Make room for new video ad formats
This week marked the one-year anniversary of the launch of click-to-play video ads. To that end, we thought it'd be fitting to introduce three new members of our click-to-play video ads family: the 728x90 Leaderboard, the 120x600 Skyscraper, and the 160x600 Wide Skyscraper.
Context & Ripple Effects
A year after AdSense introduced click-to-play video ads, the product is being adapted to familiar display placements rather than kept as a standalone unit. The earlier launch guidance for video ads established the format; the new sizes make it usable in leaderboard and skyscraper inventory.
The change also lands alongside YouTube's inline-ad experimentation, indicating that video advertising is being tested across more than one web placement model.
First-order effects
- Publishers using AdSense can place click-to-play video ads in 728x90, 120x600, and 160x600 slots, expanding the pages and layouts eligible for the format.
Second-order effects
- Advertisers can buy video creative against more conventional display placements, reducing the need to reserve a distinct page area for video campaigns.
Third-order effects
- If video ads continue to be packaged in standard display dimensions, video inventory will increasingly be sold as part of ordinary publisher ad space rather than as a separate media product.
The trend: Online video advertising is moving toward standard display inventory, with familiar ad-slot sizes serving as the bridge for publishers and advertisers.