Why Publishers Might Want To Adopt IAB’s Rising Stars

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and C3Research released a study that shows superiority of Display Rising Star ads in brand building over legacy ad formats in the IAB Universal Ad Package (UAP).

Display Rising Stars ads, introduced by the IAB in 2011, are creative, interactive ad canvasses that use rich, tasteful and eye-catching ad units. Because they are essentially user-engaging and designed to be brand-friendly, they are marketed to be more cogent in targetting audiences compared to other ad formats.

Over a couple of years after launch of IAB’s Rising Stars, only a few publishers are aware of the new ad units. Some who knew about them are resisting adoption due to, for the most part, pricing, production issues, and distribution limitations. Meanwhile, early adopters are reported to be reaping rewards from use in their digital media.

The research study, “Rising Stars Ads and Brand Equity”, demonstrates that the Rising Stars units deliver 30 percent stronger brand lift with just one full exposure, even increasing to 42 percent when consumers interact with a Rising Stars ad. That corresponds to three times more ad recall over legacy UAP formats. This compelling finding and the rest of the data might prompt publishers to take advantage of IAB ad styles as they proved to be a very powerful marketing tool, which will undoubtedly bring them positive results.

Why you might want to integrate rising star ads to your digital publication
The following findings were lifted from IAB’s press release.

  • Rising Stars ads attracted gaze at a 63% higher rate than traditional UAP ads, and had 5 times longer total gaze duration
  • Consumers were less likely to avoid looking at such ads compared to legacy UAP ads
    Engagement with the Rising Stars ads was significantly higher across the board with findings demonstrating that these ads were more entertaining, creative, humorous, and evoked higher emotional response
  • Despite their bigger size, Rising Stars were considered less annoying than traditional UAP ads
  • Rising Stars Ads generated significantly greater scores on core measures of persuasion

Differences in interaction rates are also significant. Rising Stars ads generated interaction rates of 34 percent compared to 11 percent for legacy UAP ads. Furthermore, consumers who interacted with Rising Stars gave them ratings that on average were 16.6 percent higher across brand equity metrics.

“Display Rising Stars ads outperform legacy digital formats when it comes to advertising effect and brand lift,” said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Research, Analytics and Measurement, IAB. “We knew that better creative canvasses have visual and emotional appeal, and garner interaction. The big challenge has been to demonstrate that aesthetic breakthroughs contributes to brand equity and our rigorous and comprehensive study substantiates that.”

Asked about the leading attributes of Rising Stars ads over legacy formats, consumers said that the newer ad formats:

  • Give more personality to the brand (65%)
  • Are more engaging (64%)
  • Give consumers more control (60%)
  • Are more informative (60%)


“Brand marketers have leveraged IAB Display Rising Stars ad products over the years due to their potent combination of innovation and scale,” said Peter Minnium, Head of Brand Initiatives, IAB. “I am pleased now see definitive findings on what we’ve instinctively known all along: that consumers pay more attention, see more value in the brand advertised, and genuinely enjoy Rising Stars ads better than legacy UAP units – giving marketers a new level of brand building capabilities online.”

“The IAB came to us to ensure that this research was thorough and that the findings would be indisputable,” said Samar Das, Ph.D, CEO, C3Research. “This study provides substantial insights that can be used by advertisers and agencies to develop the Rising Stars ads to its fullest potential and introduce the next generation of advertising in the marketplace.”

Read full article here.