This post was most recently updated on January 15th, 2024

As a publisher, you’re always on the lookout for new ways to engage your audience and drive revenue. One promising trend in digital advertising is the use of parallax ads, which offer a more interactive and visually appealing experience for users.

In this blog post, we’ll explore what parallax ads are, why they’re effective, and how you can start using them on your site.

What are Parallax Ads?

Parallax ads are a type of ad format that creates a 3D effect by moving the foreground and background of an image at different speeds. This animation uses layered, parallax effects to capture attention in an engaging, non-intrusive way.

Different image layers of the advertisement appear to have different depths with the parallax ad format. Whenever the viewer starts checking out a site in mobile mode, the ad fully reveals itself. This gives the impression of depth and motion, which can be particularly eye-catching for users.

Here’s an example of a parallax ad in action:

Why are Parallax Ads so Effective?

Parallax ads offer several benefits that can make them more effective than other ad formats. First and foremost, they’re visually appealing and can capture users’ attention in a way that traditional ads may not.

They also offer a more interactive experience, allowing users to engage with the ad by scrolling or moving their mouse. This can lead to higher engagement rates and 10X more ROI for advertisers. Additionally, parallax ads are mobile-friendly and can be easily integrated into responsive web designs.

This means they can be viewed on various devices, including smartphones and tablets, which is important given the increasing use of mobile devices for web browsing.

How to Use Parallax Ads on Your Site?

If you’re interested in using parallax ads on your site, you can do so through a variety of ad networks and platforms, including Google Display & Video 360. To get started, you’ll need to create a parallax ad using a tool like Google Web Designer. Once you have your ad created, you can upload it to your ad network of choice and start serving these ads on your site.

How to serve parallax creatives?

As an advertiser, you want to create ads that capture your audience’s attention and stand out from the competition. One way to achieve this is by using Parallax creatives, which are visually stunning and engaging ads that use scroll-based interactions to create a 3D-like effect.

If you’re a publisher or exchange looking to serve Parallax creatives, the good news is that it’s relatively easy to get started. The only requirement is that you have below-the-fold inventory that uses Google Publisher Tags (GPT), which allows the creative to respond to scroll events.

Can all publishers run parallax ads?

Once you get started with us, we’ll show you what can and can’t be done while implementing parallax ads.

Direct and house campaigns – Publishers running direct campaigns can talk with their direct-sold advertisers about parallax creatives. The Google article on Parallax creatives is not for publishers. It’s for advertisers making the actual ad creatives. That’s why it’s in the “Build Creatives” section. The publisher can alternatively use a third-party tool like Parallaxer – Creative template for Google Ad Manager and we support this. These techniques only apply to direct campaigns and house campaigns. They do not apply to adsense, adx, or header bidding. Parallax creatives must be built and managed by the publisher or their advertisers.

No for AdSense, AdX, and header bidding – Publishers CANNOT transform AdSense, AdX, or header bidding ads into parallax. Browser security models prevent the publisher from modifying programmatic creatives, and that includes adding any sort of parallax effect to programmatic creatives.

Finding 100% parallax – We’re not currently aware of any demand sources that consistently provide 100% parallax creatives in a manner that’s financially competitive to AdX, AdSense, header bidding, and fixed CPM managed demand.

Warning about fake parallax (aka “slide-over”) – Publishers interested in parallax must also be warned of ad tech vendors that run fake parallax technology. It just drives up more IVT (Invalid Traffic). Many vendors claiming to run parallax are just wrapping larger creatives and fraudulently passing off slide-over as parallax. For example, they render a 300×600 creative but only show 300×250 of it, and allow the page to “slide” over the ad. This crushes viewability (not even half the ad is showing), the usability isn’t good enough as the advertiser didn’t plan their creative out for only 40% of the creative to show, and the overall monetization tanks. IVT vendors like DoubleVerify and IntegralAdScience are both confirmed to flag this as IVT. We have consistently found that most networks claiming to be 100% parallax are doing this.

Are Parallax Ads only eligible for Google Ad Manager Inventory?

Parallax ads are designed for below-the-fold inventory, which refers to the part of the web page that is not visible to the user when they first load the page. When a user scrolls down the page, the Parallax ad is triggered, creating a cool scroll-based interaction that can engage the user’s attention and encourage them to interact with the ad.

It’s important to note that Parallax ads may not be suitable for all types of content or websites. Publishers should consider their audience and the user experience when deciding whether to implement Parallax ads on their site. Parallax ads can be a great way to enhance the user experience and generate more revenue, but they should be used strategically and in moderation to avoid overwhelming or annoying the user.

Let’s Get It Started, Then.

In conclusion, serving Parallax creatives is an effective way to capture your audience’s attention and create engaging ads. Following these steps, you can start serving Parallax creatives on your website or exchange and achieve your advertising goals.

Want us to implement killer Parallax Ads for you the right way? Let’s talk!