Vertical online ads cost advertisers nearly double the price of full-size horizontal banners, according to data compiled by AdRelevance, Jupiter Media Metrix's ad tracking service.
The company said yesterday that the cost for a vertical ad was $54 per 1,000 impressions, compared with a cost-per-thousand rate of $28 for horizontal banners.
The company said the cost of the horizontal ad banner fell to a CPM of $28 in fourth quarter 2000, from a CPM of $31 in the year-ago quarter, because of an increase in inventory coupled with decreased response rates and renewed emphasis on return on investment.
The study also found that the number of different vertical online ads increased nearly 70 percent in the quarter to 4,725 from 2,809 in the year-ago quarter. But Jupiter Media Metrix, New York, warned that their return on investment has not been proved and that publishers are embracing the new ads in an attempt to stimulate advertiser interest and increase revenues in a faltering market.
“Publishers are clearly experimenting with new and larger ad sizes in an attempt to increase online advertising revenue in what is undeniably a soft market,” said Christopher Todd, an analyst at Jupiter Media Metrix.
The study also found that vertical ad banners received 1.9 billion impressions, or 20 percent of all ad impressions during the fourth quarter. However, the full horizontal ad banner remained the most common form of online advertising in the quarter, with 36 percent of all impressions.
