Every creative agency in the Online Advertising industry knows that once you completed your banner ad production it’s not really the end of the story. The creative process ends only when the ads are approved by the publisher. Read this knowledge-sharing from Digitaland to learn how can you enhance the approval process and produce faster rich-media. Also available at our blog: http://digitaland.tv/web/blog/common-creative-specs-to-consider-for-rich-media-ads/

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Common Creative Specs to
Consider for Rich MediaAds

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Every creative agency in the Online Advertising
industry knows that once you completed your banner
ad production it’s not really the end of the story.
The creative process ends only when the ads are
approved by the publisher. For this purpose, each
publisher maintains a list of “creative specs” or
“publisher specifications” to follow. The problem
starts when a complex execution meets multi-
publisher campaigns, and the specs are never
seamlessly aligned between them.
Intro

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Following the best-practices
in this guide may certainly
enhance the chances for
publisher approval for all
your creative ads, and also
will enhance your ads’
performance.
So let’s start!

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1. Set the frame-rate of the Flash asset to be lower
than 31fps and higher than 18fps: The first best-
practice will ensure better CPU performance and
the second will ensure smooth animations.
2. Avoid movie-clips on the first frame of the ad’s
timeline in order to enhance performance when
loading on the page. This is also a best-practice
when using Flash components or Ad Server MXP
components.
3. Make sure that Flash version is consistent
between all ads’ assets (e.g. banner and panel).
4. Make sure that there’s a clickthrough in your ad
and that all buttons are fully functional.
5. Set your clickthrough to be triggered upon
mouse-release (and not mouse-press) in order to
avoid pop-up blockers.
Best Practices for Overall Performance

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1. Make sure your ads don’t contain graphics that simulate interactivity (like
search boxes or video buttons) without that functionality actually existing.
2. Add a border around your banner. This will make sure that your ad
background color does not conflict with the publisher site.
Design Recommendations

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1. The audio should be user-initiated. The best approach is by mouse-click,
the alternative approach is by mouse-over.
2. If mouse-over initiates the audio, there must be a 1 second delay – and the
audio must stop when mouse leaves the ad.
3. Also, make the click on the clickthrough-button to stop the sound.
Audio Recommendations

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1. Videos that are longer than 30
sec. should be initiated by the
user (with click).
2. The video should contain Play,
Mute and Stop buttons.
3. Encode the video’s bitrate up to
800kbps to enhance streaming
for small banner units such as
300×250.
4. Make sure to use the video-
loader component of the
appropriate Ad Server so you will
be able to track all video-metrics
at the reports.
Video Recommendations

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1. A close button is required for any
expandable panel, floating ad, side-kick
etc.
2. A “rollover to open” action should follow
with “roll-out to close” and “click-to-
open” with “click-to-close”.
3. In any way don’t combine “rollover to
open” with “click to close”.
4. Best practice: If the banner is expanded
with rollover, make sure that after
clicking the close button the mouse
won’t overlap on the banner’s area (or
else the panel will automatically expand
again).
Expansions and Collapses

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These are the milestones for successful establishment and smooth start on
your way to get the publisher approval quicker. We’re following them on a
daily basis in our production process and so far never got disappointed.
On top of this guide, if you are designing your ad to specific publisher you
can always visit the IAB’s Creative Specs Database and review its full list of
specs.
Conclusion

10. Results
Do you want to get faster rich-media production?
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