Advertisement Specifications
Contents Introduction Creative Formats 4 Guidelines 6 Logos 7 Colour 8 Copy 9 Artwork 10 Integration 11 Stats Standard Formats 14 Leaderboard 15 Super Leaderboard 16 MPU 17 Wallpapers 21 Half page 22 Billboard 23 Video 24 Takeover 26 Cascade 27 Pushdown 38 Sidekick 29 Video Skin 30 Mood Skin 31 Expandables 32 Floor Ad 33 Film Strip 34 Page Move 35 Mobile Banner 36 Click to Expand 37 Swipe to Rotate/Interstitial 38 Click to Call 39 Video Ad 40 Click Tag 41 Notes 42 Audience 43 Lifestyle & Attitudes 44 Purchasing Power 45 Online Habits 3
Aiming for the lowest common denominator (in a good way) Irishtimes.com is viewed on multiple devices in a multitude of formats and resolutions. Unfortunately for advertisers this requires a trade-off in order to maximise reach we must tailor our advertising assets (wallpapers in particular) to the lowest common denominator. Technologically speaking of course. This means aiming for smaller screen size devices whilst retaining the impact that larger more forgiving platforms provide. The same goes for mobile formats as all banners require a backup gif for mobile and tablet, at less than 40kb in file size. 4
In this document you will see recommended specifications set out for a sponsored wallpaper as part of a homepage takeover. These are tailored for a standard small laptop screen, (about 13 ) at 1024 x 768 and 100% zoom. We recommend aiming to have your central message/branding within the area visible on most laptop screens (see example below), but with so many different hardware configurations it is impossible to account for indivudual user s machines cutting parts of the wallpaper off. Despite this, by all means expand artwork or other assets outside of these constraints taking advantage of larger laptop or desktop screens. 5
Logos Of course a logo or tagline is crucial to your brand s message, but don t let a poor depiction of it harm the experience. Give a margin, padding and some breathing space. Your brand guidelines will have strict instructions for spacing with regard to print materials, apply them to your online materials too. 6
Colour Be careful with colour. There is a fine line between eye-catching and an eyesore. Blocks of bright garish colours may stand out, but at what cost? Perhaps your copy, logo, artwork or other assets are now lost in the noise? A red racing stripe only stands out if the car its on isn t coloured red too- then its just a red car. Also, please use red sparingly, especially on electronic screens as red can bleed and seem very harsh on the eye. 7
Copy In advertising you have seven words to... Keep any text you use brief, for two reasons; Firstly what is the key piece of information you need to convey? The company name? Product name? Slogan? Price? Dates? Very quickly your word count will grow and grow. After that, it doesn t leave much room for testimonials or a glowing advertorial about how great your product is. Taglines are short for a reason. Secondly, the active area of your wallpaper as shown earlier is quite a small space. Depending on the resolution of the audience s screen, small or closely spaced text may be illegible. 8
Artwork/Assets These same guiding principles apply to any assets or artwork you will be using. Your advertisement s effectiveness does not boil down to having a bigger picture than the other guy. Trust in your brand s strength and don t solely rely on an image to carry your company s message. People don t need to see photos of copper pipes to advertise a plumber, and likewise we don t need pictures of a washing machine, dvd player and a toaster to know what an electronics store sells. Having said that, by all means include an image, but please bear in mind resolution and fidelity. The maximum file size for a wallpaper is 100kb, which is not a lot for an image that can be 1500 pixels across and 800 pixels high. This is especially evident in small or detailed photographs where compression artifacts can ruin an image. 9
Integration/Fitting-In A homepage takeover is that- a takeover of a full page- take full advantage of it. Link your ad positions together where possible and achieve a greater impact. Simple things like syncing the animation between your leaderboard/skyscraper/mpu can eliminate a jarring reaction to an advertisement. Remember, there s a difference between disruptive advertising and obstructive advertising. Think of it in terms of television commercials- TV ads present themselves alongside TV content. Appearing as partners, for instance presented by... or brought to you by.... Television ads co-opt the goodwill generated by a person s favourite TV show and apply it to their company or product. Your online advertising should strive for that same sense of co-operation, and should, where possible, blend and fit with the site. Interrupting, obscuring or otherwise obfuscating one s engagement with the website and its content, may appear to yield clicks or results, but this short term thinking will do nothing for your brand s standing in the eyes of your consumers. 10
