I spend many hours every day working in the online newspaper world. The print side of the business is in serious decline all over the country, which is putting more pressure on online to make more money.
Since you did such a good job of ignoring banner ads, we made them flash. Still, you ignored them, so we made them interactive with Flash. Still you ignored them, so we made them slide into the area you were trying to read. Still you ignored them. We even made walk on ads where your local car dealer would walk, and talk at you down at the bottom of your browser, still you stood aloof. Well, you have done so at your own peril, because the ad world is preparing a trio of new monsters that will not be ignored.
The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ESPN and over a dozen more of the Web’s most-trafficked sites that belong to the Online Publishers Association have agreed to run three new ad units that they hope will lure brand advertising dollars.
The new units are:
• The fixed panel, a 336-by-860-pixel banner that is wider than the standard skyscraper and follows users as they scroll down the page.
• The XXL box, a 468-by-648-pixel unit that can expand with video.
• The push-down, a 970-by-418-pixel placement that takes up over half of the page before rolling up.
Yes, you read that last one right, a 970-by-418 takeover ad!
Is this the right way to reach you?
Can anyone tell me about a time you clicked on an online ad and bought something? I would love to hear what types of things can get immediate action like that.
5x5 says
There was an ad for a home improvement store that had a scratch off area to “determine” your discount. I could not resist.
kookoo says
Hahaha! That’s so stupid. But then again, maybe the numbers say that’s the way to go. The point is, if you cover half the page, what reason I have to look at that page? Plus, if you need bigger ads to get my attention, then maybe those ads are not well targeted.
Smitty says
I have clicked on ads at sites where they target the advertising to their audience. I’ve never clicked on an ad in Yahoo mail, because I’m not single, don’t need a home loan, and don’t care to find the secret to whiter teeth or a flatter belly. And I surely don’t believe I am (yet again) the 99,999th visitor – “This is not a joke!” But on “Kool Tools”, or one of the Mac news sites, or The Gadgeteer, I’ll click through because the ad is of interest, or sometimes because I want to send a message to the advertiser that there are people reading the site they are sponsoring. I guess that stems from the same reason I stop to buy lemonade from the kid selling it on the street – I want to encourage initiative, wherever I find it.
Phil says
That’s funny Smitty – that’s why I buy lemonade from the neighborhood kids also