Programmatic Ad Formats Mini-Series: Native

July 23, 2018

Native advertising was introduced to the market just a few years ago and has brought about fresh opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers in relatively inconspicuous ways. These ads typically manifest as an article or video, produced by an advertiser. They have the specific intent to promote a product, while matching the form and style which would otherwise be seen in the work of the platform’s editorial.

These ads are meant to be less disruptive by mimicking the content they surround without interrupting the user experience. By not standing out from the reader’s desired content, native ads make users feel more at ease and can make their overall experience a more pleasant one. Ideally these ads would augment the user experience as well as benefit the advertisers because consumers are less likely to dismiss messaging as paid advertising.

What is native advertising?

Native advertisements are ads that match the look and feel of the original content of the media on which they appear. Native ads focus on the content being distributed, as well as how it is presented. Unlike a traditional banner ad, these are not meant to stand out too much and are made to blend with their surroundings. This is to make the user’s experience more seamless, while still getting the message across.

Native advertising has been on the rise since 2016. In one year alone, there was approximately a $10 billion increase in digital display ad spending on native advertising and it has continued to grow since then.

 

Effectiveness of native ads

The ability of native ads to achieve objectives is well studied. One research point from IPG and Sharethrough found that native ads are 52% more effective than standard banner ads. A possible reason for this is the way the ad blends with the relevant content that the user intends to see, they consume the ad as relevant information as well. The ad becomes part of the user’s experience of consuming information and because of this, it has more of an impact on them.

 

Characteristics of a native ad and what an advertiser needs to create one

Native ads have three main characteristic attributes: firstly, they must be formatted to look like their surroundings so that they match the content of the page. Next, they are to be located within the content feed and not off to the side or around the perimeter. Finally, the ads should provide the reader with some type of useful or helpful information; they should show content with value that the reader would be interested in. In order to create a native ad, advertisers need a logo, an image, headline and caption copy, and a landing page.

Native ad execution can be gone about in different ways, take a look at the following eMarketer chart for an overview of category usage:

The decision to execute a native advertising program on the open web versus within social media platforms shouldn’t be a mutually exclusive one. Advertisers should be testing between platforms to understand the best approach to connecting with their desired audience.

Ready to get started?

Incorporating a native ad approach to your overall digital strategy is simple. We partner with amazing providers like TripleLift and Yahoo to make native advertising available directly through our self-serve programmatic platform. Get in touch for one of our digital experts to provide you an overview and demo of how it’s done.