What Are The Most Lucrative Display Ad Sizes?
Display ads can be a great way to earn income through your website. If you have a reasonable level of traffic flowing through your site day after day, presenting those visitors with display ads can create a nice stream of relatively passive income.
These ads come in a variety of sizes and it’s important to understand what those sizes are and how they are likely to perform. You only want to use space on your website for things that are going to move you closer to your goals, so gaining a better understanding of ad sizes and how lucrative they are likely to be will make you a better site owner.
Key Display Ad Size Options
While it might seem like ads on the internet come in every possible size – and in some ways, they do – there has been an effort to standardize the sizing to make it easier for advertisers and publishers to work together across a variety of platforms. It’s certainly possible to work out a deal between two parties to run an ad of any specific dimension, but some of the sizes that have been formalized by the Interactive Advertising Bureau include the following –
1. Medium Rectangle
One of the most popular options for ads on the internet, this display ad comes in at 300×250 pixels. While it can be placed in many different locations, it’s most commonly used to break up content on a web page or blog post.
The 300 x 250 medium rectangle ad unit is lucrative because it hits the sweet spot between advertiser demand and user engagement. Its standardization leads to high demand and competitive bidding, while its versatility and performance metrics contribute to effective monetization without sacrificing user experience. By incorporating this ad size into your website, you leverage a proven format that aligns with both current market conditions and user expectations, thereby maximizing your revenue potential.
2. Leaderboard
Another common ad layout, this is the one that you would see at the very top of the page when it first loads. It’s wide and thin, with dimensions of 728×90 pixels. Because it is so well suited to go at the top of the page, this is one that advertisers like to use when trying to be seen as quickly as possible by as many people as possible.
The leaderboard ad size of 728×90 pixels is one of the most lucrative formats for web publishers because it combines high advertiser demand with prime visibility to maximize revenue potential: recognized as a standard ad unit by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), it attracts a vast pool of advertisers who specifically create content for this size, leading to competitive bidding and higher cost per thousand impressions (CPM) rates; its placement at the top of webpages-often “above the fold”-ensures immediate visibility upon page load, resulting in higher viewability and click-through rates (CTR) as it captures user attention before they engage with the content; the ample horizontal space allows for rich, engaging creatives including animations and interactive elements, enhancing user engagement and increasing the likelihood of interaction; while its size is ideal for desktop displays, it also adapts well to responsive designs, maintaining its effectiveness across different screen sizes and contributing to a consistent user experience; the leaderboard’s ability to integrate seamlessly without disrupting the site’s aesthetic or usability makes it less intrusive, preserving user satisfaction while delivering advertiser messages effectively; all these factors combined mean that publishers can leverage the 728×90 leaderboard ad to generate significant advertising revenue due to its optimal balance of demand, performance, and user experience.
3. Wide Skyscraper
Traditionally a very popular ad layout, this one has likely been knocked down the popularity rankings a bit by the move toward mobile devices in recent years. As a narrow and tall ad that has dimensions of 160×600 pixels, it’s a natural fit for going into a sidebar on a standard webpage. However, it doesn’t really translate nicely to mobile browsing, and even on desktop layouts, many modern website designs skip the sidebar altogether in favor of a full-width format. So, while these kinds of ads are still around, they aren’t as functional as in years past.
Skyscraper ads measuring 160×600 pixels are traditionally positioned in the sidebars of websites. This placement contributes to lower engagement due to “banner blindness,” a phenomenon where users consciously or subconsciously ignore banner-like information. Since sidebars are peripheral to the main content, users often overlook them as they focus on reading articles or viewing primary site features. The standardization of this ad size in sidebars has further conditioned users to disregard them, leading to decreased interaction rates.
The reduced effectiveness of skyscraper ads is amplified by the surge in mobile device usage for web browsing. Mobile screens typically prioritize vertical scrolling content, and sidebars are either minimized or entirely omitted to optimize screen space. This means that skyscraper ads may not display at all on mobile devices, significantly limiting their impressions and reach. Consequently, advertisers show less demand for this format compared to more adaptable sizes like the medium rectangle or leaderboard, which can be seamlessly integrated into both desktop and mobile layouts.
4. Mobile Leaderboard
Given that more than half of all web traffic today comes from mobile devices, it’s no surprise that some ad formats are specifically intended to work well on those smaller screens. The mobile leaderboard is a 320×50 pixel layout that provides advertisers with excellent visibility on phones and tablets.
