Chapter 2: Display Advertising & Banner Advertising

Part B: Banner Advertising

A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser. The advertisement known as a "click through." In many cases, banners are delivered by a central ad server.

When the advertiser scans their log files and detects that a web user has visited the advertiser's site from the content site by clicking on the banner ad, the advertiser sends the content provider some small amount of money (usually around five to ten US cents).[citation needed] This payback system is often how the content provider is able to pay for the Internet access to supply the content in the first place. Usually though, advertisers use ad networks to serve their advertisements, resulting in a revenue share system and higher quality ad placement.

TYPES OF BANNER ADVERTISING

Static Banners - remain motionless, constant and still until the visitor leaves the web page. These ads are not as attractive as animated banners but are much smaller in size.

Animated Banners - feature motion commonly in GIF format. They bring in a higher click through rate than static banners. Numerous images (frames) are compiled in one file and demonstrated in a certain order. The animation may either stop as soon as the cycle is completed, or go on looping the file. More facts can be shown because the marketer can demonstrate a couple of frames with different data. Four frames are the recommended maximum to limit load time. A shorter load time also suggests that viewers will have an opportunity to see the ad before scrolling or browsing.

Rotating Banners - switch through different web pages on a website. Used generally by highly trafficked sites, rotation provides the publisher more impressions to sell. A rotation can be arranged to happen every 15 to 30 seconds. A website visitor may hence be presented with several different Advertisements whilst staying on the same page. Generally, these banners make websites look attractive showing fresh content on each page load.

Scrolling Banners - Ads are scrolled through the Banner Space, the same as a modern billboard. This type of Advertisements may be either text or image. The scrolling usually will happen every 10 to 30 seconds.

Pop-Up Banners - are shown in a new web browser window usually set to a specific size. They can be generated by JavaScript. Typically they look like ordinary web pages. The idea is not to affect the page currently open though some banners may do this.

Pop-Under Banners - also open up in a new browser window but are concealed under/behind the active window. They are usually not visible until the current window is closed, which makes it difficult to figure out which website they originated from. These types of banner advertisements are commonly regarded as irritating.

Drop-down Menu Banners – include HTML (hypertext markup language) code for a drop-down menu. They allow people to select which page or website to go to before clicking through. Marketers make use of these Banners to combine campaigns and therefore reduce serving costs. It’s also helpful for the viewer, who is able to choose where to go, as opposed to clicking through and browsing the website if the landing page is inappropriate to their requirements.

Interstitials – when the destination page loads, these Banners are popped in a new browser window. They will typically include large images, a streaming presentation and more applets maximizing the usage of display, graphics and possibly even human interaction.

Rich Media Banner Ads - put together sound and animation using Java, Flash or Shockwave. Shockwave and Flash are speedier to load and hence are more recommended to use, because there is more chance for viewers to notice the Ads. Whilst Java is more impressive, the lengthy loading time prevents promoters from applying it.

Floating Banners - immediately after a viewer first gets to the page, these Advertisements move on or around the page for up to 30 seconds or more. These banner may move over a desired mouse click location blocking accessibility on the page. They have a high click-through rate; nevertheless, this characteristic is considered annoying by people because the ads obscure the page.

Corner Peel Banner - also known as Peel Banners, Page Peels or Magic Corners, are shown in the corner of a web page. The animation peels over the web page, showing the whole advertisement, when the user moves the mouse over the animation peel in the top corner (commonly the right). These types of banner ads are not considered irritating to the majority of viewers.

Unicast Advertisement - generally run in a pop-up window playing a video like a television commercial, up to 30 seconds. These frequently generate a high CTR.

Pushdown - expand to nearly a complete screen after loading a page. Some publishers require the Ad to collapse after a particular time (usually 7 to 10 seconds). The viewer may then click to re-expand the Banner and study the contents. Others permit the advertisers to keep their Advertisement expanded, requiring the viewer to click to collapse it. A non-collapsing pushdown is often limited to one user impression each day.

Fixed Panel Banner - appears placed in the browser. The panel (measuring 336 x 860 pixels) rolls to the top and bottom of the page as the user scrolls up and down.

XXL Box Banner - a colossal sized (468 x 648 pixels or more) Banner made use of by well known advertisers for brand effectiveness. These massive advertisements can consist of several pages and video.