Banner ads are still the best ad format among the different web marketing formats.
According to the findings of AppNexus of the day-to-day execution of campaigns, Q 2015 Digital Advertising Index, banner ads are actually offering marketers the highest click-through rates. This research is based on over 80,000 campaigns transacted in that quarter.
It is a surprising outcome after a huge number of marketers had thought that banner ads are going obsolete or perhaps underestimated its value. In the AppNexus platform, banner ads placed the most affordable rate at $0.16, reaching the second highest clickthrough rate at 0.04%, almost overcoming the expandable ads at 0.05%.
While skins was the most expensive (a dollar more than expandable ads) among all formats, it was outpaced by banner ads. The same applies to pop-up and interstitial.
Another significant finding was the outperformance of desktop ads, which came in 64% of campaigns, over mobile, which was only 47% and mobile apps garnering 32%. The total ad spending went more than half to U.S. with 52%, and the other to the rest of the world, U.K. with 14%, France with 6% and Canada with 5%.
In an interview with Marketing Dive, Pat McCarthy who is the SVP of Marketing at AppNexus said, “There’s a lot of buzz about the banner ad being dead, and about consumers, marketers, and publishers alike shifting their attention to mobile. But the Q2 index shows that in fact the banner ad has high CTRs and competitive prices, particularly compared to interstitials, pop-ups, and skins.”
“Marketers have the opportunity to allocate budgets across both desktop and mobile, capitalizing on data around impression availability by time-of-day and day-of-week. When segmenting budgets, marketers should consider device and time, and leverage data in order to do both well.”
The Importance of Transparency in Marketing
AppNexus developed the AppNexus IQ, a set of products and policies which improved its inventory quality standards. McCarthy expressed that it was this development that increased the benefit of participants in the digital ad space.
McCarthy said that “The introduction of AppNexus IQ proves that committing to quality and transparency results in benefits for buyers and sellers in the form of increased revenue for publishers, increased post-click conversion rates, and a rise in RPMs from strongly performing tags”
“AppNexus’ mission is to create a better Internet, and our commitment to quality is a critical part of that mission. Marketers will benefit significantly when they’re part of an ecosystem that values trust and transparency.”
Part of that benefit includes insights into spending and effectiveness for improved messaging. In the report, 61.4% of spending were from telecommunications (which came first at 29%), financial, automotive, alcoholic beverages, and home and decor.
The most valuable ads were about saving money and sexual health while the most effective ads were about jobs and family.
According to McCarthy’s perspective, “In spite of telecommunications and alcoholic beverages leading the way in spend, the most effective ads were about jobs and family – an insight which should help shape marketers as they craft their messaging.”
The insight concluded the way marketers rely on desktop advertising that made up 64% of the campaigns on the platform in the second quarter, impacted impressions. It was recorded that the highest impression rate occurred during 10 and 11 p.m. ET when people were at home and still awake. Looking at the days of the week, it was during the weekend that impressions were at their lowest when people were out and away from desktop computers.
McCarthy added that trustworthy platforms play a big role in marketing. “Quality and transparency are the future of internet advertising. Not only will [marketers] realize better performance and value, but they will be part of making the internet better for consumers today, and in the months and years to come.”