Flagging Sales Have Net Advertisers Lowering the Banner

For five years, the Internet advertising business has revolved around the bumper-sticker-shaped ad known as the banner. Starting as early as next Monday, that's going to change.

In a rare, coordinated effort, 15 of the biggest publishers on the Internet are getting ready to release a set of standards for new types of online ad sizes and standards. Such an agreement -- the first since Net companies settled on standard banner sizes back in 1996 -- will likely make larger, more interactive advertisements more common on Web sites.

Online publishers are hoping that the widespread availability of these larger advertising units will attract more business from advertisers because they'll enable advertisers to tell more complex messages and stories than they can squeeze into banners. That new business, over time, could be a huge boost for companies dependent on online advertising. Those firms have suffered mightily over the past few months with the loss of venture-capital-funded ad dollars, and they're searching for vehicles that will reap more ad dollars than have banners, which have proven inadequate for supporting most content-based online businesses.

The industry group, coordinated by the Internet Advertising Bureau trade association, has been meeting two or three times a week since December, and hopes to get the additional ad standards in place by next week, according to Richy Glassberg, the IAB vice chairman who's leading the effort. He wouldn't identify the companies involved, but CNet (CNET Quote), Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) and AOL-Time Warner (AOL Quote) acknowledge they're part of the group. ...