What Are the Leading Ad Formats for late 2020 and early 2021?

It’s no secret that 2020 has been a tough year for most businesses and entrepreneurs. While COVID-19 has taken up all the headlines, the global economic downturn and slow recovery have had profound impacts that will likely last years, if not decades.

With the above in mind, affiliates and other stakeholders in the digital marketing industry have escaped largely unscathed. This is largely due to the large number of industries that promote their solutions on the internet as well as the higher number of businesses looking to advertise their services online. 

However, this has also created an ultra-competitive landscape, so knowing which ad formats are producing the best results can help you hit the ground running. 

Our team of affiliate marketing experts at ActiveRevenue has been monitoring the ad trends since the beginning of 2020, so we have a good idea of the formats that are engaging customers and performing above the rest.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the most important 2020 consumer trends and go over the best ad formats for the rest of this year and beyond.

A Quick Overview of Essential 2020 Consumer Trends

Before delving into the best ad formats, let’s take a look at the most significant trends of 2020.

Needless to say, consumers have been limited by a huge variety of factors this year, including the loss of acquisitional power, strict stay-at-home orders, and supply-chain issues that have affected some industries. While this has produced a slump in global finances, it has also enticed a large portion of consumers to prioritize new variables whenever they’re making a purchase.

Some of the most important consumers trends of 2020 include:

Online Shopping

The popularity of online shopping has been steadily increasing since this practice was introduced in the mid-1990s. That said, this year consumers relied on online retailers, produce deliveries, and similar services more than ever before, so you can expect this to remain the same even in the post-pandemic economy.

Value and Functionality Over Appearance

One thing that the global health crisis has taught consumers is the importance of having functional products. From compact home gym equipment to reusable protective gear, consumers are now more interested in having products that produce functional value rather than simply choosing a product based on appearance.

Personalization

Consumers are aware that websites are constantly harvesting their data, so they have also come to expect high degrees of personalization in your content. You can always develop remarketing campaigns using data you’ve collected previously and make sure that your audience members only see personalized ads that fit their interests.

Sustainability and Inclusiveness for All

Two major themes of the year 2020 have been sustainability and the importance of being inclusive. Modern consumers prefer to do business with companies that are taking steps to help preserve our resources and that actively fight discrimination, so partnering with an advertiser that champions these concepts and including them in your creatives are great ways to produce ultra-engaging ads.

What Are the Leading Ad Formats for the Rest of 2020 and Beyond?

There are dozens of different ad formats that affiliates can incorporate into their campaigns, but not all of them have a high chance of success. According to our research, the best ad formats for 2020 and beyond are:

Push Notifications

By delivering ads in the same way as any other alert on a user’s device, push notifications have found the perfect way to deliver marketing materials without producing a negative reaction in consumers. This ad format has become a staple of the affiliate toolkit and it should remain as one of the best options for at least a few more years.

Pop Ads

Pop ads are among the oldest types of ad formats, but they still remain extremely effective. The average conversion rate of pop ads stands at more than 3%, which is much higher than banners, video content, and even advanced formats like native ads. That said, remember that you need to avoid disrupting the user experience, so pop-unders are usually the best option.

Domain Redirects

Domain redirects used to be regarded as a secondary type of format that could benefit your campaign rather than support it on its own. However, that has changed over the last few years as marketers have focused on finding domain redirects with huge amounts of traffic and developing simple campaigns that have the ability to produce outstanding results.

Want to Work with the Hottest Formats? Contact ActiveRevenue Today

Choosing the best formats is essential, but you should also partner with a reliable provider. If you want to learn more about working with pop ads, push notifications, and domain redirects, contact ActiveRevenue and our team will be glad to help.