A beginner's guide to display advertising
Native ads are sometimes content marketing, and sometimes display ads, though display ads can come in various forms. Um. What? We break down display ads for all the digital dilettantes out there.
Native ads are sometimes content marketing, and sometimes display ads, though display ads can come in various forms. Um. What? We break down display ads for all the digital dilettantes out there.
Digital marketing is full of buzzwords so overused they’ve all but lost their meaning, like “storytelling” and millennials. Yet, the industry is also full of jargon that means something, but has so many different interpretations it can often be difficult to understand.
One of these common misinterpretations is around display advertising and the idea that any and all online marketing is considered display. It’s not. Native ads are sometimes content marketing, and they are sometimes display ads, though display ads can come in various forms. Confused?
Display ads are the boxes on websites that are obviously advertising. They can be along the top of web pages such as the traditional banner ad, or the larger text billboard, they can also be videos. These types of ads appear on distinct sections of the site that are specifically reserved for paid advertising and are aimed at generating a quick conversion.
The wider banner ads generally perform better than their tall, narrow counterparts. According to Google, the most effective display ads are 336×280 or 300×250 pixel rectangles, 300×600 pixel half-page ads, and 728×90 or 320×110 pixel banners.
For example, Curalate’s ad on ClickZ; is there any doubt in your mind that this is advertising?
That’s what separates traditional display ads from native ads, which are designed to blend in with their surroundings in order to appear more authentic. Both are paid opportunities but, by fitting in seamlessly on the pages on which they’re placed, native advertising is thought to be less disruptive. They’re the preferred format for Yahoo on its digital magazines.
Excellence Resorts on the top left is the ad here, though you may not immediately recognize it as such. Virtually everything about it matches the rest of the content, except for the word “SPONSORED,” which has been placed cleverly – and authentically – in bold, black text above the offer.
Content marketing can be considered native advertising, though it is only display in some forms. For example, branded infographics and videos, when positioned neatly in an article, can fit into the display bracket – specifically when they are paid for by an advertiser.
Other content marketing formats such as blogs, articles, reviews, and whitepapers, however, are not display advertising; their purpose is to create a value exchange with the consumer with useful, interesting, and targeted information.
Not all display ads fit neatly into one of those boxes. Other common formats for both static and video ads include:
Like anything else, display ads come with their own set of pluses and minuses. On the one hand, everything above illustrates the flexibility. There are countless combinations of formats, sizes, and styles, allowing you to mix it up.
Display ads also travel far, given the millions of websites reached by Google’s Display Network. The search giant can match your ads up to websites and apps based on keywords or your own targeting preferences.
They’re also fairly straightforward to measure. Display advertising analytics allow you to track the number of clicks, impressions and conversions the ad has generated in real-time, giving you an up-to-date picture of what is resonating with consumers.
But while display ads are so widely used, they’re also widely ignored. Because display advertising is everywhere, people tend to develop a bit of ad blindness.
As a result, the average click-through rate across all formats is less than one percent. For video, only 54 percent of ads are viewable, Google said over the summer. Three-quarters of those non-viewable ads were playing in a background tab or never actually on-screen.
Viewability is also affected by ad blocking, the use of which has skyrocketed over the past year, particularly in Europe. According to Adobe and PageFair’s Ad Blocking Report, ad block usage grew 48 percent in the U.S., totaling 45 million monthly active users. The number of monthly active users totals 77 million in Europe, with more than a quarter of German Internet users and about 35 percent of those from Greece and Poland using ad blockers.
Now that you have a better understanding of display advertising and its pros and cons, here are a few tips to apply to your execution.
Editor’s note: an updated version of this article can be found here: “Display ads 101.”