Does Size Matter in Online Advertising?

Benchmarks Study by Eyeblaster Tackles the Question

New York, New York (October 13, 2009) –A periodic analysis of global benchmarks released today by Eyeblaster, the leading independent provider of integrated digital advertising solutions, confirms that size has less of an impact in rich media display ads than that of standard banners, and points to video, ad formats, flash features and expansion as key elements in driving performance.

In the benchmark analysis, Eyeblaster analyzed data comprised of more than a quarter of a million of ads worldwide, including all sizes, formats and markets served between Q3 2008 and Q2 2009. A breakdown by ad formats across multiple regions and an in-depth dive into numbers suggests that for Rich Media, half banners (234x60) are indeed the top performing rich media ad formats, followed by rectangle ad formats (180x150).

“Eyeblaster data suggests that physical size of a banner has less to do with performance than creative execution and rich media,” said Gal Trifon, CEO and Co-founder at Eyeblaster. “This corroborates other published studies that reveal that bigger banners do not equate to better engagement.”

To demonstrate that size is not a key performance booster for rich media ads, Eyeblaster analyzed the performance of the most popular ad format, polite banner, with and without video, across sizes. Unit sizes were sorted by pixel from high to low and measured in total Dwell Time; the amount of time a user is exposed and engaged within an ad. Results show video increases performance significantly by 71%, regardless of size.

For Standard banners, unit size is one of the major factors to attract users’ attention. Eyeblaster’s analysis indicates that on average, an increase of 50,000 pixels yields an increase of 0.044% in CTR, compared to the overall CTR of Standard Banners at 0.1%.

To increase performance and consumer engagement, marketers should consider the following three factors:
1. Re-evaluate the role of technology and consider aligning creative with appropriate metrics in the beginning stages of planning a campaign.
2. Use adaptive media to optimize, make creative changes creative of the fly and keep content fresh by swapping out video, sound, text, images, etc.
3. For greatest impact, take into account placement on page, creative features, metrics and ad format over size.

Eyeblaster releases new benchmark reports every six months and periodically produces research on ad formats, consumer behavior, and metrics and analytics.

Download the complete study at http://bit.ly/EBBenchmark2009.

Source: Eyeblaster