UA Glossary

In this article, we will review everything you need to know about mobile creative formats and their specs, performance, and best practices.

It might seem that ads come in all shapes and sizes—well, that’s not exactly the case with mobile programmatic. There are standard formats in programmatic that will help you cover most of the available inventory types. Exceptions might include private marketplaces’ inventory with specific requirements.

Before we dive into the formats, here is a list of the standard ad sizes.

Banner ads are small rectangular ads that appear at the top or bottom of a mobile screen.
While banners hold the tiniest screen “real estate” (and usually the cheapest inventory), this ad format can have a great impact when utilized properly.

– Make sure to include eye-catching visuals
– Keep it brief
– Include a button and/or a CTA

– Low cost compared to other formats
– Ability to reach a large audience due to the low cost
– Non-interruptive

– Least ad space, meaning it might go unnoticed due to banner blindness
– Lower CTR compared to other formats

– 320×50 – Small banner
– 300×250 – Medium rectangular banner
– 728×90 – Tablet small banner

Video is a format that captivates users’ interest and enables advertisers to showcase their brand to the fullest extent.

– Make sure to add an end-card
– Engage users during the first 3-4 seconds as most platforms allow to close the video after 5 seconds
– Keep it short, preferably only up to 15 seconds

– Engaging and immersive advertising experiences
– Maximum branding
– More room for creativity

– Costly distribution
– Might be expensive to produce
– Might be intrusive if not executed properly

Video ads come in various sizes and shapes, depending on the exact placement. However, all videos share an aspect ratio of 16:9 / 9:16. Keep in mind that most ad platforms can automatically resize creatives to fit the placement, so there is no need to overstress about providing all the possible sizes. Instead, focus on providing a portrait or landscape HD resolution video (1080×720 / 720×1080) and an end-card of the same size.

MRAID is a standard API developed by IAB for the development of interactive mobile ads using HTML5 and Javascript.

MRAID provides a comprehensive set of guidelines to address interoperability problems between publishers’ mobile apps, ad servers, and various rich media platforms. These guidelines cover various ad interactions, such as expanding, collapsing, resizing, and closing, as well as other features such as screen size, video playback, image saving, and more.

These ads can vary to be as simple as animated banners or as complicated as resembling the gameplay mechanics of an MMORPG.

Playable ads are interactive ad units that mimic a short gameplay or native app experience. The goal is to let the user “get a taste” of the app before they install it. In our practice, playable ads are one of the most efficient ways to promote an app, as they eliminate the app discovery phase and allow users to familiarize themselves with an app before downloading it.

The standard development size for interstitial or full-screen playable ads would be: 1280×720 / 1920×1080 (landscape) and 720×1280 / 1920×1080 (portrait). However, it’s crucial to test the rendering on multiple screen sizes to ensure a smooth user experience.

– High performance due to being an extremely prominent format
– Interactive, allowing users to get a glimpse of the app
– Engaging format that ensures users who download the app are actually interested
– Very precise measurement (every interaction counts)
– Testing for new demographics and social segments

– Expensive inventory since playables take up the entire app screen (interstitial)
– Difficult to effectively create and utilize
– Can lead to poor user experience if there’s poor execution and SDK adaptation

The dynamic ad is a format that is generated in real-time based on the aggregated behavioral data and previous interactions with an app. This allows for a more personalized and relevant advertising experience. Dynamic ads can be used across multiple placements, stretching from the smallest possible size to full-screen (interstitial).

The main advantage of dynamic ads is their ability to precisely target and engage the audience, leading to higher conversion rates and more efficient spending.

Dynamic ads can fit any inventory size. The standard assets required to generate dynamic ads include the following:

– Title – up to 25 characters
– Description – up to 100 characters
– CTA – up to 15 characters

Depending on the ad specifications, your adtech provider might require extra assets and/or extra integration to ensure that the right content is displayed to the right audience.

– Personalized based on previous experience – imagine a user checked out sunglasses on your app or website. Based on this interaction and further user actions, an advertiser can either push the item sale or upsell more items from other categories to finalize the outfit (like shoes).
– Simple maintenance once setup is complete.
– Scalability to allow the setup to be expanded.

– Deeper level of integration required
– Not suitable for every product

Native ads are designed to match the content of the media source utilized by the user. This format provides the most non-intrusive user experience while promoting the app.

Because native ads are generated in real-time, they require extra assets:

– Title – up to 25 characters
– Description – up to 100 characters
– CTA – up to 15 characters
– Image (1200×628)

– Image – 1200×628
– Video – 1280×720 (or similar ratio)

Rewarded ads are typically interstitial (full-screen) video ads with an image or playable serving as an end-card. Users get rewarded with in-app rewards (lives, in-app currency, premium content, etc.) for watching the ads until the end or interacting with the ads.
Users can decide whether they want to opt in and interact with the app, which leaves them with an overall positive experience.

– Increased user engagement, as users can’t skip the ad
– Positive user experience when the right ads are shown to the right users
– No payment required from advertiser unless the user watched the ad until the end
– Full-screen placement ensures full user attention

– A relatively expensive inventory
– Correct targeting is crucial

Delivering the right creatives is undoubtedly just as important as targeting the right audience at the right time. Testing the creatives is a trial-and-error path. To yield the best results, a programmatic DSP responsible for the delivery should be able to take multiple steps into consideration:

1) Choose the right combination of formats. It’s relatively rare for a user to download the app after one ad view. Following the basic AIDA (attention – interest – desire – action) model, it typically requires a few impressions to convince the user. That’s why it’s important to consider which ads users will initially be exposed to and which ads will help them progress in the marketing funnel.

2) Consult on the right performance metrics. Programmatic buying works exclusively with CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) even if the final payment model is different. It’s important to track the right metrics and have access to the granular insights to identify the best performing creatives based on their actual performance.

3) Don’t stop testing. Check out our article on creative testing to see which approach works best for your app.