Last Updated on September 6, 2024
What is native advertising? Native Advertising is a method in which the advertiser attempts to gain attention by providing valuable content in the framework of the user’s experience. Sounds confusing? I think so too.
Let’s simplify the definition.
Unlike advertorials, which are basically advertisement based editorials, native ads integrate content into the organic experience of web films, photo streams, interactive graphics, sponsored stories, paid discovery, promoted tweets, and podcasts. The entire concept of native ads is to make the advertising feel less intrusive, so the users will feel more comfortable with the content and the likelihood of them clicking on the ad will increase.
Native advertising was born from the low appeal of banners. As you may know, banner blindness is getting worse every single year. Over the last decade people have naturally trained themselves to ignore banner ads, thus only paying attention to the content they came for. The average click-through rate for banners is 0.1%. According to Solve Media, “You are more likely to complete NAVY SEAL training than click a banner ad.”
Let’s take a look at a few examples of native advertising:
Tumblr
If you currently use Tumblr, you’ve probably already noticed this. This is called Tumblr Radar. This natural ad targets specific users among their network. Sponsors get dedicated attention and the opportunity to gain more followers, likes, and reblogs of their content. their most used and most favorite ads.
Goolge Search
As you see in the image above, I did a quick Google search about cars. The ads appearing alongside the search results, are native to my search experience.
Twitter promotes Tweets, trends, and people. Pretty simple.
More often than not, you’ll find promoted stories or suggested posts inside your news feed.
Those are just a few examples.
Another form of native advertising is content marketing after an article. An example of this could be seen on many popular blogs. Right after an article, you will often see the “you might also like” square boxes. These are conveniently placed for you to read another article. Sometimes the last box, or boxes, will say ‘paid placement’ or ‘sponsored.’ Those are usually sponsored by a marketer.
The cold hard truth is that websites need to make money to keep providing users with free content. If users continue ignoring banner ads, websites will make less money and be forced to let writers go, provide less content, and eventually die out. The Internet is still young and we haven’t explored every single form of advertising. I believe unique advertising ideas, like native advertising, are bound to grow in the next few years.
Today we have a short n sweet infographic which covers thought-provoking stats you should ponder about. Enjoy!
