Bigger is not necessarily better. But when banner ads size matters, more often than not, you cannot go wrong with a larger banner.
But what should your banner ads size be?
That’s a tricky question to answer considering the fact that the digital publishing industry is constantly changing, thus influencing trends. This makes predicting the optimal ad size difficult.
Additionally, advertisers must strive to find the balance between the number of eyeballs with click-through rates (CTR) and click-to-conversion rates (CTCR).
Most advertisers use banner ads with a size of 300×250 pixel. However, online advertising experts recommend businesses to opt for larger banner sizes, specifically the billboard and half page banner sizes.
These banner sizes simply outperform their smaller counterparts on different aspects. First, the larger your banner, the more views it will get. Second, a larger banner can be positioned above the fold or the upper half of the screen.
With more views, your CTR increases. But apart from this boost in CTR, your conversion, in the form of the CTCR, also rises exponentially. Conversion can come in the form of users signing up for your newsletter or actually purchasing a product or service from you.
If there is one downside to picking a banner that occupies a larger real estate, that would be the higher cost. However, that is not much of a deal breaker when you consider the fact that you will be getting better returns on investment. Broadly speaking, users who click on these ads are more likely to convert, thus your overall cost per click (CPC) goes down.
But going back to the question of how big should your banner be, here are a few recommendations.
The billboard measures 970X250 pixels and boasts of the highest CTCR among all banner ad sizes. It is followed by the half page which measures 300X600 pixels and has a high CTR and CTCR.
The medium rectangle which measures 300X250 pixels is the most popular size among advertisers. If you want your ad to be prominently displayed above the fold and on mobile devices, opt for the leaderboard which measures 728X90 pixels. For mobile, the best size for the leaderboard is 320X50 pixels.
Lastly, there’s the wide skyscraper which measures 160X600 pixels. This banner size can be viewed even when a user scrolls and has a decent CTR.
It is important to point out that size alone does not guarantee success. You might also have to consider the fact that many websites do not have sufficient real estate available to advertisers. As much as possible, opt for the largest possible banner size but make sure that you have other ad sizes as well.
To view a variety of banner samples and a wide range of digital marketing tools that may help you with your marketing, be sure to visit our own MGR Client Portfolio from time to time. Our team is constantly updating it with our latest projects.
Thank you for reading. Until next time, this is Manuel Gil del Real (MGR)
