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Display Advertising

Display advertising refers to visual ads such as banners, videos, images, or animations on websites, in apps, or in other digital environments.

What Is Display Advertising?

Display advertising refers to visual online ads that appear as images, banners, or videos on websites and in apps. These ads can be displayed, for example, on the side of news pages, between articles, or within apps.

Display ads can be served based on browsing behavior, location, context, or past visits—unlike search engine advertising, which responds to an active search. Display ads are delivered through ad networks that aggregate numerous websites and apps and place ads where the defined target audience is active.

Where did display advertising originate?

The first known banner ad was placed in 1994 by a telecommunications company, marking the beginning of digital banner advertising. Display advertising is thus one of the oldest forms of online advertising.

Over time, the format has evolved from static images to animated banners and, today, to the largely automated purchasing of ad space and targeted audience engagement.

Why is display advertising important?

Not everyone on the internet is actively searching for a product or a solution. Many people don’t even know that a solution to their problem exists. Display advertising reaches these people while potential customers are browsing the web elsewhere.

Banners, videos, and animations aim to generate demand and build brand awareness where no one was searching before. In this way, display ads complement click-driven channels by adding an attention-grabbing element.

Advantages

  • Display advertising builds reach and brand awareness.
  • It reaches people before they actively search.
  • Through the precise selection of contexts and target audiences, relevant audiences can be addressed directly.
  • The visual design allows for strong brand messages that text-only ads cannot convey.

Challenges

After years of being bombarded with advertising, many people unconsciously tune out banners. As a result, the click-through rate is often low, especially since the target audience isn’t necessarily browsing with the intent to buy. Ad blockers also diminish the impact of display ads.

The success of display advertising often lies more in visibility and brand awareness than in direct clicks and therefore cannot always be immediately quantified. Additionally, care must be taken to ensure that the brand does not appear in an inappropriate context.

Example

A manufacturer of occupational safety equipment places target-audience-specific banners on industry portals for safety officers. The target audience repeatedly sees the brand in their professional environment without having searched for it.

If a need arises later, the company is already top of mind and is more likely to make it onto the shortlist.

Related terms

Programmatic Advertising Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and selling of digital ad space. CPM / TKP (Cost per Mille / Cost per Thousand Impressions) Cost per Mille (CPM) is the price for every thousand ad impressions. Remarketing / Retargeting A website visitor browses but doesn’t buy anything? Use remarketing to show them the product again. Native Advertising Native advertising is advertising that adapts to its surroundings in terms of design, form, and content, thereby appearing as a natural part of it.