2nativeAs Asian eMarketing clearly exhibits, I am a big fan of Native Advertising and I use this opportunity to highlight its advantages. With native ads, marketers can automatically publish content to multiple online publications simultaneously without creating duplicate content, besides the fact that they adapt individually to the look and feel of the respective medium.

Display loses to native

Via the adserver, articles can be sent to specific media that reach the respective target group where they are - and it is possible to measure the interactions. This allows campaigns to be evaluated in detail and optimized in real-time. Furthermore, native ads can be shared on social networks and are available on the desktop as well as mobile devices.

Especially because native ads fit into the look and feel of the respective website, they are less obtrusive than banner advertising and are therefore gaining in popularity. Advertisers benefit from native ads, as they can do without display advertising and instead convince with high-quality content - hence, circumventing the increasing banner blindness and generating conversions. Native Advertising provides a good source of revenue for publishers, where sales are declining in print editions and display ads are steadily losing popularity. In any case, we are convinced that native ads have many advantages over display ads. Looking ahead, we therefore predict that native ads will cover more than half of the digital advertising market and dominate mobile devices in a few years.

Uniformity urgently needed

However, disagreement still exists in the definition of native advertising, since respondents are divided on whether (or not) text-image ads and Facebook sponsored posts are Native Advertising.

Many also believe that PR agencies would lose out on gaining expertise in creating content for Native Advertising campaigns and that they should consider engaging more intensively with the topic and offer their customers a wider range of advertising opportunities.

Anyway, people will most likely find it increasingly difficult to distinguish native ads from editorial posts. Therefore, it seems only a logical consequence to introduce industry-wide market standards to push ahead with the development of this ad format.

At least, it is already agreed that Native Advertising is an attractive source of income for publishers and advertisers due to its integrated placement and scaling options, especially for mobile Internet use.

By Daniela La Marca