It’s a well-known fact that banner ads of all digital ads are the most susceptibility to ad blockers. They can be disruptive and intrusive when sites make them “pop up”, but click-through rates are low and the efficacy of such advertising is questionable.  And we as digital advertisers and agencies only have ourselves to blame.  The pressure to get to low $1 CPMs and CPCs left us blind to considering what banner ads were becoming.

So how are digital companies addressing the performance issue?  By offering banner ad campaigns on a cost-per-action (CPA) basis.

The amount of banner inventory has grown to such a level that ad networks can afford to use a portion of their inventory to drive Internet users to CPA banner ads for its clients.  This might work to stop the demise of banner advertising constantly talked about by the advertising industry.

We, however, see banner ads being around for a long time to come even without the move to CPA.  With the Internet evolving at an accelerated rate, we’ve only begun to see its potential.  Advertising, including banner advertising, will continue to exist by taking on new and more interesting forms.  Primarily because advertising is its main revenue source, so digital companies will certainly stay focused on giving advertisers better and better ways to engage and serve consumers.

Banner ads based on CPA will help advertisers avoid past experiences when a campaign generated no conversions.  It’s a step in the right direction, along with transparency around viewability and management of invalid traffic (IT).

Fusion Media is always working to stay on top of technology and changing industry trends to help our clients thrive.  Contact us if you’d like to have a conversation about the ever-changing digital world of media.