Rolex Ad on Newsweek Site Begs the Question: How Big Is Too Big?

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On the sites of major publishers, you’ve no doubt seen huge ads lately, that briefly take up the whole page before rolling back up into their officially allotted space and letting you get on with your life. I’m mostly in favor of these ads. As I’ve written before, having premium inventory is crucial to online publishers’ fortunes, and not at all coincidentally, it’s a big initiative of the Online Publishers Association, some of whose members started to run bigger, splashier ads this past summer.

That said, I’ve got to admit that this ad for Rolex, which I saw yesterday on the Newsweek home page, took me aback, even though it did have the good sense to “shrink” quickly. (I don’t know if this is an official OPA ad unit.) Take a look, and let me know what you think — it’s easier since BNET streamlined its registration earlier this week. Is this an example of a big ad being too big?

Previous coverage of big ads at BNET Media:

Tags: Newsweek, Advertisement, Catharine P. Taylor

Catharine P. Taylor has been covering digital media and advertising for almost 15 years and is a frequent speaker at conferences about media and advertising. She posts daily to BNET Media, writes the weekly Social Media Insider column for Mediapost and also has her own advertising blog, Adverganza.com. Follow her on Twitter or subscribe to the BNET Media Twitter feed.

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bnetbob

10/23/09 | Report as spam

RE: Rolex Ad on Newsweek Site Begs the Question: How Big Is Too Big?

Isn't the question: Are they effective? They are not for me. The first thing I look for in those roll-out ads is the close button. I never read the ad. Same thing with animated ads such as that to the right if this space. I have trained my eye to avoid them. But I do look for ads that are informative and offer something of interest, just as I do with newspapers and magazines - remember them?