• by Masha Geller , August 11, 2002

This one is for everyone doing business overseas. Despite what’s going on in the U.S. online ad market, the invasion of the giant banner has not hit Europe yet, and advertisers are still most comfortable working with the 468x60 canvas. This is what Neu-Isenburg, Germany-based ADTECH (not to be confused with the trade show) has ascertained in its first Europe-wide study of banners in European online marketing.

According to the study, the full-size banner clearly dominates the rankings. About 60% of the examined ads last month were 468x60 banners. Half banners (234x60) accounted for another 9% of the analyzed ads. Buttons in the sizes of 120x60 and 120x90 also made the top five -- they accounted for 5.3% and 2.5% respectively. The rest -- pop-ups, pop-unders, flying or mouse-over banners and countless DHTML special ad formats -- amounted to only 7.1 % of the purchased sizes.

According to study authors, this ranking demonstrates that European ad buying habits have still not altered significantly in comparison with the early days of web advertising. The standards defined by the IAB last year, such as skyscrapers and rectangles, find only limited uptake in the European ad market. The share of skyscrapers only account for 1%. Rectangles are even not listed among the Top 10 banner sizes.

To what extent the "banners" were sold or not sold, and in which format (GIF, FLASH, DHTML) they were submitted, was not determined within the framework of the study, but as far as the development of new online advertising is concerned, the "banner specialists" have concentrated less on the concept and adaptation of new dimensions than had previously been assumed, ADTECH says.

The results of the study indicate that advertisers are instead more interested in trying out new formats within the familiar ad sizes – this way they have more implementation possibilities and a much wider selection of websites.

Sounds a lot like the U.S., doesn’t it?