Online Advertising - Throwing a Banner into the Works

Payment Models

Depending on the primary goal of the campaign, different payment models can be used:

CPM or CPI

Paying for exposure. CPM refers to Cost Per Thousand and CPI to Cost Per Impression. This is usually how a campaign would be priced when brand awareness is the primary goal. It's also how most banner ads are priced in South Africa.

CPC

Paying for clicks. CPC stands for Cost Per Click. Normally associated with Paid Search Marketing, banners can be priced this way when the aim is to drive traffic. This is seldom used in South Africa.

CPA

Paying for acquisition. CPA refers to Cost Per Acquisition. This model means the publisher carries all the risk. The advertiser only pays when an advert delivers an acquisition.

If you're into buying banner advertising, this is the best way to pay - if you're selling it, it's the worst way to charge.

Not surprisingly, the CPA model is not commonly used for banner advertising and is generally associated with Affiliate Marketing. Of course, the lines blur when you're publishing an affiliate banner.

Flat Rate

Sometimes, owners of lower-traffic sites choose to sell banner space at a flat rate i.e. at a fixed cost per month regardless of traffic or amount of impressions. This would appeal to a media buyer who may be testing an online campaign generally targeting niche markets.

So What Exactly Are Banners?

In simplest terms, a banner ad is a hyperlinked image. The image carries the message and the hyperlink takes the visitor to the advertiser's landing page.

Of course it doesn't have to merely be an image. In fact, this form of advertising has come a long way since the early days of images that say "click here!" and drop you off at the homepage of the advertiser's website.

Banners can contain other forms of rich media as well and many use interactivity and sound to draw attention. The use of action scripts and technologies like Flash has taken this form of Online Advertising to a whole new level.

Types of Banner Ads - Size Matters!

As mentioned before, "banner advertising" is something of a misnomer. Banners come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Perhaps calling it "rich media advertising" or "online creative advertising" is more descriptive.

If we break it down traditionally, banner advertising can be separated into various categories according to their size and shape:

  • Banners
    • Full Banner: 468 X 60
    • Half Banner: 234 X 60
    • Micro Bar: 88 X 31
    • Vertical Banner / Mini Skyscraper: 120 X 240
    • Leaderboard: 770 X 60
  • Buttons
    • Button 1: 120 X 90
    • Button 2: 120 X 60
    • Micro Button: 80 X 15
    • Square Button: 125 X 125 / 120 X 120
  • Rectangular ads
    • Medium Rectangle: 300 X 250
    • Square Pop-Up: Any size, but 200 X 200 is common
    • Vertical Rectangle: 240 X 400
    • Large Rectangle: 336 X 280
    • Rectangle: 180 X 150 and other variations
  • Skyscrapers
    • Wide Skyscraper: 160 X 600
    • Skyscraper: 120 X 600
    • Half Page Ad / Super Skyscraper: 300 X 600

While the sizes above indicate the generally accepted dimensions of ads, rich media technologies mean the ads themselves can expand beyond the allocated area of page real estate. Expanding ads, that "pop-out" on mouse-over, overlay ads that appear on top of site content, and ads that incorporate interactive elements have become very popular.

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