The 320×50 pixel ad unit, commonly known as the “mobile banner” or “mobile leaderboard,” is an optimal display unit for mobile audiences because it is specifically designed to fit seamlessly on smartphone screens without disrupting the user experience: its standardized size aligns perfectly with the width of most mobile devices, ensuring that ads are displayed clearly and effectively; this ad unit is highly favored by advertisers due to its widespread adoption and compatibility across various ad networks, leading to increased demand and higher competition for placements, which can boost revenue for publishers; strategically placed at the top or bottom of the screen, it provides prime visibility while allowing the main content to remain the focus, thus maintaining user engagement and minimizing intrusiveness; furthermore, its compact size contributes to faster load times-a critical factor for mobile users who may be on slower connections-enhancing overall site performance and user satisfaction; these combined factors make the 320×50 ad unit a highly effective and lucrative choice for web publishers targeting mobile audiences.
That’s certainly not all of the ad size options available today, but it is a good representation of what is available. If you are a publisher who wants to include display ads in your layouts to generate revenue, knowing what kinds of space those ads are going to take up will help you produce attractive pages that are easy for visitors to use while still prominently displaying the promotional material.
The Correlation Between Size and Profitability
It might seem like a bigger ad would automatically be more profitable, as it takes up more space on the screen and is put right into the user’s field of view. That’s not always the case, however. If it is clicks that you are after, what you want is engagement rather than just pure visibility. So you need to think about how the ad fits into the overall flow of the page and where users are most likely to interact with these visual assets.
As an example, the medium rectangle ads – those that are often placed in the middle of blog content – tend to do quite well when they are relevant to the topic of the page and the reader comes across them while engaged with the material. This makes for a seamless experience and one that is likely to generate a lot of clicks. On the other hand, if a leaderboard ad is used at the top of the page, it doesn’t necessarily have to be so relevant, as the reader isn’t really into the content yet at that point. So long as the product or service advertised is at least somewhat related to the topic of the site, such an ad should get plenty of attention and clicks.
Landing on the Perfect Ad Mix
Succeeding with ads on the internet – whether on the advertising or publishing side – is all about experimentation. You can think strategically at the start of a campaign all you want, but you’ll never really know how the internet is going to respond until you put something out there to test in the real world. For this reason, ad campaigns are never “done”, as you should always be tweaking and adjusting them based on data to get better and better results. When done right, you can see performance gradually creep up over time, making the display ads on your site a bigger and bigger part of your overall revenue portfolio.
Combining smaller display ad units into larger ad slots can enhance engagement and revenue more effectively than using large display ad sizes. This approach increases ad inventory and diversity by showcasing multiple ads within the same space, raising the likelihood that at least one will resonate with a user’s interests. Smaller, standard-sized ads are in higher demand among advertisers, leading to more competitive bidding, higher cost per thousand impressions (CPM), and improved fill rates. Additionally, these ads are less intrusive and integrate seamlessly into website designs, maintaining a positive user experience by avoiding the overwhelming nature of large ads that can lead to higher bounce rates.
Moreover, this strategy offers greater flexibility and optimization potential. Publishers can experiment with various ad placements and configurations to identify what generates the best engagement and revenue. Smaller ads adapt more easily to different screen sizes and responsive designs, ensuring compatibility across desktop and mobile devices. In programmatic advertising, standard ad sizes attract more bids, increasing potential earnings through higher bid densities. By balancing effective monetization with user satisfaction, combining smaller ad units helps sustain visitor engagement and maximizes long-term revenue.
Why Display Ad Density Matters
Understanding your display ad density is crucial for website operators because it directly impacts user experience and engagement. A high ad density can make a website appear cluttered and overwhelming, leading to increased bounce rates as users may leave the site due to frustration or annoyance. This not only reduces the time users spend on the site but also diminishes the likelihood of them returning, which can negatively affect overall traffic and long-term growth. Furthermore, excessive ads can slow down page load times, especially on mobile devices, further degrading the user experience and potentially causing users to abandon the site before it fully loads.
In addition to user experience considerations, ad density also affects search engine optimization (SEO) and compliance with advertising policies set by platforms like Google. Search engines aim to provide the best results for users, and sites with excessive ad density may be penalized in search rankings because they are perceived as offering less value. Google’s Page Layout Algorithm, for example, can demote sites that have too many ads above the fold. By understanding and optimizing ad density, website owners can strike a balance between monetization and maintaining a high-quality site that encourages user retention and complies with SEO best practices, ultimately supporting sustainable revenue growth.
