This report analyzes display ad creatives from Q1 2018 to determine what drives user engagement. It finds that interstitial ads with larger canvases had the highest median engagement rates. Creatives using features like context-based personalization, visual effects, and interactive elements like swipeable galleries performed better than those without such features. The report provides insight into creative performance by dimension like industry, region, time of day, and mobile vs. desktop.

1. Celtra Creative
Insights Report
DISPLAY | Q1 2018

2. Research goal:
determine what makes
an engaging display ad
“Celtra Creative Insights Report’ focuses on the
mid-funnel activities and aims to discover what
drives engagement with the ad creative.
The key metric used in this report is the
engagement rate (calculated as the ratio between
ad engagements and rendered ad impressions).
Consumer
engagement
*Simplified marketing funnel

3. Report
framework
Creative Insights analysis consists of:
1. Overall performance
2. Understanding the impact of creative features
with relevant breakdown analysis
Throughout the report, performance of creatives
are observed through five specific dimensions:
experience, industry, region, time and environment.
Analysis dimensions:
• Ad experience
• Industry vertical
• Region
• Time of day & day of week
• Inventory environment
Analysed creative features:
• Creative personalization
• Visual effects
• Creativity features
• Location features
Report date range: 1/1/2017 - 12/31/2017
Markets: Global, all markets
Creatives included: Mobile only
Rich media (no inline or outstream video)
Min 10k impressions

4. Ad experiences defined by share of
screen size and user experience
Interstitial
experience
Large canvas
experience*
Medium canvas
experience**
Small canvas
experience
Expandable
experience***
*Includes Interscroller format where user controls how the creative is introduced. ** Includes experiences that take up 33-67% of screen size.
***Consists of two or more units, where initial unit expands into a full-screen experience upon interaction; expandable banner is a typical example.

5. Overall
Performance

6. 2.37%
1.08%
0.58%
0.42%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
2.50%
Interstitial Large canvas Medium canvas Small canvas
Ad engagement rate median
More aggressive experiences that cover larger portions
of the screen size command higher user engagement.
AD EXPERIENCE

7. Ad engagement is not determined by the industry vertical,
but rather by the effort invested in creating the experiences.
1.08% 1.03%
1.39%
1.65%
0.96%
1.24%
0.91%
1.22% 1.28%
1.53%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
Auto CPG Entertainment Finance Food &
Beverage
Health & Sports Pharma Retail Technology Travel
Finance brands manage to produce
engaging experiences despite having to
promote less exciting products/services.
Ad engagement rate median
!
INDUSTRY VERTICAL

8. 1.23%
1.10%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
EMEA NA
Ad engagement rate median
EMEA creatives
perform better
than those in NA.
12%
REGION

9. 0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
12:00
AM
3:00
AM
6:00
AM
9:00
AM
12:00
PM
3:00
PM
6:00
PM
9:00
PM
Ad engagement rate median
Ads perform marginally better after lunch time and in the
evening, compared to the morning commuting hours.
0.98%
1.00%
1.03%
1.05%
1.08%
1.10%
12:00
AM
3:00
AM
6:00
AM
9:00
AM
12:00
PM
3:00
PM
6:00
PM
9:00
PM
TIME OF DAY

10. Differences in engagement throughout the week are also
marginal; performance grows towards the end of the week.
DAY OF WEEK
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Ad engagement rate median
1.10%
1.13%
1.15%
1.18%
1.20%
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun

11. 1.25%
1.12%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
Mobile web MRAID
Creatives running
on mobile web
have slightly better
engagement rates
compared to those
running in-app.
INVENTORY ENVIRONMENT
Ad engagement rate median
11%

12. Creative Features
Analysis

13. Context-based
Personalization
Context-based Personalization
enables creatives to adapt on the
fly based on triggers like time,
location or weather.
*Example creative utilizing time-coding
to personalize the experience

14. 1.00%
1.11%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
NO Context-based
Personalization
Context-based
Personalization
Overall, creatives
that include
Context-based
Personalization
perform better than
those that don’t.
11%
OVERALL COMPARISON
Ad engagement rate median

15. 2.03%
1.03%
0.49% 0.42%
2.44%
1.18%
0.33% 0.30%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
2.50%
3.00%
Interstitial Large canvas Medium canvas Small canvas
On larger canvases, where context-based
personalization has more space to create a
bigger impact, the difference is positive.
Context-based Personalization has a significantly more positive
effect when carried out on larger canvas experiences.
!
AD EXPERIENCE
Ad engagement rate median
NO Context-based Personalization Context-based Personalization

16. If the canvas is big enough, the creative
execution of personalization can be more
sophisticated i.e. modifications in copy,
layout and imagery are more noticeable.
Executions on smaller canvases require a
more simple approach (less triggers) to
express personalization in a meaningful
way, while keeping the creative impactful.
!
Small Canvas
Experience Example
Interstitial
Experience Example
Context-based Personalization
requires a larger canvas to
reach its potential.

