Displaying ads; what makes them annoying, but helpful to brands?
By: Alex Cindrich
What are Display Ads
Display ads are a type of online advertisement that combines text, images, and a URL that links to a website where a customer can learn more about or buy products. (Mailchimp) Display ads are everywhere in today’s world with the huge advancement of technology. People are not a fan of display ads of how they come up at random or worse times when watching a YouTube video or playing a mobile game. However, businessmen/women love to use ads because they use ads to help spread their brand or to promote a certain product that is new on the market. (Edwards)
6 types of Display ads
Banner Ads- One of the oldest and traditional forms of advertising, banner ads usually appear at the top of websites in a “banner” format. There are also expandable banners that auto-expand into the major part of the screen and allow users to “click to expand” from a banner. (Basu)
360-degree Display Ads- are banner ads that create a spherical ad out of flat content. The ad can resize responsively or be customizable for your creative needs. (Basu)
Interstitial Ads- These ads appear as web pages that visitors get to see before they are directed to the original page they requested. They fully take over a user’s phone screen or browser window. (Basu)
Overlay- Similar to interstitial ads, overlay ads are like pop-ups with a somewhat transparent background, for the purpose of background content visibility for users. (Basu)
Rich media- Rich Media is a broad term for creative ads using interactive elements such as video, audio and clickable elements. Rich Media ads are more complex and allow for greater creative freedom. Example- GIFs, a playable game, etc in a banner ad. (Basu)
Video ads- Video advertising is promotional content that plays before, during or after streaming content. Video ads allow you to connect with your audience on a personal level and are well worth investing in. (Basu)
Why are consumers annoyed by ads
People want to play a game or YouTube video in peace without an ad disturbing them. People use YouTube video’s on how to do something or even watch creators they like and then an ad pops up after the video or during the video. There are ads on YouTube that you are forced to watch all the way through, or you are forced to watch 2 unskippable ads which would waste the viewer’s time. ‘Normally ad(s) that are unskippable are 15-60 seconds long there was one person who had a unskippable that lasted 58 minutes which no one would ever want’. (Siddiqui). When people play certain mobile game like Block Blast, every time you fail or pass a level every so often an ad will show up that would last 10 -15 seconds to get back to the game. When we talk about streaming platforms if you get the plan worth the least, you will get ads, and no one wants to watch an ad during a movie. With YouTube, certain mobile games, streaming platforms the one thing they have in common is that you can buy or get an expensive plan all to get rid of ads. For example, YouTube is free with ads, but they have a plan where you pay $13.99 per month and for Netflix in order for you to not have ads you would have to pay $17.99 a month and even these mobile games would make you pay money to stop showing ads to you ever again. People hate ads and are either stuck with ads or paying to get rid of them.
Are Display Ads good though?
In rare cases there are points where ads can be good or entertaining to see which is during the Superbowl or there could be a random ad that comes out of nowhere that is for once helpful to users. The reason people watch Superbowl ads is because not only is it very expensive costing around 7 million dollars, but they also only show them once and these companies go all out to make sure their ad is perfect. Random ads happen every day and I said before that gets annoying, but there is 1 ad in there that can be useful to you and even others around you. For some reason ads are displayed to us specifically to certain consumers as if they are targeting us specifically as if they were chasing us down and them knowing what I like or do.
Conclusion: The end is this, companies want to promote products and their brand, but the ads they do are overwhelming and need to slow down on them. people want to do these things without an ad interfering with their activities. At the same time if an ad comes up less often people would be happy with, and companies can still promote. In other ways certain display ads can be non-effective to human actions which makes them the best because people don’t have to read them, and others can choose if they want.
Citations
Basu, Sreejata. “What Are Display Ads: Getting to Know It Better: Muvi AD Server.” Muvi, 4 Mar. 2021, www.muvi.com/blogs/getting-to-know-display-ads/.
Edwards, Keegan. “What Is Display Advertising? A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners.” Keegan Edwards, 5 Dec. 2024, keeganedwards.com/what-is-display-advertising-a-comprehensive-guide-for-beginners/.
Sharma, Apurva. “Importance of Advertising in Business: Key Benefits and Insights.” Young Urban Project, 11 Mar. 2025, www.youngurbanproject.com/importance-of-advertising/.
Siddiqui, Aamir. “Frustrated YouTube Viewers Seek Explanation for Hour-Long Unskippable Ads (Updated: Clarification).” Android Authority, 28 Jan. 2025, www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/.
“What Is Display Advertising? A Beginner’s Guide.” Mailchimp, mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/display-ads/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2025.
“What Is Display Advertising? Definition, Targeting Process, Types, Networks, Examples, and a Management Checklist - Spiceworks.” Spiceworks Inc, 7 Jan. 2025, www.spiceworks.com/marketing/programmatic-advertising/articles/what-is-display-advertising/.