Google to Allow GIF Ads
Uber search engine Google announced it would now allow eye-catching animated GIF banners throughout its AdSense network for publishers. The mega-site will continue to charge advertisers on a cost-per-performance basis. It was only earlier this year that Google began allowing static banner on its site. Google will limit the size of animated GIFs to 50 kilobytes. AdSense publishers need only opt-in to receive image ads.
Obtaining an animated GIF will work like Google does with text ads, where an ad is linked to a particular word and advertisers must bid against each other to get key placement for any given keyword. As with text, graphical advertisers only pay when a user clicks on their ad.
Some analysts have criticized the move, claiming that the cost-per-click pricing model undervalues the ad space because a banner ad has a branding value even if consumers don't click on them.
However, when clients agree to post both text and image AdWords, Google's AdWords ranking program determines whether to display text or image ads based on an analysis of previous performance. Each display ad is the equivalent of four text ads; Google determines whether four text ads would perform better than a single banner.