Last Updated: January, 2024
What are Image Ads?
Images are simple and easy to produce. They can be static or animated as GIFs.
Common Image Ad Placements
Banner (Banners + MREC)
Mobile banners, a common advertising format within mobile apps, typically displayed at the top or bottom of the screen.
They offer a cost-effective method for advertisers to connect with their audience. These banners feature concise text and graphics to spotlight products, services, or apps, allowing users to click and seamlessly navigate to gain further details or make purchases.
Interstitials
Interstitial ad placements are usually placed during transition points on the app lifecycle, for example, when completing a level on a gaming app or navigating to a new page on a weather app. Placing an ad on these instances makes it more likely for users to welcome and engage with the ad.
To learn more about full-screen creative experiences, as well as rendering differences across exchanges, make sure to check out our dedicated Creative Rendering Experiences section.
Navigating Image Supply
Image supporting ad placements can be easily identified in Inventory Discovery under the Image Creative Type.
If you want to learn more about which Ad Exchanges support Banner and Interstitial supply, you can check the latest data on Inventory Discovery, or visit our Ad Exchange Dossier article.
Image Creative Specs
Image Creative Specs | Aspect ratio | Minimum Recommended Resolution | Recommended File-size |
Banner | 6:1 | 300x50 | <200kb |
Mobile Banner | 6.4:1 | 320x50 | <200kb |
Tablet Banner | 8:1 | 720x90 | <250kb |
Medium Rectangle (MREC) | 6:5 | 300x250 | <500kb |
Fullscreen: Portrait | 9:16 | 1080x1920 | <700kb |
Fullscreen: Landscape | 16:9, 3:2 | 1920x1080, 480x320 | <700kb |
Fullscreen: Tablet Portrait | 3:4 | 768x1024 | <700kb |
Fullscreen: Tablet Landscape | 4:3 | 1024x768 | <700kb |
File format: JPEG, JPG, PNG, GIF
Hint: If you require a higher quality image, wrap it in html - the limit for html companion ads is 5mb
Best Practices for Serving Image Creatives
RESOLUTION - Size does matter ;)
In the case of Video, Kayzen only looks at orientation to determine eligible bid requests, but when it comes to Image inventory, the actual dimensions of the creative do matter. For example, a 300x250 ad placement (MREC) will not be eligible for a campaign with a 320x50 image creative.
As such, it is important to keep your image creative dimensions to those that are most commonly used in the mobile in-app world.
Phone
Interstitial: 320x480, 480x320
Banner: 320x50
MREC: 300x250
Tablet
Interstitial: 768x1024, 1024x768
Banner: 728x90
MREC: 300x250
ORIENTATION (Interstitials) - Portrait > Landscape
Most mobile user use their phones in a vertical / portrait position, as such, the majority of bid requests generated correspond to portrait oriented impression opportunities. As seen above, 320x480 has +4x the amount of requests than 480x320.
While it is recommended to always leverage portrait and landscape versions of your creatives in order to maximize your reach (in terms of eligible bid requests), make sure to never stick to only Landscape should you be importing these from other platforms.