The 3 Most Effective Ad Formats for Local Publishers

March 11, 2020

Just because an ad format is common doesn’t always mean it’s the most effective. Local publishers who track click-through rates and impressions often find that certain ad formats perform better than others. By zeroing in on what the most effective ad formats are, you can develop premium offerings for your advertisers and increase the value of your online advertising programs.

The most effective ad formats for local publishers tend to include ample space for large, impactful, high-resolution images. They’re designed in a way that grabs the attention of online visitors. And all of the most effective ad formats take advantage of the best in advertising technology in order to drive conversions.

Pinpointing the most effective ad formats at your specific publication may take a bit of trial and error. Impressions and click-through rates are both important metrics to track, but they don’t always tell the complete story. Impressions can rise while click-through rates drop, or people may spend less time looking at certain ads, even though conversions are higher. How does that factor into your opinion of whether an ad format is effective or not?

Our list of the most effective ad formats is based on the real world experiences of local publishers. It also takes into account the best performing mobile ad sizes, which are becoming more important as mobile ad spend continues to rise. By the end of this year, online advertising is expected to account for 44% of global ad spend. Designing your advertising offerings to highlight the most effective ad formats is one way to strengthen your position as a publisher that advertisers will want to work with.

Most Effective Ad Formats for Local Publishers

1. The Billboard

We’ve all seen billboards along the side of the highway. In the world of digital advertising, the billboard format is just as attention-grabbing and impactful. The Billboard ad format looks similar to an extra-large banner at the top of a website. It works best on websites with set background colors. Publishers can target this ad format to an empty zone or a popout zone. The image you use should be at least 1,440px wide and 240px tall, but an even larger size banner (2000px x 500px) is really what we recommend for maximum impact.

Local publishers frequently tell us that The Billboard is one of their most sought-after units. It’s especially effective as a format for showcasing retail, real estate, and firm branding.

2. Amazing Cube ’20 

If you’ve been around Broadstreet for a while, you’ve heard us talk quite a bit about the Amazing Cube. The Amazing Cube displays up to six images and captions in a single ad, making this an extremely popular ad format among advertisers.

With the Amazing Cube ’20, website visitors on the latest browsers will see a slick rotating cube that grabs their attention. Restaurants, in particular, love this format, since it gives them the opportunity to highlight multiple menu items in a single ad. 

The Amazing Cube ’20 accepts any photo size, however square images work best if you want to avoid auto-cropping or sizing. Also note that this ad format is not responsive at a width lower than 300px wide.

3. Sneaker

The Sneaker’s popularity is directly tied to its effectiveness. Like the name implies, the Sneaker is a banner or image that “sneaks” up on readers from the bottom of the webpage. It can also be rate limited to minimize annoyance to online users.

You might be wondering what makes this one of the three most effective ad formats for local publishers. Unlike ad formats that can easily be passed over, you can’t miss the Sneaker. The actual banner or image itself can be any size, however we’ve found that wide and short ads work best.

As a publisher, it can be easy to get overwhelmed when you’re deciding which ad formats to sell. We’re hoping that by showing you the most effective ad formats, you’ll be able to design an program that delivers the greatest possible results for your advertiser clients. 

If you want to learn even more about how to integrate and sell the latest ad formats, get in contact with our team at Broadstreet today.