Categories of Internet Ads

Introduction | Ads Category | Pixel Specification

Banner Ads (Source)
This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. The advertisement is constructed from an image (GIF, JPEG, PNG), JavaScript program or multimedia object. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser. The web banner is displayed when a web page that references the banner is loaded into a web browser.

Sidebar Ads (Source)
A sidebar ad (also known as a skyscraper ad) is similar to a banner ad, but it is vertically oriented rather than horizontally. Because it is vertical, the height of a sidebar ad can often reach 600 pixels or more, and sidebars are generally 120 pixels wide. A sidebar ad has more impact than a banner ad for at least two reasons:

A tall sidebar ad is two to three times larger than a banner ad.
You cannot scroll a sidebar ad off the screen like you can a banner ad. With a banner ad, you can scroll just 60 pixels down and the ad is gone. With a sidebar ad, the ad is with you much longer.

Pop-Up Ads (Source)
A pop-up ad is an ad that "pops up" in its own window when you go to a page. It obscures the Web page that you are trying to read, so you have to close the window or move it out of the way. Pop-under ads are similar, but place themselves under the content you are trying to read and are therefore less intrusive.
Pop-up and pop-under ads annoy many users because they clutter up the desktop and take time to close. However, they are much more effective than banner ads. Whereas a banner ad might get two to five clicks per 1,000 impressions, a pop-up ad might average 30 clicks. Therefore, advertisers are willing to pay more for pop-up and pop-under ads. Typically, a pop-up ad will pay the Web site four to 10 times more than a banner ad. That is why you see so many pop-up ads on the Web today.

Floating Ads (Source)
These are ads that appear when you first go to a Web page, and they "float" or "fly" over the page for anywhere from five to 30 seconds. While they are on the screen, they obscure your view of the page you are trying to read, and they often block mouse input as well. Floating ads are appearing more and more frequently for several reasons:

They definitely get the viewer's attention. They are animated. Many now have sound. Like TV ads, they "interrupt the program" and force you to watch them. They can take up the entire screen.
From a branding standpoint, they are much more powerful than something like a banner ad or a sidebar ad. They cannot be ignored.
They have a high click-through rate, averaging about 3 percent (meaning that 30 people will click through for every 1,000 impressions of a floating ad).

Unicast Ads (Source)
A Unicast ad has roughly the same branding power as a TV commercial. However, a Unicast ad offers something that TV ads cannot -- the ability to click on the ad for more information. And people do click on them at an amazing rate -- a 5-percent click-through rate (50 clicks per 1,000 impressions of the ad) is not uncommon.

Because Unicast ads have branding power and because people click on them, $30 per 1,000 impressions is a common rate paid to Web sites. Because they pay so well, they are likely to spread rapidly.

Iterstitial Ad (Source)

Interstitial means "in between". Interstitials ads are web pages that are displayed before an expected content page. As such, Interstitial ads are a way of placing full page messages between the current and destination page. Since the web is such a busy place, people have to find ways to cope with over-stimulation. One means of coping is known as sensory input filtering. This means that our brains learn to filter out the vast majority of the messages coming at them. We the viewers, quickly learn at some level to recognize banner ads or anything that looks like a banner ad. We filter out most of the irrelevant noise but we also filter out many of the important messages. Interstitial messages, like TV commercials make viewers a captive of the message.

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