ExoClick has launched a new ad placement concept called Multi-Format Ads. The ad placement serves multiple ad formats: banners or native in just one placement, pitching different banner sizes and native ad widgets against each other and serving the highest paying ad in the Multi-Format ad zone. This ability to serve multiple formats can increase the number of eligible bids for a publisher’s impressions while giving advertisers access to previously unavailable inventory, opening up a whole new world of possibilities for publishers and advertisers alike. 

Publishers can select different banner sizes and native ad zones by generating a single ad script. They can choose multiple existing ad zones and let them compete against each other, showing only the one with the highest CPM value. 

Publishers can convert several different ad zones into Multi-Format ad zones in their admin panel by using combinations of horizontal or vertical options, allowing publishers to display different banner sizes and native widgets in their existing ad placements.

Looking at one of the Ad placements: Desktop Footer, this is a typical large 900×250 display banner zone. An advertiser can’t target this zone with a smaller banner or a native ad, however if the publisher uses the footer as a Multi-Format Ad zone, this opens up new inventory for an advertiser that wasn’t previously available. With Multi-Format Ads, the Footer now has different combinations of inventory depending on which won the highest bid for either the whole Footer zone, or parts of the Footer zone.

For example :

• 1 banner 900×250
• 1 x banner 728×90
• 3 x 300×250 banners or 4 x 300×250 banners 100% width
• 1 x 3 Native widget, 1 x 4 Native widget or 1 x 5 Native widget depending on the website layout.

ExoClick carried out a Publisher case study by testing a Desktop Footer 900×250 against the Multi-Format ad placement using a Native widget 1×3 competing with 3x 300×250 banners and 1 x 900×250 banner. The Publisher saw an increase of up to 215.63% in revenues and a 48.67% increase in eCPM & 93.81% eCPC. The Publisher also tested the Mobile Footer 300×250 against Multi-Format ads using a 2×2 Native widget competing with a 300×250 banner and a 300×100 banner. This ad placement increased revenues by 78.93%, a 97.86% increase in eCPM and a 2.25% increase in eCPC.

ExoClick’s Sales and Ad Operations Director Evan Zirdelis commented, “Reaching online audiences on different devices means advertisers can no longer adopt a ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to running campaigns, they need to be able to use different ad formats targeting different website positions to grab an end user’s attention just at the right moment. Equally publishers need to provide inventory that is flexible enough to support different ad formats within different ad zone positions to provide new opportunities for advertisers to bid on.”