Does size matter in online advertising? According to a study from digital ad solution provider Eyeblaster it doesn't but creative execution and rich media certainly do.
While it's bit of a self-serving study in that Eyeblaster is a rich media provider, it should reinforce that quality and not quantity (size) matters when it comes to display advertising.
Eyeblaster has confirmed that size has less of an impact in rich media display ads than that of standard banners, and points to video, ad formats, flash features and expansion as key elements in driving performance. The study suggests that for rich media, half banners (234x60) are indeed the top performing rich media ad formats, followed by rectangle ad formats (180x150).
The company did provide some rather practical guidance on increasing performance and consumer engagement:
1. Re-evaluate the role of technology and consider aligning creative with appropriate metrics in the beginning stages of planning a campaign.
2. Use adaptive media to optimize, make creative changes creative of the fly and keep content fresh by swapping out video, sound, text, images, etc.
3. For greatest impact, take into account placement on page, creative features, metrics and ad format over size.
"Eyeblaster data suggests that physical size of a banner has less to do with performance than creative execution and rich media," said Gal Trifon, CEO and co-founder at Eyeblaster. "This corroborates other published studies that reveal that bigger banners do not equate to better engagement."
