You might not be into affiliate marketing, funnel building, and lead generation, but there is no doubt that you’re familiar with internet advertising. Back in the day, advertising on the internet was way easier—fewer ad options, less audience fatigue. Nowadays, with all existing types of advertising formats, it’s hard not to get overwhelmed. That’s why we’ve come up with a comprehensive list of options to help you figure out which works best for you.

Ad Formats Explained

In essence, an ad format is the way your ads are delivered and displayed to users across various websites, apps, or devices. Each format defines how your message reaches the audience—whether it’s through eye-catching visuals, full-page interactions, or direct device notifications.

For example, a banner ad appears as a rectangular image placed on a page to capture attention. But banner ads are just one option. Advertisers today can choose from a wide range of engaging formats like push notifications, pop ads, or direct click. By choosing the right ad format, you’re not just deciding how your ad looks, you’re shaping how users perceive it and how effectively your message converts.

Push Notifications

A push notification is a short message that appears on a user’s device from an app or website, even when the user isn’t actively using that app or website. These notifications have a title, description, and logo and appear either at the top or in the bottom of the desktop monitor or the mobile screen.

Advantages of Push Notification: 

• Push notifications allow you to instantly deliver updates, news, or time-sensitive offers directly to users’ devices
• Push notifications are a relatively cost-effective way to reach a large audience (with clicks from just $0.001)
• With 100% delivery and CTRs up to 8%, push ads offer unbeatable engagement at minimal cost.

Pro tip: The recent Google update significantly changed the push notification market. Fortunately, RollerAds is one step forward and developed a tailored strategy to operate in sync with Google’s new rules.

Pop-unders & Pop-ups

Pop ads are a high-impact format that open automatically in a new browser window—either behind (pop-unders) or in front of (pop-ups) the main content—when a user lands on a page or triggers a specific action.

When to Use What?

Use pop-ups when visibility is your top priority and you want to grab user attention immediately.
Use pop-unders when you aim for a smoother user experience—they appear behind the active tab, so users can engage with them at their own pace, without interrupting their current browsing flow. This makes them especially effective for retargeting past visitors.

Advantages of Pop ads

• They don’t occupy the website’s space and have a dedicated tab
• Pop-unders are more UX-friendly than pop-ups, as they wait in the background.
• Pop ads bring high and stable payouts

Pro note: Pop ads in general provide one of the largest canvases for you to experiment with, so you can integrate some reviews there, explain the product in depth, warming up your audience before conversion, or simply drive traffic to a page provided in an offer you promote. 

Direct Click

Direct Click is an advertising format that works like a pop-up window or tab and activates when users click on an internal site link. The links are strategically placed in the site’s high-traffic areas to attract clicks from strongly engaged users.

Advantages of Direct Click: 

• Direct Click works seamlessly across various verticals and GEOs
• The format uses proven premium placements
• You pay only for clicks that lead directly to the offer’s page
• No need for additional creatives
• All standard targeting options are available for Direct Click

Pro note: While the cost of premium traffic is significantly higher compared to other formats, the exceptionally high conversion rates make up for it. 

Banner Ads

Display or static banners are images of different sizes that can be placed in a header, a footer, a sidebar, or other inner parts of the web page. They’re a pretty popular choice, so you can see them everywhere, though WordStream estimates their average CTR at just 0.46%. However, eCommerce and brand campaigns work well with this type of ad, especially for retargeting.

Advantages of Banners

• They show good results on websites with massive traffic
• Banners give high CPMs
• Many advertisers from different verticals are investing in banner ads

Pro tip: Focus on a single, clear call-to-action (CTA) with compelling visuals. Use A/B testing to compare different versions of your banner (headline, CTA, image), and continuously optimize based on performance data. Even small changes can yield big results.

In-Page Push Ads

In-page push ads are similar to push notifications, but they are placed right on the webpage. They somewhat mimic a classic push notification, but In-page pushes are integral to the webpage design and won’t work when the page is closed. They don’t require prior subscriptions, and work across all devices—even iOS. In-page push ads quickly grab attention and bypass the subscription barrier. Furthermore, they outperform banners in terms of Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Conversion Rate—sometimes by double digits. In-page push ads are a perfect choice for e-Commerce or dating campaigns where visuals and timing matter. 

However, make sure your in-page push campaigns meet Google’s policy requirements to steer clear of any complications.

Advantages of In-page push ads:

• In-page push ads run on all OSs
• You can attract high-paying advertisers from Tier 1 and Tier 2
• In-page push generates more clicks, increasing your CPM
• Ads bypass AdBlockers, being perfectly browser-friendly

Pro tip: Don’t confuse In-page push with classic push notifications, as they require different approaches. Focus on writing clear, engaging ad copy, use high-quality visuals, and run A/B tests on various versions to see what resonates best with your target audience.