17. 1.17%
0.86% 0.95%
1.77%
1.27% 1.21%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
Entertainment CPG Retail
Context-based Personalization is more impactful
for certain industries than others.
Context-based Personalization is most impactful in CPG,
Entertainment and Retail due to the nature of the industry
and typically more “upper-funnel” type of advertising.
INDUSTRY VERTICAL
NO Context-based Personalization Context-based Personalization
Ad engagement rate median
!

18. 0.68%
1.06%
0.94%
1.14%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
MRAID Mobile web
NO Context-based Personalization Context-based Personalization
13%
The positive
difference that
Personalization
contributes is even
more pronounced in
MRAID in-app
environments.
INVENTORY ENVIRONMENT
Ad engagement rate median
38%

19. Visual
Effects
Visual effects are drag & drop
motion graphics effects that easily
and quickly bring static creatives
to life.
*Example creative utilizing Visual Effects

20. 1.00%
1.09%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
NO Visual Effects Visual Effects
9%
Creatives that
utilize Visual
Effects perform
better than those
that don’t.
OVERALL COMPARISON
Ad engagement rate median

21. 2.03%
1.03%
0.49% 0.42%
2.83%
1.07%
0.41% 0.40%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
2.50%
3.00%
Interstitial Large canvas Medium canvas Small canvas
Visual Effects have a substantial impact when
applied to large canvases.
AD EXPERIENCE
Ad engagement rate median
NO Visual Effects Visual Effects
4%39%

22. 0.68%
1.06%
0.62%
1.14%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
Mobile web MRAID
NO Visual Effects Visual Effects
7%
Creatives with
Visual Effects perform
slightly better in
MRAID and a bit
worse in mobile web
environment.
9%
INVENTORY ENVIRONMENT
Ad engagement rate median

23. Creativity Features
Features* like swipeable galleries,
images you can wipe or pan, objects you
can drag or flip or view in 360° allow for
engagement beyond simple taps
Creativity
Features
Creativity Features* include features like
swipe-able galleries, images users can
wipe or pan, objects users can drag or
flip or view in 360°, that all allow for
engagement beyond simple taps.
*Creativity features include Swipey, Swipey Group, Wipeable,
Draggy, Flippy, View360, Pannable
**Example creative utilizing Creativity Features

24. 1.00%
3.12%
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
NO Creativity Features Creativity Features
213%
Creativity Features
have the strongest
impact on
performance.
Creatives that utilize
them perform up to
3x better.
OVERALL COMPARISON
Ad engagement rate median

25. 2.03%
1.03%
0.49% 0.42%
3.75%
2.05%
1.06%
0.72%
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
Interstitial Large canvas Medium canvas Small canvas
117%
Creativity Features nearly double engagement
across all experiences.
100%
AD EXPERIENCE
Ad engagement rate median
85% 72%
NO Creativity Features Creativity Features

26. Creativity Features make the biggest difference in
Automotive, Finance, Pharma, Retail and Technology verticals.
0.80% 0.86%
1.17%
1.76%
0.75% 0.85% 0.68%
0.95% 0.99%
1.41%
2.74% 2.73%
1.29%
3.84%
1.72%
1.96%
2.41%
4.05% 3.78%
1.96%
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
Automotive CPG Entertainment Finance Food&Beverage Health Pharma Retail Technology Travel
INDUSTRY VERTICAL
Ad engagement rate median
NO Creativity Features Creativity Features

27. 1.06%
0.68%
4.45%
2.64%
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
Mobile web MRAID
288%
The positive impact
of creativity
features is more
pronounced in a
mobile web
environment.
320%
INVENTORY ENVIRONMENT
NO Creativity Features Creativity Features
Ad engagement rate median

28. Location
Features
Location Features allow users to
bridge the gap between digital and
brick & mortar world.
*Example creative utilizing Location Features

29. 1.00%
0.90%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
NO Location Features Location Features
Overall, Location
Features do not
drive initial user
enagement.
10%
OVERALL COMPARISON
Ad engagement rate median

30. *Data includes only page interaction rate on expanded unit of expandable banners.
8.30%
10.20%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
NO Location Features Location Features
However, they are
greatly effective in
keeping users
engaged.
Use of locations
features is most
effective on the
expanded unit of an
expandable banner.
OVERALL COMPARISON
Ad engagement rate median, Expandable banner
23%

31. Website
Insights
Ad Gallery
More Info
celtra.com
celtra.com/insights
celtra.com/gallery
info@celtra.com
More Information