Stats Irishtimes.com has on average 5.4 million visitors and 40 million page views each month. Our Irish audience is roughly 50% of this; 42% of visitors and 64% of pageviews coming from Irish IPs. (source: Google Analytics March 2014) 11
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Standard Formats 13
Leaderboard Static or animated banner ad across top of articles and index pages dimensions: 728 x 90px max file size: 40kb filetype:.swf and.gif/.jpg 14
Super Leaderboard Static or animated banner ad across top of articles and index pages dimensions: 970 x 90px max file size: 40kb filetype :.swf and.gif/.jpg 15
MPU Static or animated banner typically placed on the right hand side of articles and index pages dimensions: 300 x 250px max file size: 40kb filetype:.swf and.gif/.jpg 16
Wallpaper A wallpaper is a (usually) static graphic placed behind the website s content. There are three separate templates for this format, each of which are outlined on the next three pages. As mentioned previously, the maximum heights and widths given here are guidlines to ensure your messaging appears on the most restrictive platforms (small laptop screens/netbooks etc) With so many varying configurations in monitor sizes and ratios its impossible to give a definitive correct answer with regard to the physical size of a wallpaper. As long as the correct space has been provided in the centre for the website to sit, the wallpaper can be as large as you wish, as long as it remains under 100kb in file size. 17
Standard Wallpaper This is our recommended wallpaper format for irishtimes.com recommended minimum wallpaper width: 1280px site width: 980px recommended minimum gutter height: 600px central horizontal strip: 980 x 122px (be sure to include a 32 x 980px space from the top in the centre) max file size: 100kb filetype :.jpg.gif.png 18
Pageskin recommended minimum wallpaper width: 1280px site width: 980px recommended minimum height: 600px central horizontal strip: 980 x 150px max file size: 100kb filetype :.jpg.gif.png 19
Gutters recommended minimum wallpaper width: 1280px site width: 980px recommended minimum gutter width: 150px per side (1280px total) gutter height: 600px max file size: 100kb filetype :.jpg.gif.png 20
Half Page Animated or static banner to the right hand side of articles and index pages that can serve video, as well as a fallback static image dimensions: 300 x 600px initial ad max file size: 40kb polite load: 80kb 1mb with video filetype:.swf and.gif/.jpg 21
Billboard Static or animated banner ad across top of articles and index pages dimensions: 970 x 250px initial ad max file size: 40kb polite load maximum: 1mb video max: 10mb progressive load, not streaming filetype :.swf and.gif/.jpg 22
Video Pre-roll video sting before irishtimes.com videos. Advertisement must be either 10 or 15 seconds for any videos less than 2 minutes in length, or 30 seconds for videos longer than 2 minutes max video dimensions: 1920 x 1080px video codec: H.264 audio codec: 16 bit AAC at 44.1khz or 48.khz filetype:.mov or.mp4 23
Takeover A combination of leader, superleader, MPU, half page or wallpaper. Billboards and half page ads cannot run with wallpapers during a takeover formats: wallpaper, leader/superleader and MPU/ skyscraper/half page max file size: see individual assets filetype:.swf and.gif/.jpg 24
Creative Formats 25
Cascade Full page banner that folds down the page starting from the top dimensions: 970 x 250px to 970 x 750px initial max file size: 40kb polite load maximum: 1mb video max: 10mb progressive load, not streaming filetype :.swf 26
Pushdown Static or animated banner ad across top of articles and index pages that pushes the page content down dimensions: 970 x 90px to 970 x 415px max file size: 40kb filetype :.swf and.gif/.jpg 27
Sidekick Animated format that expands from the standard MPU format and pushes the page content to the side dimensions: 300 x 250px to 900 x 854px initial max file size: 40kb polite load maximum: 1mb video max: 10mb progressive load, not streaming filetype :.swf 28
Video Skin Auto-playing video lasting up to 60 seconds with audio only on user initiation ad dimensions: 1200 x 675px max video dimensions: 1200 x 675px video codec: H.264 audio codec: 16 bit AAC at 44.1khz or 48.khz video filetype:.flv polite load maximum: 1 mb video max file size: 10 mb progressive load, not streaming skin filetype :.swf 29