In-Stream Video Ads

In-stream ads are brief video ads (5–30 seconds and non-skippable) placed directly within popular social media videos and livestreams (YouTube, Facebook). They appear as pre-roll (before), mid-roll (during), or post-roll (after) the main content, capturing viewer attention at peak engagement moments for maximum impact.

Advantages of In-Stream Ads

• In-stream ads work on the fact that viewers are actively seeking video content, which makes it more likely for them to be ready to engage with your content
• These ads work well with services like OTT (Over-The-Top) and CTV (Connected TV)
• Viewers of in-stream ads have a motivation to continue watching—to return to the original content, so they either click on an interesting ad or ignore it with little-to-no irritation
• In-stream ads compel viewers to pay attention, even if it’s just for a few seconds

Pro tip: Grab your viewers’ attention within the first few seconds by using bold visuals, captivating audio, or a powerful question or story that connects directly to your product or service.

Interstitials

Interstitials are full-screen ads appearing during transitions (e.g., between app screens or page loads) and are reserved mainly for mobiles. They effectively capture user attention and boost engagement. Google’s widespread use of its own interstitials across thousands of websites demonstrates their user acceptance and popularity.

Advantages of Interstitial Ads:

• The format is on top of demand
• Greater revenue potential thanks to their immersive format and strong ability to engage user attention

Pro tip: Time your interstitial ads strategically—serve them during natural breaks in user activity (like between game levels or after content loads), not in the middle of engagement.

Choosing the Right Ad Format 

The choice of the best ad format should be based on several factors. Let’s go through them:

• Pay attention to your offer’s requirements and follow its KPIs.
  
• Define your campaign goal: is it brand awareness (popunders, banners, or interstitials), conversions, or re-engagement and retargeting (push notifications, in-page push)? Your goal will determine the best format.
  
• Research your audience—where do they spend time? What content do they prefer? Choose formats that align with your findings.
  
• Test and optimize. Use analytics to track CTR, bounce rates, and conversions. Be ready to pivot to better-performing formats.

Every case is unique, so stay in touch with the support team or your account manager for the best results.

Working With RollerAds

RollerAds offers a powerful, performance-driven platform which is made for advertisers who want to get real results without the constant grind of manual optimization. With RollerAds by your side, you get equipped with the most popular ad formats like Push, Pop (we call it OnClick), and Direct Click—along with the advanced tools to boost your profit.

Smarter Bidding with CPA Goal and Smart Models

Apart from classic CPC and CPM, RollerAds offers Smart bidding models that dynamically adjust your bids based on traffic conditions, so you’re never overpaying or falling behind market rates.

And with the help of CPA Goal, you can launch a campaign and rest easy, knowing your budget is protected. It acts like autopilot for ad optimization: automatically blocking zones that don’t convert and adjusting bids on converting zones to strike the ideal balance between hitting your target CPA and maximizing volume.

Targeted Reach with Flexible Settings

Drill down your audience by GEO, device, OS, browser, IP addresses, sunscription age, and many other filters that make your campaign a bull’s eye. To learn more about targeting on our platform, watch our latest YouTube video or read an interview with our account manager Pavel on our blog. 

Faster Campaign Launch with Traffic Presets

With our expert-made traffic presets for specific verticals and GEOs, you’ll skip hours of research and testing. Just choose the preset from the list of available options for your ad format and focus more on analyzing and scaling. Don’t know which preset to choose? Drop a note to our support team and get all the help you need.

Better Creatives = Better Results

At RollerAds, we have Creatives Library that gives you access to proven, high-converting creatives made for top verticals like Sweepstakes, Utilities, Nutra, VPNs, and more. Use it to get inspiration and see what is trending and delivering results now. 

On our platform, you’ll also find Autocreatives (for Software & Utilities). Use them to reduce production costs while keeping your ads fresh and converting.

If you’re serious about scaling your campaigns with smarter tools and real-time optimization, RollerAds is a partner worth working with.

Closing words

When it comes to choosing an advertising format, there is no one perfect solution. Times are changing, and what worked last time might not work now. That’s why you need to keep your finger on the pulse to always be ready to optimize effectively. 

At RollerAds, we are always here to help you maximize the efficiency of classic ad formats like Push Notifications, Pop ads, and Direct Clicks. Whether you’re an experienced professional or just starting out in affiliate marketing, we’ll help you save your time and maximize your income. Join now and start earning more!