slate: one video you choose to fill any seconds a break can't fill with spots. It's also what Play slate puts on air in an emergency.

Programming

  • Ad library: every spot Commercial Cue has read from your mapped Drive folders.
  • Advertiser: taken from the file name: the text before the first -, _ or |. ValleyFord-Fall-Event-30.mp4 belongs to "ValleyFord".
  • Readiness: how likely a file is to play in OBS, judged by its file type: Ready (MP4), Warning, Not recommended (MKV) or Unplayable. See Prepare your spot files.
  • Campaign: a set of spots with dates. While a campaign is active, its spots fill breaks first.
  • Weight: how often a spot in a campaign plays compared with the others. A campaign's weights always add up to 100%.
  • Rescan: reading your Drive folders again to pick up new, renamed or removed files. Rescans are manual.

OBS

  • LIVE: the OBS scene with your show. Commercial Cue cuts back to it after each break.
  • AD_PLAYBACK: the OBS scene the spots play in.
  • CommercialCueSource: the media source in AD_PLAYBACK that plays each spot.
  • OBS WebSocket: the server built into OBS 28 and newer that lets Commercial Cue control OBS.
  • OBS dock: Commercial Cue's controls inside OBS, added as a Custom Browser Dock.

Running a show

  • Control room: the page in your browser where you run breaks.
  • Return to live: ends a break early and cuts back to LIVE. The break is logged as Interrupted.
  • Filled by: where a break's spots came from: a campaign, a pod or the full library, plus the slate if it was used.

Proof and people

  • Proof of play: the log of every break and spot, with times and who ran it.
  • Completed: a break where every spot played to the end.
  • Interrupted: a break someone ended early with Return to live.
  • Campaign report: plays and airtime for a campaign over a date range.
  • Share link: a link to a campaign report that a sponsor can open without signing in.
  • Admin: the one person who runs the workspace and can use every page.
  • Operator: someone invited to run breaks, in the control room and the OBS dock only.

Related guides

Getting startedWhat Commercial Cue does and what you needHow a break works from start to finish, and the four things you need before your first show.Getting startedA tour of Commercial CueEvery page in the sidebar and what it's for, in one place.