Display advertising is a type of digital marketing that delivers promotional messages as text, images, videos, or other graphical formats in predetermined positions on websites, apps, and other digital media. Display advertising refers to a type of digital marketing that delivers messages as text, images, videos, or other graphical formats. Display ads appear in predetermined positions on various online and mobile media, such as a website or social app. Sometimes referred to as display marketing or banner advertising, these ads are commonly used to target specific audiences through audience segmentation based on relevant data, such as a person’s web browsing behavior, transaction history, and demographic information. Leveraging first-party data makes display campaigns more effective and privacy-compliant. An example of display advertising is an advertiser running a banner ad that appears only to men in a certain age range who also live in a particular city or region.
When these display ads are designed to appear as part of a site’s natural look-and-feel, this is sometimes called native advertising. A common example of this kind of display ad is a sponsored article or video on a news or entertainment site that looks, at first glance, like other content on the site.
Why Use Display Advertising?
Display advertising offers a wide array of targeting and programming options to marketers, often purchased through demand-side platforms that automate the buying process via programmatic advertising technology. These options have only become more powerful with the rise of the Internet age. Traditional media such as TV, radio, or outdoor advertising could only target audiences based on much broader criteria. Display advertising, when combined with personalization, helps marketers to easily target highly specific audience traits through customer segmentation, and then measure the effectiveness of their campaigns with granular data on impressions, clicks, delivery costs, subsequent user behavior, and return on ad spend (ROAS).
FAQ
What is the difference between display advertising and search advertising?
Display advertising uses visual formats like banners, images, and videos placed on websites and apps to reach audiences, often targeting users based on demographics, interests, or browsing behavior. Search advertising shows text-based ads in response to specific keyword queries on search engines. The key distinction is that display ads interrupt users during content consumption to build awareness, while search ads respond to active user intent.
How does a CDP improve display advertising performance?
A customer data platform (CDP) improves display advertising by creating unified customer profiles that enable more precise audience segmentation and targeting. CDPs allow marketers to suppress ads for existing customers, build lookalike audiences from their best customers, and coordinate display campaigns with other channels like email and social. This data-driven approach reduces wasted ad spend and increases conversion rates.
Is display advertising still effective in the age of ad blockers?
Yes, display advertising remains effective when executed strategically. While ad blocker adoption has grown, native advertising formats that blend with site content, contextual targeting based on page content, and programmatic buying through demand-side platforms have evolved to maintain reach and relevance. The key is delivering targeted, high-quality ad experiences that provide value to the audience rather than generic, disruptive placements.
Related Terms
- Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) — Publishers use SSPs to sell display ad inventory to advertisers
- Ad Exchange — Marketplace where display ad impressions are auctioned in real time
- Cookieless Tracking — Emerging methods for display targeting as third-party cookies decline
- Data Clean Room — Enables privacy-safe audience matching for display ad campaigns