Guide
What is banner advertising?
Banner advertising refers to when a creative ad is displayed on a host site in hopes that it will drive traffic to the advertiser’s proprietary site.
Start using HAQM Ads to display your products and create campaigns.
If you have limited experience, contact us to request services managed by HAQM Ads. Budget minimums apply.
Our video creative production and editing services can help you produce inspiring videos across all formats.
Start using our programmatic display ads to showcase your brand.
Simply put, banner advertising is a type of digital advertising through creative ads known as banners. Banners are the creative rectangular ads that are shown along the top, side, or bottom of a website in hopes that it will drive traffic to the advertiser’s proprietary site, generate awareness, and overall brand consideration. This type of visual banner-style online advertising is a form of display advertising.
How do banner ads work?
Banner ads can be static or dynamic ads that are strategically positioned on a website to capture consumers’ attention. Through banner advertising, brands can promote their brand as well as encourage viewers to visit the brand's website. Similar to other forms of online advertising, brands leverage banner advertising for a multitude of reasons. Whether a brand's intention is to build brand awareness, generate more clicks, and/or drive traffic to the brand's website, banner ads can be effective in fulfilling a brand's business goals.

Are banner ads effective?
Banner ads are an impactful way to increase customer traffic, sell a product, and/or grab a customer’s attention. To determine whether banner advertising is effective, it is important to look at an ad’s CTR, or click-through rate. The click-through rate metric is defined as the number of clicks an ad receives divided by the number of times the ad was displayed, or the number of impressions the ad received. Therefore, the higher the CTR of a banner ad, the more effective that ad may be. Brands can look at their past campaign performance or other insights to improve click-through rate.
How much do banner ads cost?
There are different pricing models based on which display advertising tactic a brand is using. Due to the dynamic nature of banner ads, the cost of banner advertising is typically based on a pricing model known as cost per mille, CPM, which is cost per thousand impressions. With ads based on CPM, advertisers have greater flexibility to optimize campaigns and maximize the efficiency of their budget.
How to create banner ads
To get started in creating banner ads, brands should consider a few key principles and steps to be most effective.
- Outlining brand goals and objectives. Brands must think critically around what success looks like within a banner ad campaign and the desired action viewers should take after seeing the banner ad.
- Agreeing upon a budget. Before launching a banner ad, it is important to know how much a brand is willing to invest in order to know how much advertising spend can go against the ad.
- Identifying the right audience. Who is the ad intended to reach? Ensuring the brand has the appropriate audience in mind for the banner ad affects the overall success of the ad.
- Create the right call-to-action (CTA). What do brands want viewers to do? This could range from learning more about the brand or clicking on the ad to subscribe to their newsletter on their website.
- What will the ad creative look like? This should be informed by both the brand’s business goals and creative direction. Banner ad creatives should consider branding logos, high-quality imagery, readable text, and overall company branding.
These factors are important for a brand to set the groundwork for what success looks like, and ensure the creative visual of the banner aligns with the business objective.
Standard banner ad sizes and formats

Popular banner ad sizes
Successful banner ads can look different depending on the branding, goals, and overall creative vision of a brand. Ad size is dependent on the shape of the banner ad, which differs depending on the ad format. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) sets the standards for the ad tech industry and creates digital advertising guidelines. In order for the industry to run smoothly, the IAB develops standard ad units/sizes in which all stakeholders must follow.
For banner ad sizes, the ad specs depend on the banner shape, ranging from medium to large rectangle, small to medium square, half page, and more. The three standard ad formats are leaderboard (728 X 90), medium rectangle (300 X 250), and skyscraper (160 X 600).

Common banner ad formats
Different banner ad formats are used depending on the ad placement within a web page. Each banner ad format varies in ad size. Leaderboard ads are among the most common and best performing banner ads, with high impact due to its top-of-the-page placement. They have high ad viewability due to the positioning of the ad on the top of a web page. Leaderboard ads are often seen by page viewers immediately, and if they are engaging enough, can entice users to click on the ad. On the other hand, skyscraper ads have a tall, thin shape, hence its name. These ads are often found on the side of a web page, stretching from top to bottom. Brands may leverage skyscraper ads with intention to encourage visitors to see the banner ad for greater brand awareness or click on the ad to reach the brands’ own website.

An example of banner ad sizes and layouts.
HAQM Ads recommended sizes
HAQM Ads has recommended ad sizes that will help brands be most effective in reaching their customers.
Banner advertising examples
Below are examples that showcase different creative approaches to banner ads, all being impactful in their own ways:

Prime Video using banner ads to reach audiences on IMDb.

IMDb TV illustrates banner ad examples on mobile.
Banner advertising is an effective tool to drive customer awareness and overall traffic to your site through a creative banner ad. For more successful banner ads, explore other real-life display ad examples.
Banner advertising case studies
Case Study
A U.S.-based nutritional healthcare brand partnered with Oceanwing, an Anker Innovations subsidiary, to accelerate their North American growth in Q1 2022. Oceanwing developed an innovative banner ad strategy that included strategic creative choices, direct promotional messaging, and a mix of best-selling and new products. The agency purchased Share of Voice (SOV) packages, leveraged HAQM DSP for banner ad distribution, and created custom Brand Store landing pages to optimize the customer journey. This comprehensive approach, combined with remarketing tactics and real-time optimization, delivered impressive results: a 70% increase in Deal of the Day (DOTD) ad-attributed sales, a 217% improvement in HAQM DSP ad conversion rate, and a 109% increase in return on ad spend.

Case Study
Binibi leveraged HAQM Ads to build a multi-faceted approach, including Sponsored Products, banner ads through Sponsored Display, and Brand Stores, to reach new customers and drive sales. By optimizing their campaigns, utilizing A/B testing for banner ad creative, and creating engaging content for their Brand Store and product detail pages, Binibi achieved impressive results. These included a 20x increase in sales, 16x more clicks, 10x growth in impressions, and a 2x improvement in return on ad spend (ROAS). The company also saw a 10x increase in new-to-brand customers in 2023. For their new book collection launch during Hispanic Heritage Month, Binibi expanded their advertising strategy, incorporating Sponsored Brand campaigns and running A/B tests on banner ad copy in English and Spanish, demonstrating how effective banner advertising can be for small businesses looking to grow on HAQM.

Sponsored Display is designed for advertisers of any size and budget to create campaigns for their specific business goals, regardless of whether they sell products on HAQM. Leveraging machine learning and multiformat, dynamically optimized creatives, Sponsored Display helps you discover, reach, and engage audiences across their digital journey—from HAQM's exclusive inventory and product detail pages to owned properties like Twitch and IMDb, and various third-party destinations.
Programmatically scale your advertising via HAQM DSP, engaging audiences across all devices and formats—including audio, display, online video, Streaming TV, and physical store advertising.
Device ads, which incorporate both display and video creatives, run across HAQM devices with screens like Fire TV, Fire tablet, and Echo Show, as well as services like Prime Video, to deliver high-impact, immersive, and natively integrated ad experiences that make it easy for customers to engage and take action.