Best Mobile Ad Formats for Display Advertising Campaigns

Ashwin Krishnakumar
Ashwin Krishnakumar

Chief Technology Officer, Airtory


Published on: 26 Aug 2021

Reading time: 5 minutes


Let’s start with what Mobile Display Advertising is.

Any type of advertising that occurs on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers is referred to as mobile advertising. Companies may advertise on these devices by sending text advertising through SMS or by placing banner ads on a mobile website.

Mobile advertisements come in all forms and sizes, but did you realize that some are more effective than others? When learning how to construct a display campaign, it's critical to distinguish between the various mobile ad sizes and focus on the ones that convert the best and have the most inventory.

Advertisers can target audiences using conventional ad formats like mobile web banners, video advertising, and more with mobile web ads, making it much easier for them to build creatives that look great on both desktop and mobile devices.

As a result, mobile web advertisements are ideal for cross-platform ad campaigns, as they allow you to reach an audience across several devices with only one ad. Furthermore, compatibility improves the customer's experience, since they are more likely to click on an ad that appears to belong on a website.

Mobile display advertisements are also a low-cost alternative. Advertisers will have no problem when new smartphone and tablet screen sizes and resolutions are released since they won't have to produce new ads in all types of shifting sizes thanks to the responsiveness and auto-resizing of ad formats.

1. Advertisement Within the App

The amount of time users spend with apps is the most important benefit in-app advertisements provide to marketers and app developers. Additionally, in-app advertisements improve the user experience. Certain advertisements appear to be more acceptable and even appealing and pleasant than others. Advertisers may focus on in-app advertisements to develop better ad experiences with this in mind.

Advertisers and businesses continue to be interested in in-app advertising because it is less obtrusive, highly interactive and engaging, and better regulated and managed.

2. Advertising in Games

These formats are worth addressing separately from typical in -app advertising because gaming applications are among the most popular in terms of audience size and time spent.

Mobile advertising may take several forms, including rewarded video, offer walls, and interstitial advertisements.

Special deals, new arrivals, forthcoming events, and more may all be promoted using these forms. Sports, cosmetics, e-commerce, drinks, even real estate firms, and a slew of other verticals may benefit from gaming advertisements. The most important considerations here are audience relevance, game context, and ad placement.

Types of in-game advertisements

  • Rewarder Advertising

Rewarded Video is a form of video ad that offers consumers a prize for watching it. Ads are often displayed during an online game and provide players with equipment for heroes, more bonuses or lives, virtual cash, hints, and so on. If you need a high level of user involvement, this is the format to utilise.

  • Playable Ads 

This format is an interactive sort of ad that allows consumers to test out a demo of an app or game before downloading it.

The entire conversation takes place within the ad unit. The best thing is that consumers enjoy these mini-games since they provide a nice mobile phone advertising experience as well as complete participation. Ads that can be played last anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute.

 3. Standard Mobile Ads and Formats

Users see your creativity in a conventional ad space. Aim to convey maximum information to the user in the limited space and entice them to interact with your ad. The following are some standard mobile ad examples:

  • Mobile Banner Ads

Mobile banner advertising is the most popular format due to its ease of use and potential for higher CPMs with careful placement. Mobile ad banners are often shown as static ad units at the top or bottom of the device's screen.

Mobile banner ad sizes vary, however the most common banner sizes for smartphones are 320x50, 300x250, and 320x250.

  • Native Ads

Native advertising on mobile comes in a variety of sizes and shapes. Native advertising, as the name implies, is user-centric and organically integrate into the environment of the area where they appear. As a result, this format is regarded as relevant valuable information in the flow, increasing the likelihood of the ad being clicked on.

Because native advertising mimics the look of the contextual environment, its sizing may also be inherited.

  •  Mobile Video Ads

Accurate placement of mobile video advertising may increase viewer engagement. It is best to place it at a natural break in the app journey of the user. Online video advertising can be played pre-roll (before a video starts), post-roll (after a video has finished), or on any non-video website as embedded media, whereas conventional media ads are generally played during intermissions.

This format is represented by pre-, mid-, or post-roll videos that appear at the appropriate position of the video.

 4.  Rich Media Ads for Mobile

Mobile rich media gallery ad formats can be represented by videos, GIFs, music, and other elements that allow users to engage within the mobile ad units without having to navigate to other pages or sections.

  • Interstitial Advertisements

A mobile interstitial ad is full-screen advertising that can be interactive and is presented during transition moments such as when the app is loading or shutting, between game levels, when stopping, or when the user attempts to move sections in the app. You may come across these ads before a page of the website loads. 

The most popular interstitial sizes for smartphones are 320x480 and 480x320, and on tablets, 1024x768 and 768x1024.

  • Scratch Banner Ads

Similar to lottery tickets, where you scratch the glossy upper layer with a coin to disclose a reward, mobile scratch banner ads encourage consumers to do the same digitally. A user "scratches" the banner on the smartphone screen with their finger, revealing the image beneath.

  • Mobile Cube Ads

Mobile cube, one of the most popular ad layouts, allowing marketers to display up to six pictures or videos on each of its six sides. A cube may rotate automatically or via swiping, encouraging consumers to interact with one of the advertising messages.

There are plenty more Rich Media ad experiences that advertisers can adapt to pique the users’ curiosity and engage them while improving brand recall.

It may be classified as mobile web advertising or in-app advertising depending on where consumers engage with adverts. The primary distinction is straightforward: mobile web advertising is presented on mobile versions of websites and platforms, but in-app ads, as the name implies, are displayed in various applications. Some of the best mobile ads experiences are being offered by Airtory.


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