DoubleClick unveils latest web ad trends

by Sam Matthews,, Brand Republic 10-Aug-04, 08:00

LONDON – Internet clickthrough rates are staying stable, large ads are proving increasingly popular and rich media growth has leaped by 34% year on year, according to a DoubleClick.

The DoubleClick Q2 2004 Ad Serving Trend Report for online advertisers and publishers revealed click rates declined slightly by 9% year on year although overall rates were stable.

The report showed bigger ad formats were increasing popular with users; the leaderboard ad, for example, has grown in popularity by 384% year on year and accounts for 7.9% of the total ads served. However, the most popular ad format is still the standard banner, which accounts for 30% of advertising served.

Skyscrapers have also shown good growth and now represent 10.3% of all ads served.

The use of rich media ads such as pop-ups, interstitials and ads coming complete with forms has leaped by 34% since the publication of 2003's report. For advertisers using direct response metrics, the clickthrough rate for rich media is five times higher than non-rich media.

The report also suggests context is the most popular way of targeting ads and post-impression activity rates are higher than clickthrough rates.

The data comes from billions of ads served globally through DoubleClick's Dart for Advertisers and Dart for Publishers online advertising technology.

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