IAB banners: the formats at a glance.
IAB formats are the fixed banner sizes almost every media plan runs on. They were set by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and every major ad platform supports them. Almost every campaign starts with the same core: 300 × 250, 300 × 600 and 728 × 90, plus a mobile format. For desktop reach, add the 970 × 250 billboard.
The formats you need most often.
Pick a size and see how big it really is.
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The workhorse. Desktop and mobile, in the text and next to it.
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A slightly roomier rectangle, often in the text of news sites. The second master format.
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Plenty of room for product and story. Often the master format.
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Above the page on desktop. Little height, so the headline has to be short.
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Wide and big at the top of the page.
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A narrow column next to the content on desktop.
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Mobile, in the text.
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At the top or bottom of mobile sites and apps. Twice the height of the 320 × 50, so a headline fits.
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At the top or bottom of mobile sites and apps. Room for a logo, a few words and a button.
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Used less, sometimes in networks.
Not every size above is still on the IAB list. Since its New Ad Portfolio of 2017, the IAB has focused on flexible sizes. Of the fixed sizes, 300 × 250, 728 × 90, 160 × 600, 970 × 250, 970 × 90, 300 × 1050 and 320 × 50 remain, among others. The 336 × 280 (an IAB size since 2001) and the 300 × 600 are no longer listed as fixed sizes, but they’re still in almost every Dutch media plan. Google even counts the 336 × 280 among its best-performing sizes. The full overview is in the IAB New Ad Portfolio (opens in a new window).
A set is more than the same banner in nine sizes.
A billboard isn’t a stretched rectangle. A three-line headline won’t fit in a 728 × 90, and a 300 × 600 calls for a different story than a 320 × 50. That’s why we make one master first, usually the 300 × 600 or the 336 × 280. Then every format gets its own design: what stays, what makes way and how big the headline can be.
Which formats do you need?
The media plan decides that, not the designer. Send the format list along with your brief. If there’s a format in it we don’t know, or a publisher with its own specs, we’ll say so before we start. Not during trafficking.
Download the briefing form (PDF, fillable)