Although 80 per cent of online advertisers use the full banner in
online campaigns, other ad formats account for a majority of impressions
and garner far greater exposure on the Web, according to a report by
AdRelevance.
The report found that most advertisers relied on buttons (short, micro,
medium and tall) and that different sized banners (half, short and
vertical) make up 63 per cent of all online ad impressions, while
standard banners account for only 37 per cent.
"While the ubiquitous full banner continues to dominate when we look at
the percentage of advertisers using it and sites supporting it, it's
interesting to note that advertisers are increasingly relying on other
ad sizes and formats in their online campaigns," said the report.
"The latest AdRelevance data shows that the smaller ad elements, such as
micro buttons, short buttons and short banners, are garnering more
exposure than the standard banner. While advertisers are creating more
full banner than other types, the other ads account for the majority of
impressions."
The report added that not all industries had the same technological
needs, particularly when it came to animation.
The automotive industry, for example, used image ads, while the
business-to-business (B2B) industry relied on form ads more than other
industries.
"It appears that while sites are making efforts to accommodate newer ad
technologies, advertisers remain grounded in the old standard - simple
animation and images. Although rich media is out there and growing, it
has yet to surpass the popularity of animated Gifs and Jpeg images. As
broadband and other high-speed connection solutions become more readily
available and online ad technologies mature, however, expect rich media
to be a cornerstone of all ads."
In another report, AdRelevance found the majority of online advertising
ads and impressions were geared towards branding.
The study found banner ads, in terms of positioning, awareness and
feature/benefit accounted for 63 per cent of all online ad units, and 54
per cent of all impressions.
It also said that within branding categories, ads that generated
awareness garnered the most impressions at 33 per cent, followed by ads
positioning the brand at 20 per cent, and ads promoting benefits of a
brand at just one per cent.
Among direct marketing ads, those driving traffic or 28 per cent of all
impressions were more prevalent than ads driving sales at 17 per
cent.
The report also noted that industries leading branding were:
entertainment, (where 73 per cent of industry impressions were devoted
to branding); hardware and electronics (83 per cent); retail (64 per
cent); Web media (63 per cent); automotive (56 per cent) and travel (54
per cent).
Meanwhile, industries focused more on direct marketing included telecom
(72 per cent of industry impressions devoted to direct marketing);
financial services (60 per cent), consumer goods (61 per cent) and B2B
(54 per cent).
"Online advertising is no longer about click-throughs. Although industry
and financial analysts have relied on click-through rates to gauge the
effectiveness of online ad campaigns, the market has finally realised
that click-throughs is not an appropriate metric for brand-oriented
ads," said the report.
"Leading advertisers have already drifted away from the click-through
mentality of pure direct response marketing, as AdRelevance data shows
that a full 63 per cent of ads are banner-oriented. As streaming and
rich media come more into play, the Internet will increasingly function
more like a traditional branding medium - making advertising on the Web
more appealing to all, especially traditional companies who have
mastered offline brand management strategies."
