Choosing the right banner ad sizes can make a real difference to your ad strategy. From filling your pockets to boosting performance, they’re a popular format among advertisers that, when well implemented, could up your game.
Let’s take a look at some of the most common banner ad sizes you could add to your website for high-performing ad monetization. We’ll also go over how to integrate them into your ad strategy and the best practices to maximize your ad revenue!
What are banner ads?
A banner ad is a type of ad format used for display advertising. They’re very similar to those billboards you see on the street, but in this case in the comfort of a web page. Normally, they’re positioned at the top of the page, at the sides, or in between the content.
Banner ads are rectangular creatives that link to an advertiser’s landing page and can be displayed in a variety of sizes. They are highly visible, attractive, versatile, and consistently in demand. Publishers can monetize these ad formats either through direct deals or real-time auctions, making them a smart addition to their ad mix.
Which are the best standard banner ad sizes for publishers?
Le IAB, the entity behind setting the industry standards, has established standard banner sizes to keep things consistent. Understanding these banner ad dimensions will work to your advantage when it comes to optimizing your ad strategy to maximize ad revenue, increase user engagement, and improve UX-UI performance.
The most popular banner ad sizes for desktop
Billboard – 970×250
The good ol’ Billboard is an IAB standard ad that you can normally find chilling at the very top of a webpage. Kind of like those advertisements on the highway. It is the most common premium banner ad type for its high-performance positioning.
Leaderboard – 728×90
The Leaderboard 728×90 is one of Google’s top-performing ad sizes. It’s a horizontally oriented banner that’s slimmer than the Billboard. You can still typically find it at the top of the page, but unlike the Billboard, you can also leverage it in between content. For example, within a comment section.
Medium Rectangle – 300×250
The 300×250 Rectangle, once again, is an IAB standard ad format and the top-performing ad size according to Google. It’s usually integrated within a website’s content. These banners draw the eye naturally while users scan the content, without disrupting them. It’s very flexible as it can adapt to many file types, which opens more ad revenue opportunities for you!
HPA – 300×600
HPA (half page ad) is an IAB standard ad format which generally consists of an image or gif that’s normally displayed at the side of a webpage’s content for desktop users.
Skyscraper small – 120×600
A Skyscraper is a vertical banner (also IAB standard). This size in particular can squeeze into narrower spaces than the wide banner. It is characterized by its tall rectangular dimensions and is typically displayed at the side of a webpage’s content.
Skyscraper wide 160×600
The Skyscraper 160×600 is the wider version of the 120×600 Skyscraper. It is also typically inserted on the side of a website’s content, but in this size there’s often more demand, potentially leading to higher earnings.
Push up – 728×90
Le Push Up Ad is the same size as the Leaderboard, but the advantage here is that this type of banner remains fixed at the bottom of the page as the user scrolls through the content of the site, doing wonders for your visibilité and ad revenue.
The most popular banner ad sizes for mobile devices are
Rectangle – 300×250
The Rectangle in 300×250 (aka Medium Rectangle) is the most popular ad size for mobile because it offers a lot of available inventory for advertisers. It supports different ad formats, including text, images, and video ads. This ad is usually placed between content sections and performs especially well when positioned above an image or below a summary. Sweet spots that are eye-catching!
Mobile Leaderboard – 320×100
The 300×100 Leaderboard for mobile can deliver high performance when in its smartly placed between the title and an image or the name of the author of the article. It’s good to keep in mind to place them where the users tend to scan the most or between comments.
Large Rectangle – 336×280
The Large Rectangle 336×280 could also be a good option for allowing even more advertisers to bid on your designated ad space. It’s a great addition to your strategy when it’s the first or second ad unit inside the content as it’s quite the attention grabber. This is because there are a lot of rich media digital advertising campaigns optimized for these positions.
Mobile Pushup – 320×100
Same story as with desktop but fun sized for mobile! This banner at 320×100 commands high viewability as it remains visible the whole time the visitor is looking at their phone’s screen. Also, it provides a better user experience as it gives the user the opportunity to dismiss it whenever they feel it. You get a boost in impressions, ad revenue, and performance all in one!
