The Top Mobile Ad Formats

While ad tech seems to move forward at a rapid paste, the popular mobile ad formats have been with us for a long while and have not changed one bit. 

Banners have always been the most popular mobile ad format since AOL, but they do not translate well in the mobile advertising world. Popups are effective for some sites, but will never be used on premium websites, the same goes for push notification advertising. Native ads are the only new-ish addition to the mix that proved their scalability over the past couple of years but do not come to close the volumes available through display inventory and can hardly come close. 

There’s a wide variety of mobile ad formats available for publishers to monetize their inventory with or advertisers to promote apps and affiliate offers, each ad format suits a different type of publisher and advertiser accordingly. 

Table of Contents

Mobile web advertising Ad formats

The majority of a user’s online time is split across mobile and desktop and when it comes to non-work-related browsing mobile takes the lead. Users are on a positive trend when it comes to spending time and an eMarketer report points out that the trend is not changing its direction anytime soon. 

Due to the volume generated by mobile web users the cost for mobile traffic is significantly lower when compared with desktop traffic media buy

Mobile users are mainly segmented between in-app and browser usage, in which advertisers and media buyers can find unique opportunities not shared between each audience for different verticals or niches.

mobile ad formats

Standard mobile ad formats

What are standard ad formats?

The standard mobile ad formats are standard simply because they are accepted by both major DSPs and SSPs and follow a uniform protocol of ad serving that allows the scalability of display advertising.

The mobile ad formats we plan to review are

  1. Mobile banner ads
  2. Mobile native ads
  3. Mobile video ads
  4. Mobile interstitials
  5. Mobile Popup Ads
  6. Mobile Push Notification Ads

Mobile banner ads

If “content is king”, then the banner is the king of monetization. Banner ads are cheap for media buyers looking for RON traffic and brands who are looking to increase their exposure and brand awareness. 

Advertisers today can easily generate great-looking creatives for any banner size with tools such as Canva to display effective banner ads across premium publisher websites that don’t fall behind the competition. The more effective the creatives the better the CTR (click-through rate) and more users through your affiliate offer tracking URLs.

Advertisers looking for quick cheap traffic that is able to generate results in the form of leads, and sales, need to commit to a certain optimization method with banner advertising that is ready to take in volume traffic. 

Publishers can fit banners at both popular and remote sections of their website with dedicated banner ad network-scripts, and pending on the ad network they work with can generate a steady commission with banner advertising that is rich with different advertisers being rotated across their placements. 

The best mobile banner ad sizes include:

  1. 300 x 250
  2. 320×50
  3. 320×480
  4. 300×100

Mobile Video ads

Video is more mobile today than ever before, with the majority of users viewing streaming videos on their mobile, that’s where advertising will be too. 

There are different types of mobile video opportunities for advertisers such as out-stream and instream advertising positions.

Videos’ average CPM rate is usually higher, sometimes x5, when compared with banner ads, and for good reasons. Video is far more engaging than banner ads and tells a better longer story of your product than can be fin in a 320×50 pixel image, even if it rotates. 

mobile video ad formats

Mobile video ad formats generate a higher engagement rate. Instream mobile-pre roll ad formats which play the video content is viewed or mid-roll ad formats that disrupt the user’s viewing with an ad they can skip over after a few seconds.

Mobile Native Ads

Mobile native ad formats take advantage of the form and functionality of what surrounds the element of user experience within a specific mobile website or app.

Native advertising tries to mimic the nature of the website or app it is placed within to create a seamless extension to the website’s organic content offering. 

Native mobile ad formats offer a higher engagement with users which affects click-through rates to a great degree when compared with traditional mobile banner ad formats.

Mobile interstitials ad formats

Mobile interstitials are basically a souped-up version of banner advertising where a full-page ad takes over on top of the content being viewed. 

Interstitial ads are not like traditional popup ads in a way they come within the user’s journey and not in addition to it. 

Interstitial ads also generate a high click-through rate but most times it’s due to users’ fat fingers that click the close button on these types of mobile ad formats. 

Mobile Popup Ads

Mobile popup ads are pages that open in-browsers as an additional tab or browser window. Users are then required to either close the tab to reach their original content or click on the popup ad and continue to engage with it. 
Mobile popup ads are very annoying to users but very effective to mobile media buyers and advertisers who don’t care about brand identities such as adult sites, utilities, non-branded offers, and more. 

Mobile Push notification ads

Push notification ads are browser-based push notifications that users opt-in to and then receive via their browser. 

Push Advertising is usually priced on the CPC model and is an effective method to promote Forex, Gambling, Utilities, and Content boost campaigns. 

About EZmob's mobile ad formats

EZmob has found an alternative to the large banner ads that monopolize the screen of mobile devices like smartphones, notebooks, and iPads. His engaging mobile popups are called “EZ Pops” and they are designed in a manner in which they pop up on your screen, without having the feel of pesky popups—or the bulk of a banner ad.

EZmob’s Pops is a better mobile ad format because they use advanced GEO targeting and modern browser targeting so that the ads that pop up on the screen are relevant to a mobile user who is browsing the web. Each ad unit has a clear call to action, with an easy-to-activate button—one that is designed to respond to true clicks, as opposed to that all too often accidental ones.

To offer their engaging mobile popups to all business owners looking for ways to capitalize on mobile advertising, EZmob has created a user-friendly interface in which businesses can log in and create their own easily integrated ad with the script of their choice. This allows businesses the ability to monetize their ads, and effectively reach their mobile users—making them better mobile ad formats than traditional banner ads.

EZmob’s EZ pop ads make monetizing a breeze by reaching your target audience first-hand and having an easy-to-use call to action. EZmob’s unique targeted approach allows businesses better exposure than traditional banners, which in turn increases your ROI.

Their engaging pop-up ads are also a favorite of many online publishers because they clear up more space for valuable content.

EZ Pops is sure to evolve as mobile marketing continues to grow in demand, but they are off to an impressive start with their user-friendly, targeted, and visually appealing ads.

In an effort to develop better mobile ad formats EZmob is proposing an alternative method—engaging mobile popups.

The bottom line

There’s an abundance of mobile ad formats that keep popping but a few are scalable enough to catch the attention of premium SSPs and publishers, the main movers and makes of developing and launching new ad formats in mobile are the larger advertising platforms such as Google and Meta.

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