Media Advertising: Which Format to Choose for Your Needs

Hello everyone! For those who don’t know me, let’s start with the usual introductions and then get down to business. I’m Nikita, Project Manager at AFFHUB Media. 

I joined AFFHUB in 2024 as a copywriter; before that, I worked for a long time as a journalist, correspondent, and political commentator. In early 2025, I took over as head of the media department, and I’ve been in this role ever since. By the way, here’s a link to my new work Instagram account. You’ll find short excerpts from all my columns and more there. So feel free to check it out.

Continuing the topic of media relevance, today we’ll break down different content formats. This format differs slightly from my previous columns, as it’s specifically focused on the practical aspects. Well, enough with the preliminaries—let’s get started.

What advertising formats exist in the media

Let’s start with a basic overview of the different advertising formats. Using AFFHUB as an example, there are several key formats: 

• Texts (which, in turn, are divided into a whole bunch of different formats—more on that later);
• Banner ads (and any derivatives thereof);
• Ratings. 

In fact, various approaches and strategies are built around these three formats. Let’s break each one down separately.

Ratings in the media

Let’s start with the simplest format — ratings. It’s the simplest, in particular, because there aren’t that many variations of these ratings.

The first and most common format in our field is a company directory. This could be a list of partner companies, organized by industry verticals, or a list of various services and teams. It could also be a text-based format that is well-optimized for search and naturally mentions specific companies. 

What are the advantages of ratings: 

• A warm audience. Essentially, a user visits a media site’s specific section with a specific query in mind. For example, a user looking for a dating app visits the site and browses different options, searching for the one that suits them best. And, of course, the user’s primary focus is on the top entries in the ranking. This works on the same principle as Google search results—the lower a result appears in the search, the fewer clicks it will receive;
• Simple format. Minimal involvement is required from the PR manager—just provide the text for the listing and arrange for placement. After that, the media outlet essentially handles everything else;
• Focus on lead generation. Page views for these specific pages are usually low, but since the audience is highly interested, these rankings deliver the highest lead generation metrics.  

Disadvantages of ratings: 

• Limited audience. Since this specifically targets a “warm” target audience, the audience size isn’t very large. Consequently, you shouldn’t expect to meet all your needs through rankings alone;
• Not the best option for other marketing goals. Specifically, for brand awareness, building trust, or promoting specific individuals—for all of these, it’s better to use rankings in combination with other formats, which we’ll discuss below.

Banner advertising

In addition to the banners themselves on websites, banner advertising can also include pop-ups, logos in the website header, and other visual elements.

This format doesn’t generate leads on its own, but it lays the groundwork for doing so. Key advantages include: 

• Increased brand awareness. This is the key advantage of formats like these. A person may visit the website dozens of times without ever clicking on a banner. However, they will always see it—your logo, brand colors, and so on. Even if they suffer from “banner blindness,” they will subconsciously notice your banner, and trust in your brand will gradually build;
• Consistent visibility. When it comes to rankings, they’re only seen by those who visit the relevant category on the website. As for articles, the text can get lost on the homepage among other content. Banners, on the other hand, are always displayed in the most prominent spots. No matter how many times a person visits the site, they’ll always see them;
• Another simple format. As with rankings, implementing banners doesn’t require much work on the part of the PR manager. Usually, all it takes is to agree on the placement, provide the banner itself, and include a link. Then, once the campaign period ends, you can evaluate the results.

The drawbacks of this format include: 

• Leads. First and foremost. Of course, banners generate a certain number of leads. However, this is more of a nice bonus. Since the key goal is brand awareness.

Texts

This is actually where you’ll find the widest scope for creativity. Let’s first go over the pros and cons, and then move on to the different text formats. So, here are the advantages of media texts: 

• They’re suitable for both new companies and established players in the market. Different formats suit companies with varying levels of brand recognition;
• Suitable for various goals. Whether it’s lead generation, building brand awareness, PR for specific individuals, etc.—there’s a format for every need. 
• Long-term impact. In one of my previous columns, I already mentioned the situations in which traditional media outperforms social media. And it is precisely this long-term effect that is one of its key advantages. In most cases, traditional media doesn’t generate leads immediately, but over the long term—a few months, a year, or two—it delivers the necessary results without the need to constantly allocate new resources. 

Drawbacks of media articles: 

• The importance of understanding the goal. If you don’t have a clear understanding of the goal, you may simply choose the wrong format for the article and fail to achieve results;
• The need for greater involvement from a PR manager. Of course, the media outlet or your writer can draft the text itself. However, during the stage of selecting a topic for the text and discussing all the nuances, PR involvement is essential;
• Even the best text won’t always deliver results. Yes, from time to time, even a well-SEO-optimized text may fail to produce results. And the reason lies with Google, which may simply deindex your content, lower its ranking in search results, and so on. This is a common occurrence even in major global media outlets, let alone niche ones. 

Now let’s move on to the key point—which text format to choose for your needs. Let’s break down a few main formats: press releases, interviews, reviews, case studies, and native ads. 

• Press releases. Pros: a simple format and consistent media presence for your brand. Cons: low readership and minimal lead generation. Very often, media outlets offer discounted packages specifically for press releases (we offer them as well). It’s important to understand that this format is aimed specifically at brand awareness, rather than lead generation or high audience engagement;
• Interviews. This is the best format for promoting specific individuals as experts. Among the advantages are high audience engagement and, often, a large number of views. Among the disadvantages is the importance of a well-executed interview. The point is that questions like “How did your company achieve success?” do not interest the audience. For a high-quality interview, it’s important to ask specific questions tailored to the individual, company, etc., rather than general ones. Very often, interviews can also be used to explain a company’s position on a controversial issue. Incidentally, a similar format is the expert column—where the speaker writes an article on a chosen topic themselves. This format also serves similar purposes;
• Reviews. A format designed to introduce a product. One drawback is that at the time of publication, it’s unlikely to get many views. Simply because readers see that it’s a review of a specific product. And if they’re already using a competitor’s product, they’re unlikely to read this particular piece. However, you shouldn’t skip this format, as it immediately addresses several needs. First, it serves as an initial introduction to the brand. If someone is specifically interested in your product, they’ll go to Google and start searching for information about you. And it’s precisely these reviews that help build trust in the brand. Second, it’s also lead generation. If the text is well-optimized for search, it will eventually start attracting leads. And here, it’s important to be patient. We’ve had cases where a piece of content didn’t yield results for two years. But then, all of a sudden, it ranked at the top for high-volume keywords and brought the product a significant number of leads;
• Case studies. This is the format that the audience in this field loves the most. The advantages include high engagement and high view counts—not just immediately, but over the long term as well. People on our media platform still read case studies from 2–3 years ago. Not to find current approaches, of course. It’s simply that people are interested in other people’s success stories (and not just success stories—negative case studies are also great reads). So if you need a format that will generate the highest number of views, this is the best option;
• Native ads. Any buyer in the industry knows what native advertising is, so we won’t dwell on that. One of the advantages of this format is that it attracts your target audience. One of the drawbacks is the difficulty in choosing a topic that would naturally highlight your brand while also being interesting to the general public. If the brand targets beginners, such topics are easier to find. However, if we’re talking specifically about experienced traders, then that same case study can serve as the native ad. 

In Summary

What is the purpose of this article, exactly? The reason is quite simple. As I wrote in the previously mentioned article, media remains a powerful tool for PR departments. However, the problem is that many people don’t fully understand how to work with this tool. So I hope today’s post has helped you a little with this issue. Spoiler alert—I have many more posts planned on similar topics, so we’ll see each other again.