Threadwatch, Search Engine Journal and Jensense all are talking about another new type of ad that Adsense has been testing at Search Engine Roundtable – Animated background ads. It looks like a format that they’re offering premium publishers (and other testing publishers) who have special permission to try new things in conjunction with Adsense – either that or SE Roundtable has been playing with his ad code – a bit of a no no.
The ads have an animated arrow in the background that is obviously there to draw the eye of a site’s reader (as follows):
It’s an interesting move – a good one I’m sure in terms of CTR – but I’m starting to wonder if in a bid to combat ad blindness whether Adsense will start providing ads that are more and more in your face. One of the things I love about adsense is that they are pretty subtle – but animated background ads do take things in a different direction. I’m not sure I’d want these ads on most of my sites as I think they could be seen as a bit cheap and nasty….
I’m also not sure how advertisers would like them either. Chitika’s recent ‘curiosity click’ problem comes to mind and I wonder if the novelty factor of these backgrounds might similarly cause clicks that were more about the animation than the ad itself.
