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As we continue to create and plan for new and different types of Online Advertising, I think it’s important that we’re all speaking the same language.  As with all new technologies, it’s necessary to acquire a common vocabulary so as to not create unnecessary confusion.  Rich media online advertising doesn’t have a single clarion voice helping defining it.  The term ‘rich media’ is on the verge of losing all meaning and falling to the ranks of “Web 2.0” and other vague buzz words. 

The Interactive Advertising Bureau terms rich media as “advertisements with which users can interact (as opposed to solely animation and excluding click-through functionality) in a web page format.” Whereas most sites/services hosting online advertising seem to base their definitions on price structure and wow factor.  PC Magazine takes a considerably broader approach, “Information that consists of any combination of graphics, audio, video and animation, which is more storage and bandwidth intensive than ordinary text.”

Many assume that using rich media inherently costs more, but this is far from the truth. Rich media doesn’t necessitate higher CPM costs. Some types can be created without changing the placement type.

I’ve created a small glossary defining the different types of placements, and the different requirements each present. This list has been compiled as a result of the correlation.

Non-Rich Media Online Advertising Types

Static -
JPEG, non-animated GIF, or PNG ad. This type of ad, while exceeding simple, shows great returns when pushing a particular brand message. Download DoubleClick’s Whitepaper on the effectiveness of different types of ads here

Simple - a.k.a ‘in-page’ or ‘linear ads’
Generally a 10-15 second animation ending on a call-to-action enticing you to click-through. The aforementioned report from DoubleClick raises the question as to how effective these are, when creating a favorable brand impression, compared to both static and rich media ads. There is no user interaction in these banners beyond the click-through. This type embodies the vast majority of ads online today. 

Rich Media Online Advertising Types

In-Banner Interaction - a.k.a linear ads
This would include in-banner games, rollover effects, hot-spots, and any time we entice the user to use the mouse to do more than click through to the destination URL.

Expanding -
Characteristics: Grow or break outside of traditional banner bounds. These placements cannot move from their traditional position. Usually these units grow to twice their width (skyscraper/rectangle), or height (leaderboard), and often require that the user rollover or click with their mouse cursor before expanding.

Floating - a.k.a. “Float over”
Characteristics: On page load, these ads can move over the page unencumbered by the size/location of any traditional banner. They can “land” in an ad placement, simply stop, or repeat.

Peelback -
Characteristics: Allows a corner of the webpage to be “pulled back” displaying the ad underneath. These placements cannot move from their corner.

Interstitial - a.k.a “Between the Page” or “Transitional”
Characteristics: The purpose of interstitial is to briefly interrupt the user’s browsing experience with a brand experience. The method of this varies from site to site, making this format ill-suited for a large multi-site placement purchase.

Synced - a.k.a “Multiple Placements”
Characteristics: These ads appear consistently as their counterparts allowing for each banner to appear to interact.

In-Banner Video -
Characteristics: This is the fancy term for having video in your flash banners. The following is based on our current understanding of the Atlas system functionality. This requires no site-based infrastructure, or permissions.

Widget Ads: a.k.a. “embeddable”
Google, with the Google Desktop and iGoogle homepage solutions, may have caused the greatest boost to this type of ad. It’s a small ad that allows you to interact, potentially learn the day’s weather forecast, search for a recipe, monitor a twitter feed or see the day’s news. Its key feature is the ability to easily embed it in your website, blog, or desktop toolbar. 

To see some of the industry leaders’ definitions, check out the Interactive Advertising Bureau or Google’s subsidiary DoubleClick