Display advertising isn’t just about putting pixels on a page, it’s about getting your message in front of the right people, in the right place, at the right time. No longer simply reliant on static banners, display advertising involves making smart placements, delivering responsive design, and achieving measurable results.
Whether you’re a performance marketer driving conversions or a brand strategist seeking awareness, display advertising remains a crucial component of the marketing puzzle. Below, I’ll explore five impactful benefits display ads bring to the table.
Benefits of Display Advertising for Marketers
1. Increased Brand Visibility
Display advertising helps boost brand visibility on the open web, often without disrupting the user experience. Unlike traditional pop-ups or banner ads that users tend to ignore or block, dedicated performance advertising platforms let you embed ads that not only reach relevant audiences where they are but capture their attention with a diversity of placements and styles, including eye-catching motion ads.
How to Measure Impact:
- Impressions: The number of times your ad appears on a web page.
- Reach: The total number of unique users who have seen your ad.
- Viewability rate: The percentage of ads actually seen by users (not just served).
Example:
Kavak, a leading online platform for buying and selling used cars in Latin America, improved its brand visibility and boosted conversions beyond what it was achieving on Facebook, Google, and TikTok by using a combination of image and motion ads, reaching new audiences across premium publisher sites.
Kavak found that motion ads — featuring short, looping animations — delivered stronger performance than static formats, leading them to scale this format using Realize’s in-house Motion Ads Studio. To deepen engagement, they installed the Taboola Pixel to track user behavior and build high-intent retargeting audiences. This strategy led to a 30% increase in programmatic conversions from Q3 to Q4 and more than 500 million impressions, significantly amplifying their brand presence and campaign efficiency.
2. Improved Audience Targeting
The best modern display platforms are data engines. With audience segmentation, behavioral signals, contextual targeting, and retargeting, they let you pinpoint high-intent users with remarkable accuracy, using real-time intent signals and interest-based audience clusters to deliver content to those most likely to engage. Display doesn’t just show your message to a crowd — it finds the right person at the right moment.
How It’s Measured:
- Click-through rate (CTR): The ratio of clicks to impressions.
- Engagement time: How long users stay on your content after clicking.
- Conversion rate: The percentage of users who complete a desired action (such as a purchase, signup, or download).
Example:
Ziwo, a cloud contact center provider in the GCC region, turned to Realize to generate high-quality B2B leads across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco. Using Realize’s Native Image Ads, premium publisher inventory (including Yahoo!), and first- and third-party audience segments, the campaign reached 33.5 million people across the open web, with 40% more leads versus other platforms, and a 30% lower CPA compared to other channels. Ziwo’s success demonstrates how advertising, when coupled with AI-driven segmentation and intent-based targeting, can benefit companies attempting to improve audience targeting efforts.
3. Cost-Effectiveness
Display advertising can offer a strong return on investment (ROI) when paired with precise targeting and smart bidding. Flexible bidding models and granular budget control make it easier for marketers to optimize performance at every funnel stage. For instance, performance platforms like Realize can leverage AI-powered algorithms to automatically adjust bids based on real-time signals (e.g., user behavior, page context, and likelihood of engagement).
How It’s Measured:
- Cost-per-click (CPC): What you pay for each click.
- Cost-per-acquisition (CPA): Total ad spend divided by the number of conversions.
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Revenue generated per dollar spent on advertising.
Example:
Peugeot, in collaboration with Publicis Media, aimed to enhance their campaign’s efficiency by reducing acquisition costs. Utilizing Taboola’s retargeting capabilities and the Taboola Pixel, they tracked user interactions and optimized their campaigns using the Maximize Conversions bidding strategy. This approach led to a 14% lower cost-per-acquisition (CPA) compared to their other targeting campaigns. Furthermore, the campaign achieved a 2.45x lower cost-per-lead (CPL) than the brand’s benchmark expectations, demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of their efforts.
4. High Engagement
As mentioned earlier, display advertising has grown far beyond static images. Today’s formats include responsive carousel ads, interactive video, and immersive content previews. These rich creatives not only capture attention but also drive meaningful engagement. Realize’s responsive ad formats, for example, adapt to both screen size and context, helping ensure higher interaction rates — especially on mobile.
How It’s Measured:
- Engagement rate: Interactions — like swipes, clicks, or hovers — divided by impressions.
- Video completion rate (VCR): Percentage of users who finish watching your video.
- Dwell time: Time spent actively engaging with the creative.
Example:
HPE Automotores launched a programmatic campaign using Realize-powered video ads across premium publisher sites. As a result, their CTR tripled and their engagement rate nearly doubled (up 46%) compared to other channels. This shows that modern display tools can lead to mindful campaigns that create sustained engagement.
5. Scalable Optimization Through AI Automation
Display advertising today isn’t just about placement: It’s about scaling and refining content in real time. AI-driven tools now enable advertisers to auto-generate ad assets, conduct live A/B testing, and continuously optimize campaigns based on real-time engagement and performance signals.
How It’s Measured:
- Click-through rate: Tracks how well AI-optimized creatives perform.
- Conversion rate: Measures the effectiveness of real-time testing and targeting.
- Creative refresh rate: Frequency of updates to assets to combat ad fatigue.
Example
Using AI-powered Predictive Audiences within Realize, brands like NerdWallet, The Motley Fool, and QuinStreet are unlocking up to 270% increases in conversions while increasing spending by just 40% more year over year. Further, they did this without major increases to their cost-per-acquisition. This approach combines first-party conversion data with Realize’s behavioral insights to automatically identify and target high-converting users, leading to powerful performance gains.
Key Takeaways
Campaigns that use behavioral signals and intent-based targeting consistently outperform broader approaches. Rich, interactive formats deepen engagement, and ads that match their context build trust, reduce bounce rates, and improve on-site performance.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the advantages and disadvantages of display advertising?
Display advertising often offers marketers the following benefits:
- Reaches large and diverse audiences.
- Enables precise targeting.
- Offers real-time performance data.
- Supports various ad formats (image, video, carousel, etc.).
- Cost-effective, especially for advertisers with a small budget.
Despite the benefits of display advertising, there are drawbacks. As you consider this type of marketing, keep the following in mind:
- Banner blindness or ad fatigue is common.
- Ad blockers may reduce visibility.
- Requires regular testing and optimization to stay effective.
What are the best practices of display advertising?
A successful display advertising campaign implements the following best practices:
- Avoid a one-size-fits-all approach, opting for a segmented approach based on audience needs and their place in the funnel.
- Use strong visual elements that attract and engage readers.
- Leverage compelling copy that targets your audience.
- Use A/B testing to hone efforts.
- Create cohesion across all channels to promote brand awareness and improve the user experience.
