The characteristics of ads can significantly impact the profitability of a publisher’s ad inventory. So to choose the best ad formats for your website, you need to consider factors such as how the placed ads will impact the user experience, whether they will fit with the website layout and design, and align with your monetization goals. To help, in this article, I will cover the basics for choosing the most optimal ad formats for your website.
A General Overview of Ad Formats for Websites
The three most commonly used (standard-industry) ad formats for websites are the following:
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Display Ads — Display ads are usually graphic or banner-style ads placed within the website content, in the sidebar, or the header. They can be static image ads or rich media with interactive elements. Publishers frequently use the banner format, which often appears at the top or on the sides of the web page. Interstitial ads are also a commonly used type but are known to be disruptive to users, as they appear before the user can access the landing page of a website.
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Video Ads — Video ads are an excellent way to boost user engagement. Publishers can put video ads within the already-existing video content of their website — instream video ads (pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll), or they can incorporate them into non-video environments such as blogs and articles — outstream video ads.
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Native Ads — Native ads seamlessly blend with the website or platform they appear on both visually and contextually. These ads are also known as branded ads because they are usually hosted on the target website. These ads can be both display and video, depending on the publisher’s choice.
Choosing the Best Ad Formats for Your Website
For starters, I suggest selecting ad formats based on your website design, the content that you have on your website and your user base. More precisely, you should pay attention to the following points.
Consider the Audience
One of the most important aspects to consider when choosing which ad type to place on your website is user behavior. For instance, whether a publisher’s user base predominantly uses mobile or desktop devices to view content can tell you a lot. Since mobile traffic accounts for more than half of the global web traffic, incorporating mobile ad formats is a great opportunity to generate more revenue.
In addition, keeping track of how long users view blog posts or watch videos can help publishers with ad placements. If users don’t stay long on blog posts, chances are, they’re not reading the entire text, so placing ads at the bottom of the content would be meaningless. Similarly, if video completion rates are low, incorporating pre-roll ads instead of mid-roll and post-roll is more effective.
Consider the Content
Publishers should use ad formats that match their website content. If a publisher has a VOD platform, implementing instream video ads should be the primary focus. On the other hand, if a publisher has a blog-type website, employing native ads that seamlessly integrate with the text-based content or using outstream ad units that do not hinder the user’s experience is a great way to monetize a website.
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Learn MoreConsider the Placement
To decide which ad formats to display, publishers first need to make sure that their website has available ad space. Certain ad formats, such as display ads, require assigned spots within the website content so as not to be intrusive. Publishers need to plan out ad placement beforehand. If a publisher does not have enough available space for ads within their web page content, elements such as TargetVideo’s in-slide ad unit are a great way to serve more ads on their website.
Consider the Size
The size depends entirely on the devices users use to access a website and the available ad space on the said website (suitable ad slots). The IAB standard ad sizes are 728×90 (leaderboard), 300×250 (medium rectangle), and 160×600 (skyscraper) for desktop, and 320×50 (mobile leaderboard) for mobile. Additionally, frequently used formats for mobile are interstitial (covers the entire mobile screen) and 300×250 (medium rectangle), compatible with both desktop and mobile devices.
Consider the Combination
Looking at the same ad format over and over again on a website can cause ad fatigue. So, to make ads more engaging, publishers should mix and match different ad formats and find the perfect combination that won’t disrupt the user experience. For instance, they can use native ads within the website content and include outstream video ads on the side. This way, they generate more revenue as two or more separate header biddings take place on the same web page.
How to Implement Ads on Your Website
Once you decide which ad formats you want to use, finding and employing a quality ad network is the next step. These platforms act as intermediaries between publishers and advertisers for the selling and buying of ad inventory. I recommend choosing your ad networks based on the following:
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Ad Format Variety — The ad network you plan to work with needs to support your chosen ad formats;
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Targeting — Make sure that the ad network you choose offers advanced targeting options (both contextual and behavioral);
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Analytics — Extensive ad analytics are essential as they help you adjust your ads and improve your ad performance. Remember that quality ad analytics should include engagement metrics such as viewability, clicks, CTR, play rates, and similar.
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Revenue Potential — Make sure that your chosen ad network has premium ad demand i.e., a vast pull of quality advertisers that will provide you with high-quality creatives. The better the quality of the ads the higher the revenue.
How to Implement Video Ads on Your Website?
With video ad delivery, the process is pretty much the same, you, of course, need an ad server and ad network to facilitate sales, but an additional step is choosing the right online video player for the video ad delivery. The player should be fast, latency-free, and relatively easy to implement, so using a prebuilt solution is always the best option. For instance, TargetVideo’s HTML5 Video Player is lightweight, fully customizable, easy to implement, and offers a variety of engaging units.
Get Started With Website Monetization With TargetVideo
TargetVideo offers publishers two ways to go about monetizing their websites. If you want full control over your content management, distribution, and monetization then the TargetVideo Platform is the perfect fit. But if you’re just starting or don’t want to deal with the extra work of setup, content selection, and ad optimization, our Managed Video Player is your go-to as our publisher success managers will do the entire work for you. Additionally, for publishers that are interested in video advertising but do not have video content of their own, TargetVideo offers its extensive video library of thousands of monetizable videos in various categories.
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FAQ
1. What are the different ad formats for your website?
Different ad formats for your website can be display ads, rich media ads, video ads, interactive ads, native ads, and so on.
2. How do I put ads on my website?
You can put ads on your website by employing an ad network after you decide which ad formats to use. These networks handle all the auctions, tracking, targeting, and reporting in your place.
3. What type of ad is most commonly used?
The most commonly used ad types are display ads, video ads, and native ads.
