• by November 6, 2000

Although 80% of advertisers use the full banner in online campaigns, other ad formats account for a majority of impressions and garner far greater exposure on the web, according to a report released today by AdRelevance.

Buttons (short, micro, medium and tall) and different sized banners (half, short and vertical) collectively make up 63% of all online ad impressions, while standard banners account for only 37%, the report says.

Though the full banner accounts for the largest number of ads per company (18.3 on average), it garners far less exposure than other ad types, when measuring impressions per ad. And, with the exception of the vertical banner, advertisers are running all ad formats longer than the full banner.

Additionally, most advertisers rely on buttons -- short (25%), micro (16%), and medium (14%) -- ahead of other banner sizes - half (14%), vertical (6%), and short (3%).

Not surprisingly, despite the range of available options, GIF animation is the most prevalent ad technology. On average, GIF animation is used in approximately 19 of every 25 ads per company and amounts to 58% of total impressions. On the other hand, the average advertiser creates only 5 JPEG image ads that account for 40% of ad impressions.

"Although rich media is out there and growing, it has yet to surpass the popularity of animated GIFs and JPEG image," said Charlie Buchwalter, VP of media research for AdRelevance. "As broadband and other high-speed connection solutions become more readily available and online ad technologies mature, however, expect rich media to be a cornerstone of all ads."