• by Masha Geller , December 5, 2002

It looks like online advertisers are getting more and more sophisticated – they’re targeting their ads better, using more rich media and feeling more comfortable experimenting with larger ad sizes. At least that’s according to the latest Ad Serving Trend Report from DoubleClick, released today.

DoubleClick says that based on more than 144 billion ads they served in the third quarter of 2002 for their clients, “online advertising continues to prove its effectiveness for marketers.” According to their data, the majority of online ads are now targeted and rich media usage has increased.

DoubleClick data reveals that more than 73% of all campaigns incorporated some form of targeting criteria in the third quarter. The fact that only one quarter of all ads served are run-of-network attests to a continued sophistication in the online planning process. Furthermore, keyword and key value remain the most common type of targeting used by advertisers with 82% of targeted ads. This includes both keywords on search engines served by DoubleClick and content targeting on specific sites. (This targeting number is not comparable with the figure released in the previous Ad Serving Trend Report because data in the previous report included other variables such as frequency capping which are included in targeting system reports but are not true forms of targeting.)

Marketers have also used geographic targeting in 12% of all targeted ads and targeting by time of day is now 3% of all targeted ads served.

DoubleClick also reports that rich media usage has grown by 34% from the first quarter to the third quarter. In the third quarter, nearly 25% of all ads served by DoubleClick were rich media, which, they say, “has been proven to have higher response rates and greater branding impact than static banners.” Average click-through rates for rich media held constant at 2.7% in the third quarter as compared to 2.5% in the first quarter, while click-through rates for non-rich media declined from 0.4% in the first quarter to 0.27% in the third quarter.

Speaking of click-throughs, as a result of better planning and more dynamic creative, average click-through rates remained constant at around 0.69% in the second and third quarters, compared to 0.7% in the first quarter, indicating an increasing maturation of the industry. More importantly, however, view- through rates - a metric DoubleClick uses to describe users who convert within 30 days of seeing an ad, but do not click on a banner – have risen from .36% in the first quarter to .51% in the third quarter. This translates to five consumers per thousand who respond to an ad that they do not click on. As a result, marketers who use click-throughs as the only response metric, are missing these conversions.

Lastly, the report reveals that the use of IAB standard sizes has held steady at nearly 70% of all ads served which makes online advertising much easier to implement across a range of sites. Specifically, skyscrapers now account for over 7% of total volume, a 67% increase from the first quarter. The standard 468x60 pixel banner is still the most popular, accounting for nearly 50% of all ads served, with the next most popular size being the 120x600 pixel skyscraper at 6.3% of volume. Large rectangles that often feature some of the most dynamic creative, have increased in usage by 85% from the first quarter to the third quarter. However, they still account for a small percentage of total volume, .3% in the third quarter.