Digital display ads are the images and video ads that people see as they look through websites, apps and social media. They are considered to be any ad that does not include paid search and audio only ads.
They range across different channels and formats. To get the most from display ads, businesses need to ensure that they are targeting the right audience and using interesting and creative content.
The best digital display ad formats are effective in raising brand awareness. They get the message across quickly. They are easy to create and place, and they provide strong value for the money.
Responsive display ads and video ads are fast becoming the mainstays for the best digital display ad formats. With responsive ads, advertisers can try out different types of graphics and text and use machine learning to get faster results. Companies that develop video content will have a big advantage over others that neglect this type of ad.
The five best digital display ad formats and what they have to offer
TRADITIONAL DISPLAY ADS
These are the staples of digital advertising. They have been the primary type of advertising for many years. These are banner ads that appear on websites and apps in many different forms: JPG, GIF, HTML5, and MP4.
Although they are more expensive to develop, these ads offer the best opportunity for being creative and trying various ideas and looks.
RESPONSIVE DISPLAY ADS
These types of ads take into account each individual user’s background in order to determine what kind of video, image, logo, text, or combination of each to display. In other words, they are personalized for each user.
These ads appear to be gaining a lot of momentum and may become the most important type in the future. Google is now prioritizing these types of ads over uploaded ones.
Other platforms such as Facebook are also using these ads much more often. Using automatic placements with Facebook enables the social media site to adapt the ads for feeds, stories, searches, messages, articles, and apps.
NATIVE ADS
The term “native ad” generally is used to describe one that matches the look and feel of the site or app on which it appears. These types of ads are made so that they blend in with the other content on a web page. They often look like user posts on social media.
Many people equate these ads with the sponsored articles that appear at the end of the content on websites.
Native ads are most effective when they are placed to raise brand awareness and engagement. The hurdle they face is being engaging enough to make a person stop scrolling through other content to look at the content of the ad.
VIDEO DISPLAY ADS
This is one of the most interesting formats for advertisers to use. Because internet speeds have improved so much, these types of ads have become much more popular and engaging. As evidence of their increased use, during the first quarter of 2021, revenues generated from these types of ads increased by $2 billion. These ads can be run on all major advertising platforms and ad servers.
On YouTube, these ads appear in two types of formats. In the first type, the viewer must watch the entire ad before being able to access the YouTube content. In the second type, however, users can skip the ad after a certain period of time.
LIGHTBOX ADS
These are interactive kinds of ads that respond when people communicate with them. The ad, for example, may grow to fill the screen, play video or allow the user to scroll through various images. Lightbox ads pop up when the user hovers the cursor over certain text.
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