Published on 2025-06-29T19:14:15Z

What is Display Advertising? Examples and Tracking in Campaign Analytics

Display advertising refers to the use of visual ads—such as banners, images, or video—placed across websites, apps, and social media to reach a target audience. It leverages a variety of ad formats to deliver brand messages, drive awareness, and encourage user engagement. In the context of campaign tracking and analytics, display ads are tagged, measured, and optimized to assess performance and ROI. Tools like Plainsignal provide cookie-free, real-time analytics, while UTMguru simplifies UTM parameter management for accurate source attribution.

Illustration of Display advertising
Illustration of Display advertising

Display advertising

Visual online ads (banners, rich media) tracked via impressions, clicks, CTR, and UTMs for performance insights.

What is Display Advertising?

Display advertising uses visual creatives—static banners, animations, or videos—on third-party sites and apps to reach users. It spans direct buys, ad networks, and programmatic exchanges, allowing advertisers to target audiences by demographics, interests, and behavior. Proper tracking ensures you measure visibility, engagement, and conversions accurately.

  • Banner ads

    Static or animated rectangular images displayed on web pages; ideal for brand awareness and simple calls to action.

  • Rich media ads

    Interactive ad formats that include video, audio, or dynamic elements to boost user engagement and time spent.

  • Programmatic display

    Automated, real-time bidding and placement of display inventory using algorithms and audience data for precise targeting.

Key Metrics in Display Advertising

Tracking and analyzing performance metrics is essential for understanding the effectiveness of display campaigns. These metrics reveal how often ads are seen, how users interact, and how many take desired actions.

  • Impressions

    The number of times an ad is loaded and viewed by users. It measures reach and exposure.

  • Clicks

    Total count of user clicks on an ad, indicating direct engagement.

  • Click-through rate (ctr)

    Ratio of clicks to impressions, expressed as a percentage; indicates ad relevance and creative effectiveness.

    • Formula:

      CTR = (Clicks / Impressions) × 100

  • Conversions

    Actions taken by users after clicking the ad—such as form submissions or purchases—tracked via UTM parameters and analytics tools.

Tracking Display Advertising Campaigns

Implementing robust tracking for display ads involves consistent URL tagging, embedding analytics scripts, and ongoing data monitoring. SaaS tools like UTMguru and PlainSignal streamline these processes for accurate attribution and privacy-compliant insights.

  • Utm tagging with utmguru

    Generate and manage consistent UTM parameters to track ad sources, mediums, and campaigns. UTMguru offers a builder, generator, and Chrome extension for on-the-fly URL tagging.

    • Setting source and medium:

      Define utm_source=display and utm_medium=banner to categorize display ad traffic.

    • Campaign naming:

      Use utm_campaign to identify specific promotions, e.g., utm_campaign=spring_sale.

  • Analytics with plainsignal

    Embed a lightweight, cookie-free script to collect real-time metrics without compromising user privacy. Example implementation:

    • Script integration: 
      <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
<script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/plainsignal-min.js"></script>
    • Data insights:

      Track pageviews, referral sources, and campaign performance in a unified dashboard with no cookies.

Related terms