What IS the industry standard?!?

More and more we are hearing that standard banner ads are not as effective as they used to be. We have all seen examples that would both support and dispute this claim.

The best part about banners is that they provide inexpensive exposure (where else can you get a guaranteed impression for .03 cents?) that can be tracked and targeted. And we’ve all seen the latest Rich Media ads that slide, pop and interact in new ways. So the age-old question “What is the standard industry click through rate?” itself is actually becoming out-dated the more banners change.

There is still an answer to this question, but the answer is more than it ever used to be.  And here it is (according to Doubleclick):
Avg Click-through Rate 0.10%
Interaction Rate 2.11%
Avg Interaction Time 10.29 seconds
Expansion Rate 2.46%
Video complete rate 54.25%
Avg display time 32.13 seconds
Avg Expanding time 6.5 seconds

These are incredible stats. Look at the jump in response from a static banner to an interactive banner.

What else do we know?
Larger creative sizes tend to produce higher click through/interaction rates.
Rich Media video ads consistently out-perform non-video ads.
Auto, wellness, media/entertainment, and retail get the best response rates.
Response rates are highest (more than double ours) in Hong Kong, India and the United Arab Emirates. Totally not useful for us…but we all need a few useless facts under our belts.

Moral of the story? Whether in New Delhi or New Hamburg, Singapore or St. Thomas, banner ads are still an important part of your media mix. Get more creative with your standard ad units and help your customers interact with you MORE!