'Net Features : ad formats

Reimagining Interactive Advertising

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:30:00 GMT

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) just announced a competition to develop new ad formats to enhance the already existing list of IAB standard ad units. Put your thinking caps on - this is going to be interesting.

This is the first time in the IAB's history they have called on those in the online advertising and publishing industries to develop new ad formats for brand marketers. The contest to standardize brand-hospitable ad units is part of an initiative the IAB calls Reimagining Interactive Advertising.

“We are launching a formal call to action today for creatives, technologists, publishers, marketers — the entire advertising and marketing ecosystem — to bring us their best ideas for ad formats,” said Randall Rothenberg President & CEO, IAB. “The Internet has opened a floodgate of creativity, and it is critical that we fashion an environment where both the art and science of advertising can flourish and deliver engaging experiences that resonate with consumers and build brands.”

The ad unit submissions will be evaluated on criteria such as how well the ad format provides a canvas for brand creativity, how the format impacts the user experiernce, how the format leverages online user behaviors and technologies, how the format enhances the relationship between the ad unit and page layout, and easily the ad format could be adopted by publishers.

Which Adsense Formats Perform Best?

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:29:00 GMT

If you're wondering which AdSense advertising formats perform best and which one you should use on your website, look no further than Google for the answer.

Google suggests that wider ad formats tend to outperform their taller counterparts. But why? Taller formats have a more reader-friendly format, as readers (your website visitors) absorb information in what are referred to as "thought units" or several words at a time. Publishing wider format lets consumers read more text at a glance without needing to skip a line and return to the left margin every few words as they would need to do with a narrower ad.

Google has found the most effective formats are the 336x280 Large Rectangle, the 300x250 Medium Rectangle, and the 160x600 Wide Skyscraper. Keep in mind that while these ad formats typically perform well, you should use the format that best complements your pages.

IAB In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:15:00 GMT

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of advertising format guidelines for in-stream advertising. The guidelines focus on ad products such as linear video ads, non-linear video ads and companion ads.

The guidelines should act to simplify digital video ad buying across multiple sites through minimum common ad specifications, achieve more efficient operations through a common set of creative submission guidelines and increase consumer understanding of ad interactions and environments.

“The interest surrounding digital video is no surprise,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. “Consumers have been swift to embrace the digital video experience online, and marketers have incorporated it just as rapidly into their advertising plans. With the creation and adoption of these formats and guidelines, we see no end in sight to its potential for growth.”

To view the formal guidelines, visit www.iab.net/dv_guidelines

IAB interactive advertising video advertising