How do I put ads on my background?

What are your thoughts on having a background to web ads, that bleed past the ads given size?

• My reason for having a background is so that on a responsive site, their is no negative/white space around the ad. I've heard several differing opinions on this such as it make the ad size look incorrect, or that it make the ad stand out too much. I like the idea of keeping the continuity of the layout by having a background to match the width of its given column. It also prevents the ad from bleeding into the background. There is not given/documented evidence to suggest either or here. I'm just curious to know what your perspective is.

• Answer:

  Great for traffic, mixed for results, risky for experience. Having run wallpaper ads on many sites, I'm quite confident that they'll deliver traffic above and beyond pretty much any banner or other traditional digital media effort. The size is simply too big not to get activated and that's just a part of the puzzle... branding can get a major lift. Obviously this is impacted by the site design. Narrower format and people will see more, large and you're really just playing at curiosity clicks on a small slice of image that runs down the sides. Of course many of those clicks are accidental or just quick inquiries which can lead to high bounce rates and low conversion. You're moving further and further from interest and more into awareness so how you measure the results (or what you pitch to a client) should reflect the exposure opportunity as well as that of the clicks. Finally there's the experience impact. Background ads can impact both the site and the advertiser if people become annoyed by them. This is more true when the ads are invasive and are mapped in a way that's hard to avoid or show something that makes no sense. It's less of a concern when the ad is clearly separated and ideally fits with the site.