Howzit MSN is one of the first publishers in the country to launch the new Rising Stars formats from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). These six powerful formats offer higher engagement rates for advertisers and a better experience for the end-user.
Howzit MSN, one of South Africa’s largest Web portals and local partner to Microsoft’s MSN portal, is making it easy for advertisers to launch richer, more creative digital campaigns at scale by embracing these formats.
“Rising Stars have proven themselves to be as friendly to the user as they are effective for brand advertisers. These new ad formats give brands great opportunities and efficiencies in advertising, providing them with the creative canvas to tell their brand stories and engage their audiences,” says Howzit MSN general manager, Marcus Stephens.
The IAB is the global trade association for digital advertising. The IAB Rising Star ad formats – chosen through proposals submitted in an IAB competition for the digital industry – offer the industry six creative canvases which can be run across multiple publishers.
MSN – operated in South Africa by Kagiso Media under the Howzit MSN brand – was among the first to adopt these ad standards and implement them globally. Two of the new IAB formats were created by Microsoft Advertising – the Filmstrip and the Sidekick.
Research by the IAB and IPG Media Lab into the effectiveness of Rising Stars ads found that users perceived these formats to be better designed, more engaging, and more enjoyable than most ads online.
The survey, which used eye-tracking and facial coding technology to measure interaction levels, found that users are two-and-a-half times more likely to interact with a Rising Stars advert. The formats also showed double the dwell time and brand recall of up to four times higher. User clickthroughs were achieved twice as quickly with a Rising Stars ad.
The six new formats are:
– The IAB Filmstrip is a powerful new canvas that combines five ads in one 300×600 unit. It gives consumers a content-rich interactive experience that doesn’t interrupt their viewing.
– The IAB Sidekick, covering two thirds of the page when the user interacts with it, provides advertisers with a large canvas similar to the ones that are used in TV and print.
– The IAB Billboard is a huge 970×250 creative canvas that offers advertisers full rich media interactivity. Advertisers can choose how to use the billboard’s vast space for optimal interaction.
– The IAB Pushdown canvas expands to 970×415 upon user interaction. When a predetermined time passes or the user closes the expanded Pushdown, the ad resolves into a 970×90 Leave Behind ad. The IAB Pushdown is perfect for high-definition content such as videos, photos, animations, and applications.
– The IAB Slider is an overlay unit on the bottom of a page which expands to reveal a full-page canvas for branded content. It never falls below the fold and never covers editorial content.
– The IAB Portrait’s 300×1050 canvas allows for lots of content and interaction right next to the editorial. It offers complete plug and play functionality.
