• by March 6, 2002

The Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB) large online ad formats received much fanfare in March 2001, and the latest data from Jupiter Media Metrix' AdRelevance service indicate they are making progress.

The large ad formats - consisting of skyscrapers, squares and rectangles - have slowly but steadily carved out a niche for themselves, growing from 4% share of all online ad impressions in April 2001 to 9% in January 2002. The number of large-format ad impressions grew 185% over that same period, from 2.0 billion to 5.7 billion.

"The past year has shown that while taking time to catch on, the IAB benefited online advertisers and publishers by recommending standards for larger formats," said Charles Buchwalter, VP of media research at JMM. "Among the large formats, we're seeing most rapid growth among the skyscraper format, which increased in popularity by 436% between April 2001 and January 2002."

Meanwhile, the ubiquitous banner format continues to dominate, having claimed 50 to 52% share every month over the past year. The actual number of banner ad impressions grew 39%, from 23.6 billion impressions in April 2001 to 32.9 billion in January 2002.

The number of impressions for small-format ads - consisting of all bars and buttons – also increased, but not fast enough to maintain their standing compared to the other formats with faster growth rates. The number of small ad impressions grew 15% between April 2001 and January 2001, from 20.6 billion impressions to 23.7, but the small format's share among all ads declined from 46% in to 38% over the same period. (See below for category specifications.)

"It is doubtful that the demise of smaller ad formats is anywhere near on the horizon, but experimentation is moving in other directions," said Buchwalter.

Different Genres of Sites Favor Different Ad Formats

Small Ad Formats - Automotive sites are 35% more likely to apply small ad formats than all other sites, while personal expression sites were 37% less likely. In January 2002, small-format ads composed 76% and 4%, respectively, of all ads on those categories.

Banner Ads - Shopping and auction sites are 31% more likely to use banner ads, while automotive sites are 30% less likely to have banners. Banner ads composed 80% and 19%, respectively, of all ads served on those categories of sites.

Squares and Rectangles - Game sites are 10% more likely to have square and rectangle ads, while ISP sites are 3% less likely. Squares and rectangle ads composed 13% and less than 1%, respectively, of all ads on those categories.

Skyscrapers - While personal expression sites were the least likely to have small ads, this category is most likely to have skyscraper ads. Personal expression sites are 12% more likely to have skyscrapers, with 19% of all ads having been that format in January 2002. Comparatively, health and fitness sites were 6% less likely to have skyscrapers, with only 1% of all ads having been that format.

Definitions for Jupiter Media Metrix Audience Ratings:

Ad Impressions: the number of times an ad is rendered for viewing. One impression is equivalent to one opportunity to see an ad.

Skyscrapers: consist of the 120x600 skyscraper and the 160x600 wide skyscraper units.

Squares & Rectangles: consist of the 300x350 medium rectangle, the 250x250 square, the 240x400 vertical rectangle, the 336x280 large rectangle and the 180x150 rectangle units.

Banners: consist of the 468x60 full banner, the 234x60 half banner, and the 120x240 vertical banner.

Small Formats: consist of all bars and buttons, usually about 120x90 pixels.

All metrics in this study are for paid online advertising only, excluding in-house promotions. The study includes embedded ad formats, and does not consider pop-ups or other high-tech formats.