| A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the
World Wide Web. This form of online advertising entails embedding an
advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking them to
the web site of the advertiser. The advertisement is constructed from an image
(GIF, JPEG), JavaScript program or multimedia object employing technologies such as Java, Shockwave or Flash, often employing animation or sound to maximize presence. Images are
usually in a high-aspect ratio shape. That is to say, either wide and short, or tall and narrow, hence the reference to banners. These images are usually placed on web pages that have interesting content, such as a
newspaper article or an opinion piece.
The web banner is displayed when a web page that references the banner is loaded into a web browser. This event is known as an "impression". When the viewer clicks on the banner, the viewer is
directed to the website advertised in the banner. This event is known as a "click through".
"Many banner ads work on a click-through payback system. When the advertiser scans their logfiles and detects that a web user
has visited the advertiser's site from the content site by clicking on the banner ad, the advertiser sends the content provider
some small amount of money (usually around five to ten US cents). This payback system is often how the content provider is able
to pay for the internet access to supply the content in the first place.
Web banners function the same way as traditional advertisements are intended to function: notifying consumers of the product
or service and presenting reasons why the consumer should choose the product in question, although web banners differ in that the
results for advertisement campaigns may be monitored real-time and may be
targeted to the viewer's interests.
Many web surfers regard these advertisements as highly annoying because they distract from a web page's actual content or
waste bandwidth. Newer web browsers often include options to disable pop-ups or
block images from selected websites. Another way of avoiding banners is to use a proxy server that blocks them, such as the "Shonenware" proxomitron.
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