Guides

Most popular and regional digital ad sizes in 2024

16 / 12 / 2023
Alicja Graczyk

Most publishers experienced a decline in their earnings in 2023 due to several global factors, such as inflation and an unstable geopolitical situation. Consequently, many have high hopes for the upcoming year. However, it’s important to note that the effects of monetization are not solely dependent on global trends but regional ones as well. We all live in the “digital era”, which means we’re all connected through the internet. Yet still, we’re scattered across various countries, cities, towns, and villages worldwide. That’s why some phenomena are global, and some remain regional. Hence, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of both the global and regional advertising sizes in order to be well-prepared for 2024. Let’s dive deeper into this topic!

Most popular Google’s ad sizes

The topic of ad sizes is rather complex because digital advertisements come in a big variety of sizes and formats, and can be constructed differently. Certain ads are responsive and have scalable components – an excellent example of such an advertisement is native ad, which also blends in with its surroundings seamlessly. Some ads have fixed sizes, and advertisers often prepare multiple size options for a single advertising campaign. From such a multitude of possibilities, Google support has selected ad sizes, listed as: top-performing, supported, and regional ones (separately for Google AdSense and Ad Manager users). Why? To help publishers choose ad slot sizes that will best enhance their website or mobile app’s ad inventory potential. This way, you get a chance to optimize the effectiveness of the monetization of your corner of the web.

According to Google’s Ad Manager Help Center, almost all of the ad sizes defined by them as the best-performing ones, reveal a tendency to be easily filled with ad creations, because advertisers predominantly construct ad creations of these dimensions. However, to help the “magic” happen, you should make sure that you have both types of ads turned on (text and images). Here are the five top-performing ad sizes in Ad Manager:

Leaderboard – 728 x 90 – works particularly well if placed above the main content and on forum sites. Additionally, it might be applied on tablet-optimized pages;
Large rectangle – 336 x 280 – acts best when used within text content or at the end of articles;
Medium rectangle – 300 x 250 – performs more or less the same as the large rectangle;
Mobile banner – 300 x 50 – is appropriate for bigger mobile phones, and is usually placed at the top or bottom of the screen (here, you can read more about other mobile banner ads);
Wide skyscraper – 160 x 600 – is a typical ad unit that works best along the sidebars of websites.

Some examples of Google Ad Manager regional ad sizes include:

980 x 90 – an ad unit that is popular across all of Europe;
980 x 120 – a common Scandinavian ad size, mostly used in Sweden and Finland (but is also quite popular in Norway);
750 x 100 – an ad size particularly widespread in Poland. It usually appears in branding and direct-response advertising campaigns;
750 x 200 – this ad is another example of the most popular advertisement size in Poland. Works well if used above or just below the main menu of the website.

As you can see, Poland is not only famous thanks to pierogi 🥟 – we also have “our own” ad sizes 😉 .

Most popular ad sizes worldwide

It’s not a good idea to generalize when it comes to the subject of ad sizes, because simply speaking, there are too many factors behind using specific ones (for instance, target device width and length or regional preferences). So, going one step further for the purpose of showcasing the matter in the best way possible, we have analyzed top-performing ad sizes in our network, divided in eight countries from different corners of the world in the last thirty days. Below, you’ll find a map indicating the most often-used ad sizes in Brazil, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand:

Now you know what are the three most-popular ad sizes in these eight countries. But that’s not all – we also have analyzed the ten most popular ad units in each of them. This led us to some additional conclusions:

Some ad sizes are almost equally popular in many regions, for instance, the 360 x 100 ad unit is in the top three of seven studied countries, and in the eight (Brazil), it occupies the fourth position – just behind the podium;
Three top-performing ad sizes according to Google Ad Manager: 728 x 90, 336 x 280, 300 x 250 appear in almost all of the ten top ad sizes used in the countries we analyzed;
Two top-performing ad sizes according to GAM: 300 x 50 and 160 x 600 are not in our lists of top-ten-performing ad units in the mentioned countries;
Neither 980 x 90, 750 x 100 nor 750 x 200, which are listed by Ad Manager as popular regional ad sizes in Europe (the first one) and in Poland (the other two) are in our lists of ten top-performing ad sizes in the analyzed countries.

Keep in mind that our analysis didn’t arise in opposition to Google’s one. It covers only a short period of time, and considers solely eight selected countries. In turn, Google’s conclusions are based on more general and universal data collected through a longer period of time. So that’s where the main differences in ad sizes come from. Nevertheless, the noticed discrepancies are pretty obvious.

Ok, but what does it mean?

How to choose the right ad slot sizes

Undoubtedly, our world currently moves towards the unification of certain patterns, which seems to leave no space for regionalisms. And the case of ad sizes is no different – the importance of regional ones is decreasing, making more place for the global top performers. However, to draw the right conclusions, and pick ad slot sizes with the highest possibility of being filled in with ads (and hence, with the biggest ad revenue-generating potential), you shouldn’t follow the standards blindly. It’s important to approach ad inventory construction on a case-by-case basis. The perfectly chosen ad slot sizes don’t only have to be the best fit for a specific country, but also should consider the website or mobile app’s layout, type of content, and audience’s characteristics.

Sounds rough! But don’t worry, you don’t have to be left alone with such a tedious task. Monetization experts, renowned as Google Certified Publishing Partners (GCPP), know industry standards like the palms of their hands. What’s more, our specialists have a deep understanding of local markets and can help you choose the best options for your region of interest. But that’s not all! Our AI Engine technology powers two tools designed to create the best-performing ad layout – Ad Mapper (the best solution for creating ad grids from scratch), and Revenue Booster (which allows inserting additional ad slots in places revealing a high potential of generating profit). Learn more about our offer and let’s find a way to increase your ad revenue together!