Online ad units are about to blow up. Their increased size could be rejected as an unwanted intrusion, but it’s just as likely that the larger canvas for branded storytelling will bring heightened creativity from the developers and greater consumer engagement.
According to Adweek’s Brian Morrissey, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ESPN and over a dozen more of the Web’s most-trafficked sites that belong to the Online Publishers Association have agreed to run three new ad units starting in July:
• The fixed panel, a 336-by-860-pixel banner that is wider than the standard skyscraper and follows users as they scroll down the page.
• The XXL box, a 468-by-648-pixel unit that can expand with video.
• The pushdown, a 970-by-418-pixel placement that takes up over half of the page before rolling up.
Pam Horan, president of the OPA disputes the notion that the new focus on providing a larger canvas to advertisers would not come at the expense of users. Bigger ads could mean fewer on the page, she pointed out.
“We’re trying to potentially reduce the clutter on the page,” she said.
