HTML banner ads are inserted into a web page as html code, rather than as a GIF graphic file. Features of HTML banner ads include: graphics, animations, sound, text and user prompted interaction. Web visitors could be invited to interact with the ad by: responding with the answer to a quiz question, "kicking" a football over the goalpost with an aim and click of the mouse "click and go to" a site to place an order. More production skills are involved, and the HTML banner ad can often pay off in higher click-through rates and other measures of awareness and action compared to a GIF graphic banner ad. . The banners are created using various Java-based technologies. The applications greatly simplify the process of assembling the above elements which would otherwise require expert programming skills. Even though many different technologies are on the market, the website and the advertising agency will often refer to the group as HTML ads, because this is how they manage the insertion and tracking. Many websites which sell advertising are not accepting HTML banners. Those that do usually charge a premium for the extra administrative effort, the increased bandwidth demands (the files are larger than GIFs) and for the increased targeting value that HTML banners offer. The files are considerably larger than GIF files which means they take longer to display (5 - 30 seconds). The novelty is wearing off of GIF banners and so HTML banners are the next big thing in banner advertising. But the slower load times and increased cost are a barrier to greater acceptance. The completed HTML banner ad can look like an animated GIF ad with sound and interactivity added. It consists of an html file which is usually inserted into an existing html page. It also includes several other Java .class program files and multimedia files. The set of files is installed on the web server, and when the designated page is displayed, the server runs the Java program and displays the multimedia, interactive ad (the Java code manages the user interaction). Since these ads are Java-based, they are cross-platform compatible and will display on Windows, Mac or Unix platforms. No plug-ins are required. Visit Microscope to see a comparison of GIF and HTML banner ads in a campaign designed by i-Frontier for Atlas Editions' Star Trek Universe card series. The click-through rates for the HTML ads were 4 to 8 times as high as those for the similar GIF ads (2%-4% vs. .5%-.8%). See a complete analysis of the campaign at Microscope - Issue 2.

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