Many aspects drive online advertising, such as testing, optimizing, traffic, and tracking. Although the numbers are essential for any campaign, choosing the right ad format can make or break an advertising campaign. Ad formats are optimized and automated for various operating systems, niches/verticals, payout models, and regions.
Each ad format has a unique way of driving metrics and features that create lasting impressions in users’ minds, generating conversions, click-throughs, signups, or any format that can be monetized and tracked.
In this article, we’ll explore profitable ad formats for publishers.
- What are ad formats for publishers?
- Which are profitable ad formats for publishers?
- Standard ad formats.
- Media ad formats.
- Video ad formats.
- How to choose an ad format.
What Are Ad Formats For Publishers?
An ad format is part of a code from an advertising network that publishers place on their landing pages, blogs, or websites. The code can come in various mechanics and shapes, such as a web page header with a rectangular image recognizable as a banner.
An advertiser aims to convince users to purchase products and services. In doing this, they tend to focus on multimedia, not just banner ads. These may be video ads, push notifications, native, sticky leaderboards, etc.
Publishers pull codes for formats, place them on sites and then start earning revenue for advertising offers cloaked in these formats. Ad networks offer two goals:
- They connect advertisers (who need ad formats) and publishers (who incorporate them on websites).
- They also buy and sell traffic, which is monetization and advertising.
Which Are Profitable Ad Formats For Publishers?
Ultimately, for every affiliate, the profitable ad formats will differ depending on the industry and publishing platform. As a publisher, your goal will be to choose those that will offer you high revenue while matching your site. To do this, you must familiarize yourself with all formats and how to manage them.
- Interstitial Ads
- In-Page Push Notifications
- Push Notifications
- Native Ads
- Pop Ads
- Display Banner
Standard Ad Formats
Native Ads
Native ads blend seamlessly with a publisher’s content, resulting in a less intrusive advertising experience that boosts publishers' ad revenue. Every page features custom-made native ads that include promoted listings, recommendation blocks, videos, and more. Audiences stay on-site for a prolonged period due to a lack of UX interference, leading to higher revenue.
In-Feed Native Ads
In-feed native ads are widely used and very popular. In fact, 64.2% of display ad spending was dedicated to native ads, which included in-feed advertisements. Initiated by social media platforms blending seamlessly into surrounding content. They are well-suited for mobile and desktop users. Here at Rev·Amp, our team works with publishers to build native advertising to meet their needs.
Native Content Recommendations
Native content recommendations are generally placed at the bottom of the article or page. They are created to blend seamlessly in with surrounding recommendations within a content discovery widget. Although unnoticeable, they are highly effective and natural-looking as part of a page or website.
Sticky Ads
Sticky ads are typically in view once a user scrolls on a page. They can be hidden easily when the close button is clicked in the corner of the ad. Sticky ads can increase publishers' ad revenue by offering higher CPMs than banner ads.
Sticky Leaderboard Ads
Sticky leaderboard ads “stick” to the bottom or top of a page while a user navigates the content. They suit both desktop and mobile. It features prominently on a page and has great viewability rates.
Banner Ads
Banner ads are lighter than video and rich media ad formats, which means they appear quicker and load faster on a site. They are one of the oldest formats with pop ads, but banner ads still produce excellent results for publishers. It is a less intrusive ad format and users generally intentionally click on them.
Here at Rev•amp, our advanced advertising solutions cover publishers’ traditional display needs, from Skyscrapers and Leaderboards to MPUs.
Video Ad Formats
Instream Video Ads
Instream video ads require a video player and generally appear in pre-existing video content. Publishers monetize these ads on a CPM or Cost per View (CPV) basis.
- Companion Ads
These ads appear around a video player and generally feature a call to action.
- Linear Ads
These are video ads that appear pre-roll (before), mid-roll (during), or post-roll (after) pre-existing video content. They tend to be from 6 secs to 1 minute long but can be skipped after 5 secs by users.
- Non-linear Ads
These ads are text or image overlays in video content playback but undisrupted.
Outstream Ad Formats
Publishers can open an additional revenue stream with video outstream. It is a powerful format that supports both your recommended and in-house video content to your readers. These ads perform best when included within your article content but can also be set to stick to the user's device while browsing.
- Video Overlay (desktop)/ Interstitial Video (mobile)
Interstitial video ads are used on mobile devices between rounds of mobile game apps. These aren’t available for desktops; however, the closest is overlay video ads.
- In-read Video Ads
In-read outstream ads appear within the content and resemble native ads, encouraging users to interact with them. Generally, the ads autoplay without sound, but if users scroll through, it will pause the video.
- Video Slider Ads
These are videos visible within an article. As a publisher, you will require third-party codes for this ad format. A publisher can also create a video banner slider ad with this ad format.
Rich Media Ad Formats
Custom Interstitial Ads
Available for mobile and desktop, Rev·Amp offers publishers interstitial ads that appear naturally between two pages as users navigate their website, ensuring excellent viewability rates.
These full-screen interactive ads increase a site's ad diversity and improve ad engagement while decreasing “banner blindness.” They feature animated content and images but have reduced intrusiveness due to limited frequency capping.
How Do I Choose The Correct Format?
As we mentioned earlier, choosing the correct format is extremely important. However, as a publisher, you might be feeling overwhelmed with the number of choices available. It’s always best to work with a monetization partner that can evaluate your website and traffic, and determine which ads would work best for you. At Rev·Amp, we make it a priority to determine which ad formats would boost your revenue without disrupting the experience of your users.
Conclusion
Ultimately marketers need to learn which ad formats will deliver the best results for performance marketing. A performance marketing ad format should provide the publisher with a measuring method for conversion required for higher revenue goals. Advertisers can test creativity for ad formats by doing an A/B test, ensuring an optimized performance marketing strategy, and providing better long-term results.
