The present disclosure discloses a pre-roll advertisement playing method, a terminal, and a video server, and relates to the field of multimedia technologies. The method includes: after detecting a play operation of an offline video, determining a current network connection status of a terminal; when the terminal is in a first connection state, determining, among multiple pre-roll advertisements obtained by the terminal, a specified pre-roll advertisement corresponding to the offline video; and playing the specified pre-roll advertisement in a process of playing the offline video. When playing an offline video in a non-WiFi connection state, the terminal may additionally play a pre-roll advertisement. Therefore, an audience range of the pre-roll advertisement is expanded, and an application range is relatively wide.