Tending – Native Advertising

However you cut it, Native advertising is a disruptive technique that is will evolve the business model of advertising.

Watch for huge amounts of coverage since Native Advertising was used in The Atlantic by the Church of Scientology.

For a good overview read the following piece from From iMedia

Native advertising will be the fastest growing monetization solution this year. For those unaware, native advertising goes by a few definitions. CEO of Sharethrough Dan Greenberg refers to native advertising as “a form of media that’s built into the actual visual design and where the ads are part of the content,” while Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer defines it as “advertising that takes advantage of a platform in the ways consumers are actually using it.” The most prominent current examples are Facebook’s Sponsored Stories and Premium Ads and Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, but look to a greater number of media sources and networks like LinkedIn and Pinterest to partner with native ad platforms like Sharethrough to offer advertisers a valuable method to deliver good content without interrupting consistent user experiences.

Definitions that resonated with me are:

– A form of media that’s built into the actual visual design and where the ads are part of the content
– Advertising that takes advantage of a platform in the ways consumers are actually using it
– Good content and a user experience that’s consistent.
– A specific mode of monetization that aims to augment user experience by providing value through relevant content delivered in-stream

Some initial observations from the coverage of this tend:
– Native advertising is a natural extension of content marketing. Brands trade relevant information for brand exposure or time spent directly on their websites. The difference is that with native advertising, you pay to put that content in front of more eyes.
– Until now, content marketers have been happy to focus on owned and earned media. Paid media brings its own benefits to the table, including the opportunity to extend reach to your intended audience across trusted channels.
– Publishers accept that the life span of a blog post or other piece of content is unpredictable. With native advertising, there is opportunity to bring older but still powerful content back to the forefront.
– Native advertising fits with the evolving nature of content personalization, using advertising to guide prospects through the sales funnel. There is a fit with marketing automation.

I wonder if some of the trade media I know will jump on this?

I’m going to send along this post to some of my friends and colleagues that work in the agency space. Looking forward to their reactions that I will report on later in the week.

Howard