I've been following this thread with interest since it
sprang up. I actually became aware of the new
Skyscraper ad sizes at the IAB during the recent
redesign our our site. I was trying to pinpoint which
ad sizes we'd be going with on the new site
(previously we'd just stuck to the good ole 468x60)
and I came across the Skyscrapers as well as the big
box sizes. At first I was very surprised but I've done
a lot of benchmarking and it looks like these ads are
becoming very popular. I've spotted them all over the
web and it seems that I come across a new site using
them each day.
A little background on our site: NOW Magazine is
Toronto's Alternative Weekly and we feature a broad
range of content updated every Wednesday (we'll also
be moving into more Web Exclusive content which will
mean that we will eventually have fresh content daily).
Each week we put up over a hundred articles --
everything from the paper is accessible online. We've
undergone some major changes over the last few weeks
and those changes are going to continue full force for
at least the next year (we've still got a LONG way to
go that's for sure!).
We're planning to use them on our inner Table of
Contents pages and are going to be selling them
specifically as Flash interstitials. We think that this
will be a win-win situation for both our advertisers and
our readers:
a) we're not going to be featuring them on
actual article pages, just on TOC pages, so they won't
be distracting to people who are trying to use our
content
b) the TOC pages are among the most trafficked
pages consistantly each week (for obvious reasons,
they're the first place people stop to take a look at
what the offerings in each section are each week)
c) the TOC pages are an ideal spot for the skyscrapers
because of the nature of the content (a listing of every
article's headline and a 20 word lead in) which creates
a natural fit for the ad space.
Over the next weeks to come we'll be creating some
Flash house ads which will introduce people (both our
readers and our advertisers) to these ads in a fun way
on our TOC pages. At this point we're thinking that
we're going to go with the 160x600 size because it fits
perfectly with the design of our TOC pages. We're using
DoubleClick DART to serve.
A question: we've been using ValueClick as our ad network
to serve our unbooked inventory. The results have been less-than-impressive as we seem to be serving more
ValueClick default banners than actual VC client ads.
Can anyone recommend other ad networks?
Nicci Scheid
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Check out the *NEW* NOW Magazine Online Edition!
http://www.nowtoronto.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Nicci Scheid New Media Manager, NOW Magazine
189 Church Street, Toronto
V 416.364.1300 X358 + F 416.364.1166
Received on Tue Apr 17 2001 - 12:35:28 CDT
