Single Pattern Generating Heuristics for Pixel Advertisements

Pixel advertisement represents the presentation of small advertisements on a banner. With the Web becoming more important for marketing purposes, pixel advertisement is an interesting development. In this paper, we present a comparison of three heuristic algorithms for generating allocation patterns for pixel advertisements. The algorithms used are the orthogonal algorithm, the left justified algorithm, and the GRASP constructive algorithm. We present the results of an extensive simulation in which we have experimented with the sorting of advertisements and different banner and advertisement sizes. The purpose is to find a pattern generating algorithm that maximizes the revenue of the allocated pixel advertisements on a banner. Results show that the best algorithm for our goal is the orthogonal algorithm. We also present a Web application in which the most suitable algorithm is implemented. This Web application returns an allocation pattern for a set of advertisements provided by the user.