What are the Different Types of Advertising?

Sonal Agrawal
Sonal Agrawal

Director of Growth, Airtory


Published on: 20 Dec 2021

Reading time: 5 minutes


Advertisers are often confused when it comes to choosing the right advertising medium for their digital ad campaigns. There are different types of advertising mediums available online today and each one works better for different products, services, and brands. Initially, it may feel tedious to figure out which ad type is suitable for your brand but with the right research and information, it becomes easy. At the same time, being well-versed with the basics of various types of digital advertising formats and what their functions are at the marketing level can really help.

To find the right advertising medium, you must clearly define your objective first. You can of course choose different types for different products or services that you offer, experiment with each one, and analyze which ad type pulls the maximum number of leads. Once you have the experiment results, you can go ahead and finalise the best-suited one. Now let’s see what the different types of advertising are. 

Display Advertising

One of the most preferred types of advertising, which is often referred to as banner ads – display advertising comprises small digital billboards or banners that are placed on a website or mobile applications. The placement of the ads can be either at the header or in and around the website content. They are also placed around keyword search pages, blog posts, etc. Display ads can be animated, dynamic, or static in nature and can be both horizontal and vertical. They are an ideal choice for visual storytelling or providing interactive experiences to your users while promoting the brand identity. There are different types of display advertising, the most common ones among which are: –

Text Ads: Text ads or display text ads use engaging marketing ad copies around the brand or its products and services. The format is similar to that of a paid search ad but display text ads have an interactive touch to them. Here, you can customize your message with dynamic remarketing, increase click-through rates using dynamic keyword insertion, and much more.

Image Ads: Image ads are those display ad techniques that catch your user’s attention as they browse websites, attracting them to redirect to your site. Image ads have a combination of graphics and texts; they can be static or designed with dynamic elements that highlight your ad copy.

Rich Media Ads: Rich media ads are one of the most preferred types of interactive display ads, containing images and/or videos. Rich media ads can expand; peel down, float, etc., and you can also get access to advanced metrics of your ad, including audience behavior, the number of exits and video completions, clicks, expansions, and so on.

Video Advertising

Another different type of advertising technique that you can opt for is video advertising. They are quite popular in the current digital climate. Since video ads are appealing and can grab eyeballs instantly, they work great for complex storytelling that compels the audiences to check out your products. The primary types of video ads are the instream video advertisements and the out-stream videos ads that most advertisers prefer. Instream video ads are further divided into skippable and non-skippable ads. Here’s what they mean: –

Skippable Instream Video Ads: Skippable instream video ads play before, after, or during the main video on a website. The video ad will be played for at least 5 seconds before the ‘skip ad’ option pops up. 

Non-Skippable Instream Video Ads: Non-skippable in-stream video ads have a length of 15 seconds or shorter than that, which are played before or during the main video. These ads are best-suited for brand awareness and reach campaigns.

Outstream Video Ads: These video ads are mobile and browser friendly and appear on sites or apps as native ads. These ads are played within the content of the page or app. If they are on mute, outstream video ads are played automatically when they appear on the screen. Users can unmute the video, scroll past or dismiss the ad.

A common misconception is that the various types of video advertising formats are only for display on platforms like YouTube; however, they can be placed on various other types of websites as well.

Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising is taking over the digital advertising environment. With more and more people consuming online content through mobile devices, optimized mobile ads are becoming a favorite among advertisers. Such different types of advertising media offer expansive opportunities that support various formats. Display ads in fact can also be executed within web page content in mobile advertising. The flexibility offered by mobile advertising allows advertisers to choose ad formats that best match their requirements. Some of the popular types of mobile ads have been explained below:

Interstitial Mobile Ads: These types of ads are most commonly used in mobile advertising only. Interstitial ads are full-screen videos or graphics that are placed at app transition points or before a mobile webpage load. The apps can be mobile games, music players, e-commerce apps, and so on. These ads can get high click percentages and they naturally appear at interval points, without disturbing the user activity.

Gamified Mobile Ads: Gamified mobile ads are one of the best ways to engage with customers as they are a part of an interactive rich media advertising plan. These ads generate high conversion rates while helping build a strong user database. 

Native Advertising

Lastly, native advertising is yet another different type of advertising strategy that many advertisers opt for. These are non-disruptive ads that are placed in a way that doesn’t interrupt the user activity on a webpage or mobile window. Native ads can be in the form of videos, images, blog posts, etc. More often than not, they are in the form of sponsored content; promotional listings are considered to be a part of this advertising format. 

You now have a low-down of the different types of digital advertising. They are effective, easy, and help you meet your advertising objective effortlessly. At Airtory, we offer different types of video ad templates, mobile ad templates, rich media ads, and various other ad formats. One of the most intuitive ad builder platforms around, Airtory lets to build supremely engaging and interactive ads to meet your campaign as well as overall digital objectives. 


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