What’s the future of web advertising?

Twenty years after the launch of the first banner ad, web advertising continues to be a key marketing tool. Growing consistently, in 2014, it accounted for the largest portion of advertising expenses with double-digit growth.

The emergence of web advertising

On October 27, 1994 web advertising was born on the Wired magazine website. Wired would never have imagined it would one day be responsible for the majority of revenue for its Website. Since then, banner ads are seen everywhere and have become a key part of any business.

Web advertising, what is it?

Web advertising is a marketing tactic for companies striving to make their website profitable. It is first and foremost a tool to promote their products and services on the web. This type of advertising is aimed at a particular audience i.e. Internet users and offers an excellent return on investment (ROI) for the advertisers.

It is highly recommended to work with specialized companies such has advertising networks or web agencies for the management of your ad campaigns. They are considered a bridge between companies (wishing to run an advertising campaign) and editors (owners of websites offering their display space to the posting of banner ads).

Banner ad, the standard format in web advertising

A web advertising campaign often takes the form of banner ads, either as a graphic, a sponsored link, or as copy.

Sample of technologies associated with banner formats

Pop-up : following a click on a banner, a new window opens as an advertisement. This very intrusive format can be blocked by browsers.

Pop-unders: a banner opens on the web page following a mouse over. This format gives more information to the Internet user without being intrusive.

Rich media : indicates Javascript code usage, Flash, sound and video in banner ads, allowing more interactivty.

Web advertising’s different methods of payment

PPC corresponds to a proportional payment method based on the number of clicks on a banner ad.

CPM corresponds to payment method based on the number of displays. It is often used on high-traffic websites (over a million-page views per month).

CPV corresponds to the number of visitors having clicked on the ad and then made a purchase of the proposed product or service.

Retargeting: the future of web advertising?

Retargeting is about targeting an Internet user based on the websites they have visited, the searches performed and other web actions. This web advertising method allows you to utilized data collected such as gender, age, country, etc. This new very complex buying process is turning the web advertising world upside down by offering a less intrusive and ultra-targeted marketing tool.

Finally, it seems that we see fewer and fewer banner ads and more integrated web advertisements with better targeted messages. This means less intrusive advertising on the web and more relevant, quality banner ads. With retargeting and its precise information system, we are getting into the advertising technologies era in which advertising impressions will be treated individually with help of algorithms. Real time bidding and retargeting are henceforth part of the game.