Compare and contrast paid search ads, banner ads, and interstitials. In your response, please identify the advantages and disadvantages of each advertising format

What will be an ideal response?

In paid search ads, a marketer's ad is shown based on keywords the consumer is searching, and the ads may appear above or next to the results, depending on the amount the company bids and an algorithm the search engines use to determine an ad's relevance to a particular search. Marketers pay only if the consumer clicks through on the ad. Marketers believe that consumers who click the ads are pre-screened prospects. Search ads have a 2 percent click-through rate, which is higher than banner ads or interstitials. However, Internet users only spend about 5 percent of their time online searching for information. Further, the increased popularity of search ads means popular keywords are more expensive. Marketers must be creative with their ad placements and keyword bids.

Banner ads are small, rectangular boxes containing text and perhaps a picture that companies pay to place on relevant Web sites. The larger the audience, the higher the cost. In the early days of the Internet, viewers clicked on 2 percent to 3 percent of the banner ads they saw, but that percentage has quickly plummeted, and advertisers have explored other forms of communication. They are important because of the amount of time consumers spend online when they are not searching, but they have to be more attention-getting and influential, better targeted, and more closely tracked than they used to be.

Interstitials are advertisements, often with video or animation, that pop up between page changes within a Web site or across Web sites. They can be targeted based on a consumer's needs or anticipated needs, as opposed to what the consumer is looking for. Because consumers find such pop-up ads intrusive and distracting, many use software to block them.