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Platforms & Formats
Metric cards filed under Platforms & Formats.
Platforms & Formats
Your Display Ads Are Leaking Money: The 36-Cent Problem Nobody Talks About
MetricCost per incremental click (the marginal cost of the next click), often expressed as a per-click figure such as $0.36 in the article's framing
FormatDisplay advertising, including banner and native display placements bought on a cost-per-click or view-through basis
BenchmarkRough ranges: average cost per click for display often lands in the low single-digit dollars, while incremental or marginal cost per click can be a fraction of that, sometimes under a dollar; treat all figures as directional, not guaranteed
Moves withCreative relevance and refresh cadence, audience and placement quality, frequency capping, bid and pacing strategy, landing page and post-click experience, measurement window and attribution model
Display advertising is often judged by a single blended number: the average cost per click.
Platforms & Formats
Stop Wasting Money: How to Buy Digital Ads in 2026
MetricCost per acquisition (CPA), also called cost per conversion
FormatDigital ad formats including search, display, video, social, and native
BenchmarkRough ranges: search $10–$50, display $5–$30, social $8–$40, video $15–$60; varies widely by vertical and offer
Moves withAudience targeting, creative quality, bid strategy, landing page experience, offer strength, and conversion tracking accuracy
Buying digital ads in 2026 is less about finding a magic channel and more about understanding the economics of attention.
Platforms & Formats
Stop Chasing the Perfect Ad Format—Start Owning Your Attention
MetricAttention
FormatAll ad formats (display, video, native, audio, social)
BenchmarkRough ranges: 1–3 seconds for basic exposure, 5–10 seconds for engaged attention, 15+ seconds for deep attention
Moves withCreative quality, relevance, placement, frequency, format choice, context, and user intent
In digital advertising, the pursuit of the perfect ad format often becomes a distraction from what truly matters: capturing and holding attention.
Platforms & Formats
Stop Wasting Ad Dollars: A Straight-Talk Guide to Programmatic Buying
MetricEffective cost per mille (eCPM), the blended cost of one thousand impressions after fees, viewability filters, and inventory mix are accounted for
FormatProgrammatic display and video inventory bought through real-time auctions, including open exchange, private marketplace, and programmatic guaranteed deals
BenchmarkRough ranges: open exchange display often lands in the low single-digit dollars per thousand impressions, private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed inventory commonly runs several times higher, and video sits above display in most markets
Moves withBid price and bid strategy, auction type and deal priority, inventory quality and allow/deny lists, viewability and brand-safety thresholds, creative size and load weight, frequency caps, audience targeting layers, supply-path optimization, and fee transparency
Programmatic buying is often described as automation, but the useful way to think about it is as a chain of small decisions made in milliseconds.
Platforms & Formats
Search vs. Social vs. Retail Media: Which Ad Platform Wins in 2025?
MetricReturn on ad spend (ROAS)
FormatPaid search, social, and retail media ads
BenchmarkRough ranges: search 3:1 to 6:1, social 2:1 to 4:1, retail media 2:1 to 5:1
Moves withAudience targeting, creative quality, bid strategy, landing page experience, product pricing, and attribution window
In 2025, the debate over which advertising platform delivers the best results continues to evolve.
Platforms & Formats
Why Your Display Ads Are Wasting Money: The Viewability Trap
MetricViewability rate (percentage of served impressions that meet a minimum visible-pixel and duration threshold)
FormatDisplay advertising (standard banner, native, and in-feed display units)
BenchmarkRoughly 50–70% of served impressions are viewable; wide variation by placement and page context
Moves withPlacement selection, ad size and position, page load speed, lazy-loading behavior, ad density, creative dimensions, and viewability measurement configuration
Display advertising is often bought and sold on the assumption that a served impression is an impression that a person actually saw.
Platforms & Formats
Paid Search vs. Social: Where Should Your Ad Budget Go in 2025?
MetricReturn on Ad Spend (ROAS)
FormatPaid search and paid social ads
BenchmarkROAS of 2:1 to 5:1 is common, but varies widely by industry and margin
Moves withAudience targeting, creative quality, bidding strategy, landing page experience, offer strength, budget allocation
When allocating your digital advertising budget between paid search and paid social, the decision often hinges on a single metric: Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
Platforms & Formats
Why I Stopped Buying Display Ads and What I Buy Instead
MetricViewable impressions and click-through rate (CTR) on display inventory
FormatStandard display banner and native-style display placements bought on a CPM or CPC basis
BenchmarkDisplay CTR commonly lands in a rough band of about 0.05% to 0.20%; viewability often cited in a rough 50% to 70% range depending on placement and measurement definition
Moves withPlacement quality and page context, creative size and relevance, frequency capping, viewability thresholds, audience targeting, ad load on the page, and whether the buy is open-exchange or curated
I spent years treating display as a default line item.