What is an advertisement?

To understand what an advertisement is, we must first understand what advertising is. The definition of advertising is an industry used to call the attention of the public to something, typically a product or service.

The definition of advertisement is the means of communication in which a product, brand or service is promoted to a viewership in order to attract interest, engagement, and sales. Advertisements (often shortened to ads or adverts) come in many forms, from copy to interactive video, and have evolved to become a crucial feature of the app marketplace.

Advertisements are a guaranteed method of reaching an audience. By creating an engaging ad, and spending enough to reach your target users, advertisements can have an immediate impact on business. This effect could be seen in improved trade or boosted brand recognition, among many different metrics. An advertising strategy typically includes a KPI to measure this impact.

In-app advertising can take many forms, including text, banners, push notifications and pre or post-roll video ads. Such video adverts are usually around 10-15 seconds long (though they can vary) and normally showcase the product within that time. Increasingly, advertising is becoming interactive, providing more engagement for users in the era of scrolling. One such example is the use of deep linking, a feature which allows advertisers to send users directly to an install page in a single click. As CTV continues to gain prominence in the advertising space we’re seeing creative, interactive methods emerge, including the use of QR codes to direct users from their TVs to the source of the ad on mobile.

Choosing the right format can be a make-or-break decision in advertising. Let’s take a look at some of the most common ad formats in mobile advertising and when they can be particularly effective.

• Banner ads

  With banner ads, the aim is to display an image and wait for users to view, click and convert – making quality graphics and a compelling call to action (CTA) essential components.

• Interstitial ads

  Interstitial ads offer a full-screen experience. These can be used to avoid ‘banner blindness’, when users become so accustomed to seeing banner ads that they no longer take notice. Interstitial ads can also be expandable (known as expandable ads), which start out as regular banner ads before taking up the whole screen.

• Native ads

  Native advertising is when ads are designed to match the environment in which they are placed. For example, when you see a ‘sponsored’ tag attached to a YouTube video, this is native advertising on that particular platform.

• Video ads

  As their name suggests, video ads are advertisements in video format. By their nature, video ads are a popular advertising method because they can be highly engaging, offering great CTR (click through rate).

• Playable ads

  By giving users access to interactive gameplay, playable ads let you try before you buy. This gives users a limited look at an app, offering highlights that should push users to install. Because users can gauge their interest before purchasing the app, playable ads can be used to reduce app uninstall rates.

To learn more about the pros and cons for each format, take a look at how to choose the right ad format.

Since advertising is a financial investment, you want to know that it’s working as intended. Ad tracking is easy with Adjust; it’s as simple as integrating an SDK and creating an Adjust tracker URL. After that, our dashboard will show you precisely how well your advertisements are performing and which channels and campaigns are driving growth. We can also put you in sync with any of our hundreds of partners so you can advertise to the best sources at a budget which is right for you.