Top verticals for banners in 2022

October 12 2022

Intro

Let us jump back to 1994 when the very first banner had a CTR of 44%... That was a long time ago, it was something new and unseen for internet users, and it was the only banner there. What do we see not in 2022 on the majority of the content-based websites? Right – ads everywhere, flashing, blinding, promising, misleading, and entertaining. So how do we go from an opener to complete banner blindness? The answer is simple – competition. If you found a good traffic source where some of the brands you promote giving you 4-figures a day, make sure that it will not last long and stay unseen.

Today we have multiple information and entertainment channels where ads could be placed aside from content – Social networks, Messengers, Websites, Apps, Ad networks, etc. All of those have their own ad policies, competition, and creative approach we could use in order to get maximum results. Being an ad network we can see things from the inside and would like to share our review of how things developed for us in the vertical’s pool for the past year.

But before we start with the verticals, we should touch the very basics –

  1. learn your audience (you own product analytics) – top geos for it, male/fem %%, age, preferences, etc.;
  2. learn the traffic source – where, when and for how long you gonna place your banners, what websites there will be, and what niche they represent;
  3. prepare your budgets (daily/weekly/monthly according to the scale you wanna go for). All above will help you to build up an ad strategy and prepare creative ad sets for the traffic source. For the banner ads, Clickadu has 2 sizes – 300x100 and 300x250 px., static IMG., dynamic gif. and video banners are allowed.

Social and Entertainment apps

This vertical has shown rapid growth for the past year and keeps increasing its influence over the digital world, bringing millions of people into the online entertainment niche. Most of the effects we saw were from mobile apps. It is easy to use, fast to engage with the content, and builds up the community. The most successful app in that niche is TikTok and they set the bar very high for content makers, users, and tech side. No wonder, that many companies strived to repeat that success by creating similar products and that is where all the fun began.

Some of the banner creative examples, which we found successful with our traffic.

A 300x100 px gif. banner is informative, attractive, tempting (in this case for the male audience), calling to action, and looking like a message itself. The usual placement for this size is a mobile header, which grants a top spot in front of the user’s eyes and gives a much higher CTR than other placements.

300x250 px. banner is twice bigger and allows to provide more visual and textual content.

We will not recommend using misleading creatives or deepfakes (“Better than TikTok”, “Hotter than Tinder”) just to gain higher CTR (which eventually would screw up your retention rate even if provide more installs for the app), as the same as branding creatives, since they not bringing any value for the user (especially when your promoted brand is relatively unknown). The best-performing geo we saw throughout the year was IN by far! Best performing devices are Android latest four versions (iOS getting there as well).

VPN apps

This vertical was always here and had its ups and downs, but being appreciated and valued by the users – VPN applications stood their ground and we don’t see any reason for it to drop drastically.

If you wanna secure your privacy, hide your actions, and get access to some content that is blocked for your geo-location – VPNs are your best friends. All values mentioned above are the keys to successful creatives. Keep it in mind while preparing your ad sets!

- gif. banner with some usability for users is one of the best ad sets you could ever see.

and the same approach for a bigger one.

VPNs have stable performance for NA, EU, MENA, and APAC regions, providing huge-scale opportunities for a wide range of product owners and affiliates. As for device targeting – android leading by far (but mostly with the extra monetization within the app, not a direct purchase); iOS became much more expensive for the product owners to run, due to the latest subscription policies and regulations.

eCommerce

Straight away we gonna limit the definition of “eCommerce” with a strict term – we are talking about wholesale brands ONLY. No single unit “online store” or some local super-niched fancy stuff. The bigger the brand – the faster the scale. Easy as that! The reason for high results on the vertical hiding behind the product itself. Basically, everyone knows about LAZADA, FlipCart, and AliExpress (and 90% of those who gonna read this – using it or other big online stores).

So in the end, if some of the traffic sources will push you to buy some goodies there, you gonna buy it anyway. That is also a key value you should add to your creatives! Let’s say – the user forgot about the summer/winter sale and your banner will remind him.

It is one of the most effective approaches for ad sets, but not the only one there. Great results were shown by the creatives of “limited promo”, “fast shipping” (localized for the country you’re running for), “best local deals” etc. The Best performing region according to our expertise is APAC, but we strongly believe that similar approaches could be used for NA, EU, and LATAM as well (depending on the brand).

iGaming (gambling and betting)

Finally, we have got to one of the most cost-involved and at the same time – profitable verticals. For the sake of a better understanding of the weight and performance of gambling and betting, let’s separate them.

Some still may think that betting is pretty much the same as gambling – both are high-risk wagering. But that’s completely wrong. With betting – you cannot just put your money on the table, roll a dice, scratch some cards or pull down the wheel, you need to understand the game, teams, players, strategies, championships, and loads of other metrics. Betting users are more niched and should be more educated (sorry gamblers), therefore – harder to find them within the huge layers of traffic and audience behind it.

You should also know that there is sports betting, fantasy betting, and event betting. Each of those has its own specific terms and pitch points you should aim for. The main tip here – seed out the sources and run your campaigns according to the top-performing events (sport/e-sport, elections, well-known events, etc).

You can use either a bonus/promo to 1st deposit approach or a different CTA engagement (according to the country you’re advertising for). Find out the best CTA examples here.

Gambling is a bit easier to understand and therefore – to advertise. Again, there are many “games” behind that vertical – poker and local card games are gambling too, but require in-depth knowledge of the game rules to be successful as a player. However, slot machines are gambling as well, never the less – way easier to play and make fun with. Keep your eyes on the stats while running different creative approaches in order to understand what is more attractive for the user – local card games, slots, roulette, or something else and then, combine it with the right offer. The best performance we see is for mobile devices, apps, or APKs.

For the past 2 years, we saw huge growth for the iGaming vertical in APAC, LATAM, and MENA. US gambling, sports betting, and wagering growing rapidly as well, and many states have a legal background for the regulated brands to be advertised.

Summary

The banner is an easy, understandable, and reasonably cheap ad format. It allows getting dynamic metrics of CTR -> CR, fast optimization, and scale. The above-mentioned verticals are not limiting you by any means and are represented as examples of what you can apply for current ad activities.

Remember to use a different approach for each vertical, and choose wisely what you want to say to your audience. Use effective CTRs, explore your audience deeply, and find creative solutions for each GEO you want to perform on. Don’t forget to use advanced targeting for devices, bids, and interests.

Of course, there are much more tips to improve your banner ads performance, and you definitely can find a lot of studies regarding this issue. Start with our guide to improve your performance and good luck in creating high-converting banner ads campaigns!

Clickadu Team