Expandable Ads - An Overview 

Advertisers use expandable rich media formats to expand an ad creative into a larger creative upon a user mouse-over or click interaction. The most common implementations expand leader board creatives vertically into larger rectangles (i.e. expand from a 90 pixel height to a 500 pixel height) or expand 250x300 rectangle creatives horizontally into larger rectangles (i.e. expand from a 300 pixel width to a 600 pixel width). Many other implementations are also possible with the expandable ad format.

Benefits of Expandable Ads

1. Provide more ad space to share interactive experiences and information with the advertiser's audience.
2. Support the inclusion of any number of rich media features, including video within a single ad unit.
3. Allow advertisers to measure the number of ad expansions and the amount of time the ad is expanded, in addition to common measurements included in all Mediaplex rich media ad formats.

Troubleshooting Tips

1. "wmode" setting must be either "opaque" or "transparent" since the Flash ad needs to be displayed within a window mode (opaque or transparent). The default setting (leave wmode as empty) will lay-over the main content and it's not the expected outcome.
2. If multiple expandable ads are on a single page, you need to use distinctive DIV containers so they are not in conflict with each other
3. The default value for "allowScriptAccess" has changed since Flash 8. You need "allowScriptAccess" to be "always" so that the JavaScript method is called properly.
4. Since we set wmode to "transparent", if your Flash file has a transparent background, the CSS for the container can set a specific background color. You can use "opaque" wmode to maintain the Flash background.
5. If you need technical assistance with the HTML/JavaScript code for an expandable ad, please open a new ticket with the ad name/ID in your account.

Google Display Network expandable ad specs

Maximum Expansion size:

• For 728x90 - can expand up to 728x180
• For 160x600 - Can expand up to 320x600
• For 300x250 - Can expand up to 600x260

Expansion Direction: Multi-directional expansion (MDE) to expand up or down

Expansion Method:        Expand – On click             Close – On click

Maximum initial load: 50K

Max size per panel: 200K

Max Polite load: 2.2MB

Required control: Panels must contain a prominent Close X in 16pt font or larger on the corner of the unit

Audio Requirement: User-Initiated

Animation Restriction: User-initiated action must be 30 seconds or less (2 mins if video)

Other specifications:

Availability - Expandable ads are currently available to select advertisers with North American account managers.

Expansion Direction - Depending on its placement on a given page, the ad must be built as a multi-directional ad unit, designed to expand either left/right or up/down on-click. The ad may not expand in two directions at the same time.

Approved Expandable Vendors - DoubleClick Rich Media, EyeBlaster Rich Media, EyeWonder Rich Media, Pointroll Rich Media

Tags - Use JavaScript tags, not iframe tags.

Other Spec Notes - No restrictions on hot spots.

Source: www.adspeed.com, support.google.com and www.mojorichmedia.com

Floating Ads – An Overview

A floating ad is a type of rich media Web advertisement that appears uninitiated, superimposed over a user-requested page, and disappears or becomes unobtrusive after a specific time period (typically 5-30 seconds). The most basic floating ads simply appear over the Web page, either full screen or in a smaller rectangular window.

They may or may not provide a means of escape, such as a close button. More sophisticated versions can come in any shape or size and include sound, animation, and interactive components. Floating ads use a variety of technologies, such as a combination of Flash and dynamic HTML (DHTML), and may have the ability to display differently according to the user's browser capabilities. United Virtualities and Eyeblaster (Mediamind) are two advertising media companies that offer floating ads.

Floating ads grab the viewer's attention and tend to be more interesting to view than other formats. The Boston.com Web site recently featured a highly successful campaign using United Virtualities' Shoshkele ad, in which a Boston Globe delivery truck drives on from the left and crosses the screen, with newspapers flying out of the truck to houses in the background. When the truck drives off the right side of the screen, a small rectangular ad floats up to the right top corner, offering 50% off home delivery.

According to a How Stuff Works article about Web advertising, a floating ad generates a click through rate of about 30 clicks per thousand impressions, similar to the rates for pop-up ads and much higher than the cited 2-5 clicks per thousand impressions for a banner Ad. Although the floating ads don't necessarily generate more clicks than pop-ups, they are thought to be more memorable and have a greater branding effect as a result. They often include tracking capabilities that report not only the numbers of clicks to the ads, but the number of times users reload a page to see the ad again.

Benefits of Floating Ads

1. Floating ads have proven to increase brand exposure through the delivery of visually engaging, high impact content that 'floats' above your publishers' web pages. The prevalence of the floating ad in recent years is attributed largely to the high impact it delivers.
2. Publisher is given full control over positioning and layering attributes. By specifying screen coordinates and z-index as parameter values passed to the Mediaplex ad tag, the publisher can effectively optimize the delivery of the ad so it refrains from obscuring or interfering with their site’s core content and other layer elements.
3. Publisher may control the timeout of the floating ad to comply with their own specifications. 

Source: searchcrm.techtarget.com and www.mojorichmedia.com