Display Ads and Ad Servers

Display Advertising

The world of online marketing can seem like it has a language of its own, with many terms that describe different types of advertising being used interchangeably. If all digital ads must be displayed on one device or another, what differentiates display ads other online ads?

Display ads, also known as banner ads, are visual ads that appear on a website or within a mobile app. In their simplest form, they are composed of an image, messaging, and brand messaging or a logo.

Display advertising can include animation, video, or audio. The most complex examples can expand or include interactive elements. For example, an animated display ad could expand to play a video. Display advertising comes in many sizes—some run on both desktop and mobile environments, while others can only run on one or the other.

Display advertising is highly flexible in terms of content—with so many options, it’s important to be sure your message is tailored to the audience you are targeting. Display ads are known to be an effective tool for raising brand awareness and driving site traffic, but can also be an integral part of any campaign.

Ad Servers

Many of the display ads you see online are trafficked through an agency-side Ad Server, or a platform used to house display ads and the instructions for serving them. They allow you to set-up creative rotations and apply targeting parameters that determine who will see your digital ads.

Ad servers also house tracking tags (or pixels) that are placed on client websites to track campaign performance. They are incredibly useful as a centralized data source for campaign performance information across all elements of a multi-faceted campaign.

Advertisers rely on their reporting capabilities to monitor every aspect of the campaign, rather than having to depend solely on publishers for critical insights that inform their decision-making around how they reach the target audience.

Basis DSP is compatible with most ad servers—and Basis platform can help automate the ad server setup process via an API connection to ad servers such as Google Campaign Manager or Sizmek.

Learn more about Display Advertising with Centro.