A site does not monetise by «putting ads on the page»: it chooses which family of formats each position belongs to, and each family is bought, paid for and endured differently. Here is the full map, with video as the axis, and what each format costs the page.
Inventory is not a list of empty slots
A publisher starting out usually frames monetisation as a spare-room problem: find the gaps left in the template and drop boxes into them. But what is chosen is not how many slots there are, but which family of formats each position belongs to. Each family attracts different buyers and gets in the reader's way in a different manner.
These are the families a publisher can have running today, with video as the axis because it is the one that raises the most questions. They are the formats ADEQ Media works with, and they all come in through the same Header Tag: a single Header Script in the template and, behind it, the Header Bidding that puts several sources in competition before calling the ad server. That is where premium demand comes from.
In-stream video: pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll
In-stream is video advertising served inside a player that is already playing content: it interrupts or accompanies something the user came to watch. It is delivered through VAST, the IAB standard that tells the player where the ad file is and how long it runs. The requirement is obvious and still gets missed: you need video content of your own.
It tends to reach the highest prices per impression: an ad with picture and sound is worth more to an advertiser than a static box. ADEQ serves it through its own integrated player, compatible with videos hosted on YouTube. The three classic names say when the ad comes in.
- Pre-roll, before the video. The one most often watched in full, because the user is still waiting for what they came for; also the one felt as a toll.
- Mid-roll, at a break halfway through. It works with long content and an invested user; in a one-minute clip it is a disproportionate interruption.
- Post-roll, once it ends. The least intrusive and the one with the smallest audience: many people leave the moment the content finishes.
Pre-roll is almost always justifiable; mid-roll only if a natural break exists; post-roll is an extra, not a main source.
Out-stream video: video where there is no video
Out-stream is a video ad served outside any content player: it brings its own and inserts it into the page. It is the route for a text publisher that has no video and no intention of producing any. Two usual placements.
- In-text, or in-read: the player appears between two paragraphs and starts when it comes into view; when it scrolls out of sight it stops.
- Floating corner, which ADEQ calls Video Corner: the video detaches from the text and anchors itself small in a corner while the reader keeps scrolling, with a visible close button.
Two conditions separate a tolerable out-stream from an unbearable one: always start muted, with sound one click away from the user, and reserve the space before loading the player, so the text does not jump.
Display and sticky: the inventory that is always there
Display is the classic family: a creative, static or animated, inside a fixed-size slot. The sizes come from the IAB standards and demand concentrates on a handful: 300x250 and 336x280, 728x90, 300x600 in a side column and 970x250 for large desktop headers; on mobile, 320x50 and 320x100.
Sticky means the block stays fixed on screen while the user scrolls.
- Sticky footer: a band anchored at the bottom. Usually the best performing fixed position on mobile, because it accumulates on-screen time across the whole visit. It becomes a nuisance if it covers the site's own navigation.
- Sticky header: anchored at the top. It performs similarly, but it competes with the publisher's own header: you have to decide which one wins.
- Sidebar: the desktop side column, where the block can stay fixed once the column runs out. On mobile it does not exist.
Sticky performs because it accumulates visible time, which is what gets measured as viewability and what many buyers require before bidding. In exchange it takes usable height away.
In-article: IAB banners between paragraphs
These are standard display blocks inserted into the body of the text, between one paragraph and the next, using the same IAB sizes. They have attention working in their favour: anyone scrolling the article passes each of them in turn.
What decides their performance is not the number but the spacing. One block every few paragraphs gets seen; five piled into the first two screens sink the share of readers who reach the end.
Native: advertising in the shape of the site
A native ad takes on the typography, colours and structure of the site: it looks more like a recommended-content module than a banner. It fits at the end of an article and inside listings, where there is already a grid of items.
It does not interrupt reading, so it holds up better against ad fatigue than plain display. Its risk is the same trait taken too far: if it becomes indistinguishable from the publisher's content, the reader feels tricked. Hence the visible advertising label, also a legal obligation in much of the market.
In-app: interstitial, rewarded, banner and sticky
In a mobile app the rules change: there is no infinite scroll and no link navigation, but sessions and screens that follow one another.
- Interstitial: full screen between two screens of the app. Among the best paid and the easiest to ruin: its place is at natural transitions, never mid-action.
- Rewarded: the user chooses to watch a video in exchange for something, such as an extra life or an unlocked feature. It is the only format users ask for voluntarily, which is why it completes far more often.
- Banner: a small strip built into the interface, typically 320x50. Barely intrusive and barely profitable per unit, but constant.
- Sticky: the banner anchored to a fixed area of the screen while the app is in use.
The typical mistake is treating the interstitial like a banner and firing it on a timer. The opposite is needed: a frequency cap per session and a few break points. A badly placed one does not reduce the revenue of that impression, it reduces how often the user opens the app again.
Direct campaigns at a fixed CPM
Alongside the auction, some advertisers buy inventory directly at a closed price, which is common in verticals such as forex trading or betting, with fixed-CPM campaigns on very specific positions: sticky footer, sticky header and rewarded interstitial. For the publisher the difference is predictability, in exchange for reserving those positions for a single buyer. It is worth checking first whether the category fits the audience and whether that advertising is permitted where the traffic comes from.
More slots is not always more money
The temptation to add one more position looks free: the next day's report shows more impressions. What it does not show is the cost: every new block splits the same attention across more elements and lowers the share of ads that genuinely get seen.
An expensive format that loads late and makes the text jump can cost more in readers than it brings in CPM.
Video also carries a technical bill: it is heavy. The player is code that has to be downloaded and executed, and it competes for bandwidth with the content. The countermeasures are not optional: load it only when the slot approaches the viewport, reserve its height, never start with sound, and cap how many videos one person is shown.
The sensible approach is to order it in layers: one well-chosen fixed position and a few spaced in-article blocks as the base; then native; and then video, in-stream if you have your own content and out-stream — in-text or Video Corner — if not. Every addition should justify itself by comparing revenue per thousand page views, not impressions.
What could your inventory earn?
We analyse your site and tell you what can be improved. No commitment.
Evaluate your site