Have you ever watched a video while you were scrolling through Facebook, only to realize afterwards that it wasn’t one of your friends who shared it? Native ads are designed to blend in with their surroundings and are sometimes so discrete that you might not even notice you’re viewing sponsored content. Native advertisements are placed in news feeds or within online editorial content and are specifically designed to resemble the content that you are already viewing.
Native ads are viewed 25% more than standard banner ads and have been known to increase purchase intent by almost 20%.1 Native advertising has seen tremendous growth since the introduction of social media and shows no signs of slowing down. These ads saw the largest growth in ad buying in 2017, increasing by 74% earlier this year.2 This summer, Google AdSense introduced native advertising to their display network, allowing those who sell ad space through Google to run native advertisements on their websites.3 Additionally, LinkedIn just began selling native advertising space on their site.4
Native ads are effective because people view them the same way that they’re viewing their status updates on social media or editorial content from their favorite publishers. To consumers, this type of advertising feels unobtrusive in terms of design and placement, and is relevant to the consumer thanks to advanced audience targeting options. Due to these factors, native ads perform better than traditional banner ads.
A large portion of these advertisements are appearing in video format, which continues to be the biggest opportunity for growth in the programmatic and native advertising space. When compared to Pre-Roll (ads that play before videos), native advertising shows a higher brand lift across majority of campaigns. In fact, users were more likely to have negative brand opinions after watching a pre-roll ad. For most consumers, choice beats interruption – They would much rather watch a video because they clicked play than be forced to sit through an advertisement before they can view the video they wanted to watch.
Are you considering native advertising for your brand? Our expert team is here to help! We can strategically develop and manage your campaign to help you put your brand in front of the right people at the right time; whether that’s while they’re scrolling through social media or browsing the web. We know how to target your message to the best possible audience – Contact us today to get started!
Sources:
- Sharethrough. Native Advertising Insights: Research, Infographics, and Resources.
- Business Insider. Programmatic ad buying is declining as native advertising increases. Written by Kevin Gallagher.
- Inside AdSense: Introducing AdSense Native Ads. Posted by Violetta Kalathaki.
- Leverage the Power of Native Ads on Linkedin.