How to integrate banner ads into your ad monetization strategy
To get banner ads on your site, you’ll need to place div IDs where you want your ads to be shown, reserve the space for them, and connect to a display network.
Not feeling like doing it? We can handle it for you! With our Single Tag solution, we can connect your ad space to the best display advertising networks out there. Reach out to our Customer Success team for all the details.
What are the best placements for banner ads? A guide for Publishers
You might think “What could go wrong with a banner ad here and there?”. When implemented incorrectly, banner ads could backfire on you. From damaging your user experience to causing a Core Web Vitals existential crisis, misplacing your banner ads could limit your ad revenue potential.
Banners are as good as where you place them, so here are some top ad placements you should tackle mindfully:
Above the fold (ATF)
The fold (in programmatic advertising lingo) is that bottom edge on your screen where you must start scrolling down to reveal more content. Above The Fold is the view that you see when you enter a page, and you don’t have to scroll yet. This is a hotspot for banner ads as it is highly visible for users freshly visiting your site.
Surrounding content
Banner ads are great for text-heavy content. Placing them near or within an article that users are purposely there to scan will enhance your viewability rate. Having the ad unit around the content the audience is engaging with can help you earn valuable impressions without interrupting your user.
Away from other ads
Everything, everywhere, all at once might have been a hit at the Oscars, but when it comes to having too many ads clumped together all over your page, it won’t land a win for your ad strategy for sure. Avoid cluttering ads in the same place to keep your user experience neat.
Stuck at the bottom of the viewport
Making banner ads sticky boosts visibility as they will remain in view as the user scrolls up and down the page. This position is highly profitable, so we recommend you stick to it for the sake of your ad strategy (pun intended).
How to maximize ad revenue with banner ads
Use Ad refresh
Ad refresh is a technology used to show more ads in a single ad unit during a user session. Setting up a banner with ad refresh allows your ads to automatically change to a new one after a fixed amount of time. In short: you get more impressions in a banner ad out of a single user session (and more revenue!).
Implement Lazy loading
Lazy loading is another technology used to improve performance. In this case, ads will only be loaded when they are close to getting into the viewport. This will make your site load faster, reduce the bounce rate, and improve the user experience.
Apply sticky positioning to the banner within the Wrapper
When reserving space to avoid CLS issues, you might end up with some blank space where the ad is supposed to be. If you make the ad stick to the reserved space, it’ll stay fixed for a few moments as the user scrolls up until it reaches the edge of the wrapper. This’ll help you increase the viewability rate as the ad stays longer on screen.
Work with an AdTech partner that has access to a display network
Partner up with an AdTech partner that has a strong connection to a banner advertising network such as Google Display Network, Teads ou Amazon Publisher Services. You’ll get access to premium demand in a highly efficient way (aka less work for you!).
Our programmatic advertising experts are total pros when it comes to banner ads and with our Single Tag we can easily connect your site to premium Display Ad Networks to maximize your revenue stress free! Ring them up to know more.
Place them strategically in those hotspots with the most viewability
Place your ad smarter, not harder to optimize yield. Pinpoint those sections on your page where user look the most, where ads don’t disturb the user experience, and where they are the most visible. You can learn more about ad placement strategies in this blog.
Choose quality over quantity.
It’s better to put a few ads well-placed in a few good spots, than lots that could damage your performance.
Test A/B
Optimization is a game of trial and error. Experiment with different ad banner sizes and placements to discover the perfect formula for maximizing performance and revenue. This way you’ll identify what works best for your ad strategy.
Banner up!
Display advertising is a fan-favorite strategy heavily used by advertisers in campaigns and a perfect opportunity for publishers to unlock higher ad revenue. Choosing the right banner ad sizes is the smartest move you can make to maximize earnings and boost ad performance. Get in contact with our experts to banner up your site like a pro!
