Different sizes
As you know, light-weight ads are our thing. There are two important sizes of your ad files that you should understand:
Initial load size - the size of files to complete the first display of the ad (usually splash). This is an indicator of how fast your ad might load if the user has a slow internet connection.
Total load size - initial load size plus the size of all asset files, including videos and images that load after the interaction. This will help you understand how much overall internet bandwidth the ad is using. Publishers have different rules on how large files can be, so be sure to know your limits.
We comply with industry standards and use the same definitions as in IAB New Ad Portfolio (respectively initial file load and user-initiated load). Your goal should be to keep these numbers as low as possible without sacrificing good image/video quality.
Automatic optimization
We have a proprietary AI algorithm to optimize assets. We optimize automatically when you upload or drag an asset to a specific asset slot. Main assets and overlays have different default optimization levels. We keep the overlays a bit better quality as they are mostly company/product logo, and CTA buttons or social media icons that need to clear and crispy. Nobody likes a blurry logo or a call to action that's difficult to read.
Manual optimization
There are two kinds of optimizations that you can do in Campaign Manager:
optimize the whole creative
optimize asset by asset
Please bear in mind that:
optimizing less results in a larger load size (ie - longer load time for ad viewer)
optimizing more results in less clear images (ie - can look unprofessional for ad viewer)
Both of these could also lower your campaign performance.
Whole creative optimization
When to use it?
You should only use whole creative optimization when you have a hard size limit set by the ad network or publisher, eg when publishing on Google Ads you need to fit into 150 Kb.
How to use it?
To start, click on "Change optimization" under the quick preview:
In the opened modal use the slider to see results of creative optimized load size. When the new total load size looks ok, then click "Save". Just make sure that the creative looks also nice after that.
Asset optimization
When to use it?
In most cases, we nail the optimization, but in the unlikely event that we need to manually adjust something, you can. You may want to:
keep logos/CTAs with higher quality
use lower quality for background assets
balance ad load size and asset quality. This is especially important when publishing on Google Ads
How to use it?
For every asset, there's a "Change optimization" icon:
This opens up a modal where you do the magic. Use the "Optimize more" or "Optimize less" buttons to see real-time results of your optimized asset. Drag the slider to compare the original and optimized assets. When the optimized size and quality look how you want, then click "Save".
Pro tip
You can use SVG assets in creatives. SVG is a vector image format that can be scaled up or down to any resolution, with no change in quality. You can upload or drag an SVG asset into any asset slot, and use the cropping tool to scale and position it. When done right (by a designer), they are also extra small files compared to JPG or PNG. For comparison:
Bonus
Also, we have a standalone service called Nexd Asset Optimizer. You can open it from Campaign Manager from the menu:
The user interface for optimization is the same. The main difference is that Asset Optimizer is not connected to specific creative, so you can just optimize a single image asset, multiple video assets, or even an HTML5 zip. You download the optimized file, and can insert it into your creative, or use it anywhere else!