Promise Media

The fact that banner ad size has an impact on performance may seem intuitive and obvious to some people, but it is not to others.

To be truly effective, advertising has to deliver results for both the publisher and the advertiser.

The results for the publisher come in the form of revenue, client retention,   revenue growth and higher ad rates. Results for the advertiser come in the form of clicks, leads and transactions.

Following a commonly accepted banner ad size standard will result in more revenue and happier clients. Ad networks will deliver higher quality and better paying clients as well.

Universal Ad Package

any Web sites follow the standards set by the Internet Advertising Bureau of more than a dozen ad sizes. The dominant four — known as the Universal Ad Package — are 300 x 250, 180 x 150, 728 x 90 and 160 x 600.

Many agencies, advertisers and publishers deal only with these sizes, although 180 x 150 seems less widely used than the other three.

Numerous other sizes are widely used, but the above units are the most accepted.

Other Web sites do not follow the IAB standards and use their own proprietary sizes.

Bigger is Always Better

ome sites will run only small button ads, which have been shown to deliver low click and advertiser retention rates.

Sites that follow this approach will have difficulty landing any major account with Web experience and risk losing important revenue opportunities.

For sites that follow product and advertising standards, a common approach is to use the 728 x 90 at the top of a page, the 160 x 600 on the right rail and either of the rectangle ads (300 x 250 or 180 x 150) in the body of the page.

These sizes provide a combination of branding and response that is widely accepted in the industry at this time.

Too Many Ads Spoil the Party

ites that take a more aggressive approach and use more than three ads per page may see ad performance deteriorate because site visitors see too many options.

1. “Too busy” is a common criticism of sites that jam too much onto a page — including ads.
2. In addition, too many ads will add to page weight and require more server calls, both of which will slow the page.
3. These days, Google in particular is rewarding sites for fast-loading pages and punishing sites with slow pages.
4. Eye-tracking studies show that the majority of site visitors click on links “above the fold,” meaning above the browser status bar. Putting more than three ads on a page requires putting them below the bar. They are largely wasted down there.