In recent years, native advertising has been gaining in popularity. According to Sharethrough:
“Native advertising is a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed. Form — Native ads match the visual design of the experience they live within, and look and feel like natural content. PLUS!! Function — Native ads must behave consistently with the native user experience, and function just like natural content.
Despite the popularity of native advertising, it is a controversial practice. In this post, we are highlighting two videos and two infographics on the subject.
Here’s the view of Jake Ludington (who is experienced in product development, Web development, and producing and distributing videos):
“The New York Times Web site redesign has drawn some complaints because it added native advertising to its site offerings. The two primary arguments against native advertising is that it will potentially compromise editorial integrity or that it isn’t a good long term strategy. Both arguments are largely put forward by working journalists. I don’t see either being a problem.”
In Seriously Simple Marketing’s view:
“Native advertising has risen recently and marketers are divided about its use online — some like its creativity and some find it deceiving. Done right, native advertising is a good way to boost your online presence and deliver valuable and relevant content to your audience. So, what makes a good native ad? Here are examples of native advertising done right and examples of native advertising gone bad.”
“Advertisers go native in the search for consumer engagement. It’s a simple premise. If you want to engage online consumers, give them more of what they go online for in the first place. Advertisers are doing just that by shifting to paid content that’s similar in nature to and displayed in the same format as the editorial content surrounding it. The idea is to get consumers to click on and then share these ‘native ads’ with others.”
Sharethrough, a native advertising specialist, notes that:
“The largest social networks – from Facebook to Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr – have developed their business model around native, in-feed ads. The publishing industry is quickly following suit, as companies such as Time Inc., Forbes, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today, continue to introduce new advertising integrations on desktop and mobile that match both the form and function of their editorial feeds.”
