The banner ad may not be dead, but it’s not coming in to work how it came in five years ago. What used to be a simple design of 728×90 pixels across the top of the web page has turned into something more interesting, and, quite honestly, more complicated. Network marketing ads are no longer confined to simple display ad placements, but instead exist in a web of potential interaction where format, timing and context all play the same level of importance when determining whether someone engages with what you have to say.
But this didn’t happen overnight. Instead, it’s been an evolutionary response based on how people use the internet now versus how they used to in 2015. It’s not that attention spans have shortened (that’s mostly a myth) but rather that tolerance for vague interruptions has tanked to an all-time low. It’s no longer enough to pay for display space and hope people click with the developed banner blindness that users possess today.
The Explosion of Digital Possibilities
Simply put, display marketing ads were one-dimensional and uncomplicated. You had your square ad units, maybe some sidebar placements, and that was that. Today’s advertising networks boast an all-you-can-eat buffet of formats that can be initially overwhelming until one understands what each format actually does.
First came the native ad (and then the propensity for someone to call it “fake news”). Instead of a blatant “HEY LOOK AT ME” up at the top, these ads learned to live among content streams and take on the appearance of whatever they happened to be nestled within; they were camouflaged in the best way possible. In theory, it seems sneaky. In reality, it’s just better design. People engage with them because they come off as content that just so happens to be relevant instead of outright advertising.
Then came push notifications, which added another layer altogether – one that’s not tied to browsing at all. Push ads can come hours after someone has left a site, appearing on their desktop or phone with timely offerings. The effectiveness lies in the actual timing. A push ad for lunch delivery at 11:30am hits different than lunch delivery at 3pm.
Similarly, video formats have taken hold, but not in ways one would assume. Pre-rolls that require you to watch something before your content loads still exist, but the smart money is in content video that accompanies instead of detracts from what’s important. Thus, video advertising has found its way as respectful additions or natural breaks so that people aren’t annoyed but surprisingly engaged.
Why Networks Went Multi-Format
Where it gets even more interesting is when it’s all combined into one! Networks that boast multiple options from network marketing ads have found that creating one cohesive campaign through all channels of access has provided a stronger message than any one placement could achieve on its own.
The logic makes a ton of sense once explored. Someone may see a native ad early in the day when checking global news via The New York Times website; then a college student might access the sports score at lunchtime through ESPN and see a banner ad for the same company; ultimately, someone living alone may finish up their day getting a push notification from the same company.
All three impressions are fundamentally different but serve as a reminder of a common thread. However, showing someone the same banner ad three times just teaches them how to ignore it on multiple occasions.
There are also different user types who engage with different ads. Some people actively seek click-worthy information and thus respond well to native offerings; others utilize convenience and expediency as push factors when responding favorably to push notifications. Yes, some still click display ads when they’re appealingly designed at the right moment, but why hedge bets on one format when you can have them all?
The Software Behind Network Marketing
Underlying all of this is some seriously impressive software most advertisers never see. Today’s ad networks boast an entry point in which various impressions or placements aren’t shoveled into spaces, but instead analyzed alongside which formats work best where and at what time for which audiences. It’s not quite “artificial intelligence” (and that term gets thrown around far too often), but it’s intelligent enough to make connections a human media buyer might take days to figure out.
Real-time bidding plays a huge role here as well; networks are no longer having to buy ad space in bulk and hope for the best when real-time bidding exists on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis for individual impressions. This means that your ad shows up only when the stars align for the right audience, at the right time, with the right context and the right format. The waste baked into the cake of display advertising has become trimmed.
Frequency capping has also gotten smarter; networks can now determine how many times someone has seen an ad across various formats and sites once they’ve connected with other placements attempted under one network, and adjust accordingly. See a native ad once, see a banner twice, get one push notification – then we leave you alone before you’re upset about too much frequency. This cross-format connection was not possible when advertisers ran from different companies for each available placement.
Implications for Campaigns
There are practical implications on top of it all. Those advertisers who came into this type of network marketing with a single-minded format have left tons of money off the table over time; today, it’s who is your audience that’s important first? Which combination of formats is going to help you reach your goal second?
This change impacts budget allocation. Instead of pouring all money into one format and hoping for the best, educated advertisers know it’s best to spread out budgets over many and see what combinations render what’s best – and sometimes that’s 60% native, 30% push and 10% display; other times it’s completely reversed. That’s what’s most important – testing to see what’s best rather than assuming what “should” work based on educated guesses.
There’s also new creative demand; running any multi-format campaign means needing creative content for each, and while that sounds like more work upfront, it’s actually an opportunity, too. The message might not come through as clearly via a banner as it could as a push notification, so get creative. Different formats allow us to highlight different aspects of our offer based on what makes more sense given each user experience.
Emerging Formats
Formats haven’t stopped evolving since 2020 – and there are new life as well. Interstitial ads – the ones that take over your entire screen until it feels like you’ve hit escape, are seeing a revival thanks to mobile browsing driven by handheld devices; when they occur naturally, and that’s a big “when,” since they shouldn’t occur by attempting to scroll, they’re getting viewed without user irritation.
Popunder ads that everyone thought were dead and gone are seeing new life as well; although popunders used to appear obnoxiously, now they appear just once under desperate situations. For retargeting campaigns where someone leaves without completing an action they first intended to complete, popunder ads work like they should.
Even traditional display ads aren’t traditional anymore; dynamic creative optimization lets a display change based on what’s best for who it is seeing it, even if two people log onto the same site simultaneously; they could see two different pieces of what’s technically the same unit based on who would react best to which piece.
Tension Between Access and Annoyance
All these new options add tension inside networks naturally; more options mean more abilities to reach people, but also means more opportunity to annoy them. Ultimately the networks that are doing it best right now have found a good balance between getting advertisers their results while users remain comfortable enough without frequency weariness.
Therefore, number variety matters just as much as quality format availability; if a network boasts twenty options but ten are obnoxious or poorly executed, so what? The best networks have some semblance of curation among their available formats so each serves its purpose with respect.
Publishers won’t accept lame ad formats that destroy their sites because it deters traffic and ultimately revenue, which pressures networks sensibly enough to help improve how ads look and act and integrate within actual websites.
Where This is Going
It’s safe to say that over time, network marketing will continue evolving toward more options available with cross-format targeting increasingly smarter connections between different ad types.
Machine learning will probably play a bigger role determining which format gets served when (without taking human interest out of goal-setting time or creative direction).
Privacy regulations impact this evolution, not as obviously as one might think, but as cookie tracking gets lessened, getting involved with pre-existing networks puts value into place where campaigns can run across sites without third-party cookies a thing of the past.
What’s certain is that we’re not going back to simpler times where static banner ads are the only option – to think otherwise is delusional. The internet is far too disparate, user behavior at all-time highs is far too varied and advertiser expectations are far too sophisticated for any super format single exposure level ever again.
The future belongs to networks who can master multiple formats while keeping both parties decently happy, and that’s the hardest balance to strike.
Advertisers who don’t adhere to this evolving reality end up winning. They’ve had their senses steered into sophistication without buying nets merely brought up in unnecessary hope for better performance than poor banner-buying experiences.
Thus, the tools are now there, even if advertisers refuse to think about advanced campaigns responsibly. They can reach people across multiple touch points using their systems properly, they just need to avoid bringing their outdated judgments over from 2015 into 2025 about what network marketing entails instead.
