Guest post by Carla Vassalo (Head of Digital Acquisition – Paris Office, Addict Mobile)
The evolution of creative display formats
Mobile display has never been more competitive or more creative. Between rising CPMs, ad saturation, and increasingly selective users, choosing the right creative format has become a strategic decision in its own right.
For a long time, producing a strong creative was enough. Today, the format itself plays a major role in determining performance.
Key takeaways
- Mobile display CPMs increased by 50% to 87%, depending on the format, between 2019 and 2024. Optimizing your creatives is no longer optional, it’s a requirement for profitability.
- There is no universal format: playable, rewarded, rich media, native, and interstitial each serve a specific stage of the user journey.
- Post-install retention (D1/D7) and LTV are the real indicators of a high-performing creative, not surface-level engagement metrics.
- Continuous testing is the only way to sustain performance over time: creative fatigue happens fast on mobile.
Why the creative format has become a performance driver
Banner blindness is no longer an emerging phenomenon, it’s a structural reality. Mobile users automatically ignore formats they instantly recognize as ads. At the same time, CPMs keep rising. Between 2019 and 2024, eCPMs increased significantly across all display formats: +87% for banners, +65% for native ads, and +60% for interstitials. (Source: Business of Apps)
As a result, every impression costs more and delivers less value if the format is not adapted. Creative choice is no longer just an aesthetic decision, it directly impacts CTR, install quality, and the actual cost per action.
The display formats that actually matter
Playable Ads: try before you install
The concept is simple: users interact with a mini experience before deciding to install. Originally developed for gaming, this format is now expanding into other verticals such as finance, e-commerce, and fitness, whenever the product’s value can be demonstrated in 15 to 30 seconds.
What makes playable ads powerful is the intent they generate. Users who have “played” before installing already have a realistic understanding of the product, which generally translates into stronger D1 and D7 retention.
The biggest mistake to avoid: neglecting the end card. This transition moment between the interactive experience and the final CTA often makes the difference between a high-quality install and a simple click. Testing multiple end card variations is just as important as testing the gameplay itself.
Rewarded Video : attention that has to be earned
Rewarded video is built on a clear agreement with the user: watch the ad, get something in return. This opt-in mechanism creates a radically different attention environment compared to forced ad formats. Completion rates regularly exceed 90%, versus 60-70% for non-opt-in video formats (Source: Mordor Intelligence) while brand recall is significantly higher.
This format performs especially well in environments where users are already in a “reward mindset”: gaming of course, but also alternative app stores or OEM interfaces, where attention is less fragmented than on the traditional mobile web.
One important nuance: high completion rates do not automatically guarantee strong post-install user quality. If the reward feels disconnected from the product, it tends to attract opportunistic users. Alignment between the creative promise and the actual app experience remains critical.
Rich Media and interactive formats: tell more, better
Expandables, carousels, animated interactive formats, rich media offers a broader creative canvas for messages that require more context. This is the format of consideration: the user has already been exposed to the product and is ready to learn more.
These formats are designed for mobile scrolling behavior. They capture attention through dynamic visuals, often autoplay-enabled, and allow advertisers to communicate multiple messages within a single ad placement.
What we still see too often: creatives trying to say everything at once. More interactive elements do not automatically mean more engagement. The core message needs to be instantly clear within the first second, everything else is secondary.
Native Display: blend in to persuade better
Native ads do not look like ads. That’s their strength, and sometimes their limitation. By blending into editorial feeds or content recommendations, they benefit from a much less hostile attention environment.
This is the ideal format for the discovery phase, especially with audiences that have not yet been exposed to the brand. In some environments, native placements also face lower competition, which can translate into more accessible CPMs for a similar level of attention.
The main requirement: editorial consistency. A native creative that feels out of place within its environment will systematically underperform. This format requires real adaptation work, not just a resize.
Full-screen interstitials: impact only works with the right timing
Interstitials remain one of the most visible mobile formats. Full-screen and hard to ignore, they perform particularly well during natural transition moments: between two game levels, when opening an app, or between two distinct user actions.
When poorly implemented, this is also the format that generates the most user frustration and can negatively impact retention for the app displaying it. Timing is not a secondary variable, it is the central one.
Format, placement, timing: the three variables to align
A format never performs in isolation. It performs, or fails, within a specific context.
The decision mainly depends on the stage of the user journey:
- During the discovery phase, native and discovery formats enable smoother integration. The goal is to generate interest, not force an action.
- During the consideration phase, rich media and video provide the depth needed to communicate the product’s value.
- During the conversion phase, playables and well-timed interstitials create strong intent. This is where the format needs to drive action.
What separates a good creative from one that truly performs
“In UA, creatives were judged for a long time based on their ability to generate clicks. But a creative that attracts everyone often attracts no one valuable. The best-performing formats today are the ones that filter as much as they convert, and that completely changes the way we design them” – Carla Vassalo, Team Lead UA – Addict Mobile
This mindset applies to every creative decision. It’s what allows brands to move from a creative that “works” to one that genuinely drives value across business KPIs.
- The first three seconds are the real test. On mobile, if the message is not immediately understood, attention is lost. You either capture it instantly, or not at all.
- Every format requires native creative production, not a resize. An interstitial is not an enlarged banner. A playable is not a video with a button added on top. Production needs to be specifically designed for both the format and the distribution environment.
- Continuous testing is not optional. Creative fatigue happens fast on mobile. Maintaining an active pipeline of variants, even just for key elements such as the main visual, CTA, or end card, is what separates campaigns that plateau from those that keep improving.
Conclusion
Display formats are evolving quickly, but the core principle remains the same: the right format, in the right environment, at the right moment in the user journey. In a landscape where attention is becoming scarcer and CPMs keep rising, mastering these formats is no longer a competitive advantage, it’s a baseline requirement for performance.
Frequently asked questions
Which display format should you choose for a non-gaming app?
Playable ads are expanding beyond gaming whenever the app’s value can be demonstrated in 15 to 30 seconds. For more complex verticals, rich media or rewarded video formats are often better suited for the consideration phase.
Why are my static banners underperforming?
Banner blindness is now structural: mobile users automatically ignore formats they immediately identify as ads. Interactive, native, and video formats capture levels of attention that static banners can no longer generate.
Rewarded video vs. interstitial: what’s the actual difference?
Rewarded video is opt-in, with high completion rates but a strong requirement for consistency between the reward and the product experience. Interstitials are imposed formats that can be extremely effective during the right transition moments, but when poorly timed, they negatively impact the user experience.
How often should creatives be refreshed?
There is no fixed rule, but ad fatigue sets in quickly. It is more effective to monitor early decline signals, such as dropping IPM or weakening cohorts, rather than waiting for a predefined refresh schedule.
Guest Author
Carla Vassalo is the Head of Digital Acquisition at Addict Mobile, overseeing growth and mobile acquisition strategies out of their Paris office.
