Native advertising
Native advertising is a form of paid advertising that seamlessly blends with the regular content and design of the platforms where it appears, aiming to engage readers without disrupting their experience. This method has gained popularity as traditional advertising formats decline, with native ads resembling editorial content, which can sometimes blur the line between advertising and journalism. Native ads are often labeled as "sponsored" or "promoted" and can take various forms, including articles, videos, social media posts, and search engine results. They are categorized into closed and open native advertising, depending on whether they originate from the brand or a third-party publisher.
While native advertising presents significant benefits for both publishers and brands, such as increased engagement and click-through rates, it also raises concerns about transparency and consumer deception. Proper labeling is crucial to maintain trust, as failure to clearly distinguish these ads from editorial content can mislead readers. Regulatory bodies like the Federal Trade Commission have recognized these issues and have issued guidelines to ensure that consumers can easily identify commercial content. Overall, native advertising continues to evolve as brands and publishers seek innovative ways to connect with audiences while navigating the complexities of digital advertising ethics.
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Subject Terms
Native advertising
In business and marketing, native advertising refers to paid advertisements that look similar to the regular content and design of the online platforms on which they appear. Through native ads, publishers earn revenue from their content feeds.
Native advertising is labeled as "sponsored" or "promoted." There are two types of native advertising: closed and open.
Examples of native ads include articles, blogs, and videos on news and entertainment websites, tweets on the micro-blogging site Twitter, updates on the social network Facebook, and results on search engines.
Native advertising has exploded as publishers and brands develop and utilize the practice. However, because the ads resemble editorial content, it can be tricky to differentiate between the two. This can confuse and deceive readers.
Native advertising provides significant benefits for media and brands. However, the practice comes with concerns as the line blurs between editorial and advertising content.
Background
As readers browse media sites, they have grown averse to clicking on traditional display ads, such as banners, pop-ups, and ad boxes. Sharp readers are skeptical of the veracity of the information that ads present.
Publishers looking to make money from their digital content are increasingly turning to native advertising. Native advertising blends in with the non-advertising content surrounding it on publisher sites, appearing "native" to the platform.
The goal of native advertising is not to disrupt the reader's experience. Instead, the practice aims to engage the reader by providing relevant information that adds value to the user experience.
Native advertising combines the promotion of a product or brand with interesting, educational, or useful content, downplaying the marketing aspects. Because the ads look like they belong on the website, readers are more likely to click on them than banners.
Native ads include sponsored content and branded content. Sponsored content is created by the publisher, and the brand pays for it. Branded content is created by the brand, and the publisher runs it alongside its own news items.
There are two kinds of native advertising. Closed is created by the brand, which generates a profile and its own content on a social media platform, such as Twitter or Facebook. The brand then uses the profile to promote its content in the same design style as that of the channel. Open is created by a brand that produces content outside of a media platform, and then a third-party company disseminates the content across multiple channels. The content takes on the design style of each platform where it is published.
Native advertising is different from content marketing. Both involve brands creating relevant content to increase their exposure. In content marketing, however, brands use their own websites and channels to display the content. In native advertising, brands pay to increase the visibility of their content by using other channels.
Overview
Native ads have become a powerful tool of advertising for publishers and brands. According to Hexagram's 2013 State of Native Advertising report, 62 percent of media companies offer native advertising, and 66 percent of brands produce their own content.
Native ads appear in a variety of formats. The Interactive Advertising Bureau, which develops standards and best practices for the interactive advertising industry, has identified six categories of native ads:
- In-feed ads: The native ads appear in the live feeds of social media platforms. This is the most common format of native advertising. In-feed ads include promoted tweets on Twitter that look like regular tweets but are labeled "promoted by." They also include sponsored stories that appear as updates on Facebook that are tagged as "sponsored" or "suggested posts." Articles or videos that appear next to editorial content on the entertainment website Buzzfeed and online news blog the Huffington Post are labeled as "featured partner."
- Search ads: Paid search ads are placed above the organic results of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. They look just like the search results, but they are identified as an "ad" or "ads related to (search word)."
- Recommendation widgets: Ads or other paid content are delivered through a widget that is integrated into a webpage. They may not look like the site's editorial content and take readers to a page off the site. They are usually accompanied by wording such as "Recommended for you," "You might also like," and "From around the web."
- Promoted listings: These ads are found on websites such as Amazon, Etsy, or Google that do not have regular editorial content. They look exactly like the products offered on these channels and link to product pages. They are labeled as "ads" or "sponsored products."
- In-ad: The ads appear outside of editorial content, but they contain relevant information within the ad and link to a page off the site.
- Custom: This category includes native ads that do not fit into the previous categories. As publishers and brands devise new formats of native ads, they may apply only to the media platforms on which they appear.
Native ads are a boon for publishers and brands. Because native ads look like the editorial content on media sites, publishers benefit from the likelihood that readers will click on the ads. In turn, readers may extend the integrity and goodwill that the publisher has already established to the brand itself.
Some publishers have found success by developing native advertising programs. Forbes was the first prominent news outlet to incorporate promoted content into its website. Forbes started the AdVoice program in 2010. The program, which changed its name to BrandVoice, propelled Forbes's 2012 revenue to its highest level in a five-year period.
Native advertising should be clearly labeled and disclosed as sponsored or promoted content. When it is not, readers can mistake the ads for legitimate news articles, damaging their trust in the publisher site.
The Atlantic ran a native ad for the Church of Scientology in 2013. Although the ad was labeled "sponsor content," it matched the design style of the Atlantic's editorial content, which misled readers into thinking it was a journalism piece. The news website pulled the ad within the day, issuing an apology to readers.
The Atlantic's major error demonstrates the potential deception of readers that can occur as editorial and advertising content blend together.
As native advertising continues to evolve, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has intervened. In 2015, the FTC issued an enforcement policy on "deceptively formatted advertisements" and a guide for businesses on navigating native advertising. The FTC stressed that publishers and brands must effectively identify commercial content so consumers can discern what they are reading.
Bibliography
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