Rich Media

William Chen

What Are Rich Media Ads?

Rich Media Ads allow for more interactivity and motion as compared to a standard banner ad with a still image. They may appear in ad formats such as banners and buttons, as well as interstitials and various over the- page units such as floating ads, entire page take-overs, and tear-backs.

Rich Media refers to the utilization of various technologies to enhance a recipient’s experience. It uses advanced technology such as video streaming to interact instantly with the user. All the rich media technologies generally exhibit at least some of the following characteristics:

  • Allow for advanced animations,
  • Support audio/radio in the advertising’s,
  • Instant user interactions, etc.

Essentially, rich media is identified by the media element exhibiting dynamic motion and this motion can occur over time or in response to an interaction with the user too.

Standard creative Rich media creative
  • A single .html, .gif, .png, or .jpg file format of 200K or less
  • Contains no video or expansion
  • Usually only tracks a single click-through link
  • Usually exceeds 200K
  • May use multiple files
  • May contain video
  • May expand to a larger size
  • May include detailed tracking metrics on user interactivity
  • May track multiple click-through links
  • May contain other special features (polling, send-to-a-friend, gallery, etc.)
  • Some publishers may require a polite load (allowing a publisher’s page content to fully load before the creative starts loading)

Types of Rich Media Ads

There are many different types of rich media creatives. These can overlap with each other as well as the standard creatives.

  • Banner. A creative with a fixed size and position on a web page or in a mobile app. The most basic rich media ad format.
  • Interstitial. A creative that either floats on top of a page’s content or appears as a fullscreen ad during natural transition points in mobile apps, such as during launch, loading, and video pre-roll. Interstitial creatives served on web pages can move with content or maintain a locked position as a user scrolls. The “Locked” option is enabled at the trafficking stage.
  • Banner with Floating. A banner creative displayed at the same time as an interstitial.
  • Expanding. Expansion can take place after a user interacts (for example, by click, tap, or mouse-over) or automatically when the page loads (auto-expand). Creatives can expand in any direction, shape, or with fading effects and can collapse on user interaction, automatically on mouse-out, or based on a timer. Other expanding creative types include: Lightbox, multi-directional expanding, and push-down.
  • Multi-Directional Expanding (MDE). A creative that expands in multiple directions, depending on where the ad appears in the page. For example, when the ad is on the left side of the page, it will automatically detect its location and expand to the right. If the same ad is served on the right side of the page, it will expand to the left.
  • Dynamic. Banner, expanding, interstitial, or VPAID creative types can also be dynamic. Dynamic creatives use a linked management profile that can change creative content on the fly, either manually or based on content rules.
  • Push Down. An expanding creative that pushes down the content of a webpage when the creative expands, moving the web page out of the way to display the ad. If the push-down is frequency capped (a user can only see it auto-expand a certain number of times during a given period), then you must build both a user-initiated expanding version and an auto-expanding version. You must also select a setting for this option in the trafficking stage.
  • Video. Standard VAST video creative.
  • Video Player-Ad Interface Definition (VPAID). VPAID videos can pause a publisher’s content and play the creative, such as a mid-roll ad. They provide more interactivity options than typical VAST video formats. The user can click into them and interact, expand, or maneuver about the VPAID player. Allows developers of rich media to utilize a common language. Without this, the same creative may need to be reformatted for different publishers and apps.
  • Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definition (MRAID). Similar to VPAID creatives in that it provides a common format for creative developers to write a creative. It also serves as the framework for interactive creatives in mobile app, but not mobile web.

Features of Rich Media Creatives

  • Sound
    • Auto sound on
    • Hover for sound
    • Click for sound
    • Sound on after some time has elapsed
  • Expanding
    • Expands from up, down, left, right
    • Expands on click
    • Expands on hover
    • Expands after some time has elapsed
  • Effects
    • Fading
    • Pop up
    • Stick to page
  • Interactivity
    • 360 VR experience in ad
    • Survey in ad
    • Game in ad
  • Landing Page
    • Click to web page
    • Click to app
    • Click to call
    • Click to map

Rich Media Providers 

  • Celtra
  • Contobox
  • DoubleClick Studio (Display and video 360)
    • Part of the full stack Google ad tech solution
  • InMobi
    • Also an Ad Exchange
  • Sizmek (Acquired PointRoll)
    • Also an Ad Server

Sources

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
— Albert Einstein

android-wallpaper-art-backlit-1114897

Unknown's avatar

Published by William Chen