Mood Skin A coloured background that changes depending on the content played in an embedded video within the page, typically in the MPU position mood skin dimensions: 1366 x 800px video dimensions: 300 x 250px max file size: 40kb polite load: 1mb without video 10mb with Video filetype:.swf 30
Expandables Rich media expandable variants of typical ad formats. In this case; leader and MPU dimensions : 728 x 90px to 728 x 250 max file size: 40kb polite load: 1mb without video 10mb with Video filetype:.swf and.gif/.jpg 31
Floor Ad Static or animated banner ad across the bottom of the browser window dimensions: 980 x 40px to 980 x 410px* max file size: 40kb filetype:.swf and.gif/.jpg * minimum of 980px width, but will be stretched to 100% width of the browser window 32
Film Strip Static or animated banner placed on the sidebar of the site that scrolls up and down showing more content dimensions: 300 x 3000px canvas through a 300 x 600px window filetype:.swf and.gif/.jpg 33
Page Move Animated format that expands from the standard MPU format and pushes the page content to the side dimensions: 1366 x 800px max file size: 40kb filetype:.swf and.gif/.jpg 34
Mobile Banner Animated or static banner can click through to App Store, website, m.site, or landing page. dimensions: 320 x 50px max file size: 30kb filetype:.gif/.jpg/.png 35
Click to Expand Banner expands within App when user taps on it and can then return to App by clicking x button dimensions: 320 x 50px expanded: 320 x 480px max file size: 10kb static, 20kb animated filetype:.gif/.jpg/.png 36
Swipe to Rotate/Interstitial/Overlay Automatically displayed to users when they visit the section homepages. User can return to App by clicking x button. Can be simple static image or an animated gif dimensions: 320 x 480px max file size: 40kb filetype:.gif/.jpg/.png 37
Click to Call User taps on banner which automatically makes a phone call to the phone number provided or user can choose what to dial from a list of numbers. dimensions: 320 x 480px max file size: 40kb filetype:.gif/.jpg/.png 38
Video Ad User taps on banner which expands and then starts playing a video ad ad dimensions: 320 x 50px max video dimensions: 1920 x1080px ad max file size: 40kb max video file size: 10mb filetype:.gif/.jpg/.png and.mov/.mp4 39
Click Tag Submitted.swf files must be click enabled with the instance name clicktag and the following code embedded either on an actions layer or on an object Actionscript 2: on(release){ geturl(_root.clicktag, _blank ); } Actionscript 3: on(release){ geturl(_root.clicktag, _blank ); } The recommended framerate for flash banners is 24fps. CPU usage for flash elements must also not exceed 40%. Each ad can only be a maximum of 30 seconds long 40
Notes The placement of ads on certain sections of irishtimes.com, particularly with regard to creative formats, is subject to the editorial department s approval. Please contact us for further details Z-Index Range Background Ads: 0 Standard Ads: 0-4,999 Expandable Ads: 5,000-1,999,999 Overlay Ads: 2,000,000-2,999,999 Video Autoplaying video is permitted but audio must be user-initiated. No mouseover events are permitted and playback must stop when the pause or stop button is clicked 41
Our Audience 484,000 people regularly visit irishtimes.com 65% of regular visitors to the site are ABC1 50% are educated to third/postgraduate level 81% are homeowners 59% are employed (full/part-time) 33% of those working full-time are managers/senior executives/senior management in their occupation 47,000 regular visitors are at a senior level in their workplace and have/share purchasing power within their organisation The average pre-tax personal income of those working fulltime is 51,329 compared to the national average of 40,799 42
Lifestyle & Attitudes 30% of irishtimes.com regular visitors travelled by air for business purposes 17% stayed in a hotel for business purposes 90% have a household car 56% holidayed abroad 43
Purchasing Power 188,000 regular visitors have a pre-tax family income 60,000+ On average, regular visitors to irishtimes.com spent 17,756 on their last main car, compared to a population average of 14,246 123,000 regular visitors have additional investments in the form of stocks/shares/unit trusts/investment trusts (96% more likely than the average Irish adult) 44
Online Habits 210,000 regular visitors downloaded a newspaper app in the past 12 months (193% more likely than the average Irish adult) 145,000 own a tablet (106% more likely than the average Irish adult) Our regular visitors are 64% more likely on average to shop for groceries online 182,000 regular visitors use the internet regularly for social networking (e.g. Linkedin, Facebook, etc.) 45
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IRISH TIMES BUILDING 24-28 TARA ST DUBLIN 2 IRELAND TEL +353 1 6758000 ADVERTISING@IRISHTIMES.COM @IRISHTIMESSALES IRISHTIMES.COM/ABOUT-US/ADVERTISE