What Are Rich Media Ads?

Rich media ads are ads that include multimedia features such as audio, animations, video, text, and others. Unlike traditional, static ads, they encourage customers to interact with the ads, increasing customer engagement and conversion rates.

When measuring results from rich media ads, you see them rule again at 16.85% engagement rates compared to 2.14% for standard ads, according to eMarketer.

We live in a dynamic digital world with more access to information and advertising than ever before. With the average person viewing up to 10,000 advertisements daily, there is a risk for advertisers to get blocked. That’s why there’s a constant struggle for creativity, great design, and relevant, smart targeting.

But not all people hate digital ads, even though we are being bombarded by them daily. Despite the intrusive nature of advertising, Hubspot shows in a study that “83% of respondents agree that not all ads are bad, but they want to filter out the really obnoxious ones.”

So the majority of people hate bad ads. So let’s explore the best examples of rich media ads that still delight people and convert. We’ll also provide you with helpful tips and insights on how to create inciting ads.

What's the difference between rich media ads and regular ads?

Do you even see standard ads anymore?

While standard ads still increase brand awareness even though people don’t click on them, rich media ads make your brand memorable. The value that rich media ads bring to the display advertising world is significant. That’s why it costs more to have display ads.

Because display advertising makes users consume content without necessarily clicking on the ad and delivers a better customer experience.

Best tools to create rich media ads

One tool that gives you complete control and undeniable design features is Google Web Designer. The software allows marketers to design compelling ads. From realistic animations to responsive ads, multiple layouts fitting different screens and sizes to dynamic workflows that match user’s needs to specific products and services, Google Web Designer will transform your ad idea into reality.

Other available tools are Creatopy, Bannerflow, AdCanvas, MadYourself that allow you to design high-quality rich media ads. These platforms allow marketers to create large-scale rich media ads, manage the entire campaign cycle, report, and optimize.

Types of rich media ads

Rich media ads break into multiple categories:

• Banner ads refer to creative ads that have fixed positions and sizes on a page. It’s one of the most basic ads, and it contains an image or video.
• Dynamic creatives are more engaging ads because they present the message to the targeted person, on the right channel, at the right time. There is more segmentation on the targeting and content rules.
• Expanding ads are the ones that change their size when an interaction such as the click on the image or video, a tap, or a mouse scrolling happens.
• Interstitial ads are creatives that cover the interface of a website or in-app. They are high in demand due to the high CPM because viewability is high. This type of creatives supports HTML-5 elements and banner videos.
• Lightbox ads are interactive creatives capturing user’s attention through images, videos, or both. They appear as a small ad at first and can be expanded by clicking or hoovering for 2 seconds or longer.
• Multi-directional expanding ads, as the name gives away, expand in multiple directions, depending on where they appear on a webpage. If a user clicks on the ad placed on the left side, it will then display on the right side of the page.
• Push-down ads act like teasers. They create interest when placed on a page, and if a user clicks or hovers on them, the ad will push down more content.
• Video ads could be included in all other formats.
• VPAID (Video-Player-Ad Interface Definition) are creatives displayed in-stream video players. They enable an engaging ad experience within the video player.

Rich media ads just perform better

Rich media ads satisfy the appetitive for user engagement and higher conversions. We create them as custom ad units that go beyond standard banner ads.

They bring more freshness and creative freedom, grabbing the attention of users on all devices. So, what type of metrics should you look out for, and how do they perform compared to other advertising solutions?

• An impression is counted when the ad is shown to a user.
• Engagement rate is the number of times someone engages with the ad divided by the number of times the ad is shown.
• Click is the actual click-through to the site.
• Reach is an estimate of the number of people the ad was shown to in a specific location.
•  Display time shows the total number of times the ad reached the chosen audience.
•  Interaction time is a metric that measures the time a user interacts with the ad (clicks, swipe, extend, views a video, calls, etc.).
•  Dwell time is the time a visitor spends on a page before returning to the search engine results.
• Average time of viewing is the duration of time spent by users viewing your ad.
•  View rate measures how many people view the video ad divided by the number of impressions.
• Completion occurs when the ad plays until the end.
• Conversions count as the number of user interactions with the ad and then completed the call-to-action defined by the business (order, purchase, call, booking).
• Conversion rate is a metric calculated by taking the number of conversions and dividing that by the number of total ad interactions.
•  Cost per conversion is the total cost per ad in relation to achieving the goal for the ad. You calculate it by taking the ad cost and dividing that by the number of transactions plus the goal completions.
• Revenue is the monetary income earned from displaying ads.

A few best practices

The size limit for the initial load should be 200 KB. Size is something to consider when rich media ads because some creatives have larger size (>4 MB), with the CPU usage of more than 15 seconds per 30 second period, the ad might not be unloaded by Chrome.

Marketers creating video and animation ads should stop animations after 30 seconds of play or add a “click to continue” button for a better user experience.

When a user stops an ad, no matter the type, you should stop all videos, sounds, animations, collapse the creative if you used expanding ads, and remove any pictures. Autoplay video ads should include options to mute or replay with sound. Users should choose to listen with the sound on, only if they want to.

In an interstitial creative ad, you should have a close button or close automatically after 15 seconds. And never show another follow-up ad when the user already decided to close your pop-up ad.

In conclusion, rich media ads may take more time and effort to build, but they are more effective than standard ads. Marketers looking for creative ways to drive user attention and interest will invest in rich media ads because they will increase conversions and higher click-through rates.

We hope you understand what rich media ads are and how to choose specific types and formats for your marketing goals. Feel free to share this introductory guide to rich media ads with anyone you think might benefit from it.

About the author

Cristina Ionita is VoiceSage’s Digital Marketing Manager. Passionate about content marketing and organic, inbound marketing strategies, she dedicates her time researching new technology trends to write about.