Standard Ads

Standard vs. Rich banner Ads

Navigating the dynamic landscape of advertising poses its challenges, particularly in distinguishing between various advertising terms. Rich and standard media exemplify this complexity all too well! Initially, the difference between the two was stark, yet with the evolution of technology, ad servers, and HTML5, the distinction has become increasingly blurred. While file size remains a distinguishing factor, its significance as a separator between rich and standard media has lessened. In our current advertising milieu, the primary disparity lies in development costs, coupled with the inability of standard units to support video or use dynamic feeds.

Standard units are typically capped at 150KB. Nonetheless, creating impactful units within this constraint is entirely feasible. Clients often attempt to remove animation from their units to reduce file size while simultaneously incorporating several full bleed images. Surprisingly, it’s the assets, not the animation, that contribute to file size!

While it may seem improbable, crafting visually appealing creatives within a 40KB limit is entirely achievable with ingenuity. For instance, photo-realistic images consume file space very quickly. However, opting for illustration can be one way to circumvent tight file size restrictions. The file size of animated assets pales in comparison to high-resolution photography, and the animation required to captivate viewers is virtually weightless!

As depicted below, compression plays a pivotal role. The left placement illustrates the units as served, while the right portrays the outcome with one or two additional images compressed into the build. As can be seen, compressing multiple full bleed images yields discernible differences!

What the IAB says about Standard Ads

All standard ads and media should be supplied with a minimum of 150KB from the media agency. The International Advertising Bureau (IAB) updates advertising ad specs annually. Despite this, clients are often provided with outdated specs from their media agency. Importantly, if a media agency attempts to sell standard media placements at 40KB, they not only deviate from IAB practices but also compromise the efficacy of your campaign for subpar media placement.