AdSense ads go large

It appears size does matter when it comes to AdSense ads. With web content increasingly richer, impact trumps functionality and larger ad units are becoming more popular. Just as well that AdSense has announced a new, larger ad size.

by Helen Leggatt

According to Google's recently released Display Business Trends report (publishers edition), 2011 saw double figure growth in the use of 300 x 600 ad units.

The increase in the 300 x 600 unit, favored by publishers in news, sports and entertainment, is "indicative of a trend where publishers are offering more visually impactful ad sizes that are favored by brand advertisers, over the functionality to direct response advertisers", says the report.

According to an Inside AdSense blog post by AdSense UI Engineer, Omer Gimenez Llach, the 300 x 600 ad unit, often described as a half page unit, will be soon be available in users' accounts, but no specific date was provided.

"Because this unit is new to our network, you'll currently see a large number of text ads in these placements," writes Llach. "Over time we'll continue to build a wide range of text and display ad inventory eligible to appear in this full slot as well."

Tags: ad format, ad trends, ad unit, advertising, Google, rich media, search ads, search engine, search marketing