Ad Desk

Ad Desk campaigns must adhere to AOL Advertising's creative specifications, guidelines and policies.

AOL recommends leveraging multiple media sizes, particularly the five standard IAB sizes – 728×90, 300×250, 160×600, 468×60, and 120×600. Broad creative coverage can greatly impact the pool of available impressions for your campaign.

Accepted formats

.gif, .jpg., .png, .swf; and standard 3rd party tags

Available creative units and maximum file sizes

Ad Size	Title	Max File Size
120×240 IMU	Vertical Banner	30K
120×600 IMU	Skyscraper	40K
120×90 IMU	Button 1	15K
125×125 IMU	Square Button	15K
160×600 IMU	Wide Skyscraper	40K
180×150 IMU	Rectangle	30K
234×60 IMU	Half Banner	30K
240×400 IMU	Vertical Rectangle	40K
250×250 IMU	Square Pop-Up	40K
300×250 IMU	Medium Rectangle	40K
336×280 IMU	Large Rectangle	40K
468×60 IMU	Full Banner	30K
728×90 IMU	Leaderboard	40K

Flash specifications

Flash versions

6, 7, 8, and 9
Must run at 18 frames per second or less

Click-through actions

The URL should be _level0.clickTag
The target window is set to “_blank”

Ad Desk creative specifications

.gif and .png files must have color palette reduced.
.jpg files should be reduced in quality (50% Photoshop or equivalent recommended).
Ad Desk does not support pop-up banners.
Ad Desk does not support vendor-supported rich media (ex. expandables, video).
Maximum file size: 40k.
All animation must stop at 15 seconds.
All applicable AOL Standard Creative Guidelines apply. (See below)

AOL’s Standard Creative Guidelines

All click-through URLs must open in a new browser window.
AOL reserves the right to reject any insertion, graphic, text description, or URL.
All ads must comply with AOL's Faux Functionality policy. (See AOL Homepage Policies for additional guidelines.)
Ads may not employ rapid/"strobing" animation of any graphic, copy, or background element(s).
Banners should be encased in a one (1) pixel black border and distinct from the content. If borderless, a banner must contain the advertiser's name to signify that it is an ad creative banner, not content.
Ads may not have transparent backgrounds and may never blend into the screen content.
AOL interactive properties may not be used to imply affiliation with or an endorsement by AOL - whether an AOL product, content, or service - unless such a relationship exists.
Animation does not have a loop maximum, but total animation time for all loops combined cannot exceed 15 seconds. (See AOL Homepage Policies for additional requirements.)
Television and print advertising standards prohibit advertisers from issuing ads, infomercials, or infotisements in such a manner that the viewer or reader believes the content is news, rather than advertising. AOL's standards also follow this policy.

After you create your campaign, your banner ads and Click-through URLs will be reviewed by our Network Quality team for content and language to ensure they meet the standards of our network and our partner sites.

Please review our complete AOL Advertising Policies for more information.