(MarketingClick/Reuters)–Less than 5% of Web sites in February used new online advertising standards, set last month by a trade group to combat the slowdown in online ad spending, research firm Jupiter Media Metrix said in a report on Monday.
In February, the Internet Advertising Bureau set voluntary standards for larger Web ads–two vertical units and five rectangular units–all larger than the banner ads that have become familiar to Web users. The move was designed to generate more interest in online advertising to advertisers, who have been disappointed with response rates to Internet banner.
While 25% of all Web site use large ads, less than five percent of them meet the new formats, Jupiter said.
“Since their inception just one month ago, the new IAB online ad standards have not yet achieved a high level of acceptance from Web sites,” said Charlie Buchwalter, vice president of media research for Jupiter Media Metrix. “The latest AdRelevance data show that while sites are experimenting with larger ads, they do not fully match up to the IAB specifications.”
The number of ads matching the new standards rose by 50 percent during each week in February, but accounted for less than one percent of all ads created since the IAB standards were set, according to Jupiter Media Metrix’s AdRelevance unit.
It said that nine percent of Web sites experimented with a new banner size before the IAB officially launched its new standards. AdRelevance said, however, that less than 40 percent of those sites used an exact IAB-specified ad format last month.
Flipside.com, a games and incentive site, in February gained the most impressions, more than 30 million, for ads matching IAB standards, AdRelevance said. Financial news site TheStreet.com Inc. was in second place with 6 million impressions.
The leading advertiser was digital photographer company Corbis Corp., which purchased more IAB-specified large ad formats than any other advertiser, with almost 5 million impressions during February, according to AdRelevance data.
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