Native Advertising POV

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1 Native Advertising June 7 th , 2015 What’s Native Advertising? Native advertising represents a fundamental turning point in the evolution of digital advertising – it outlines the transformation from intrusive pre-adolescent display ads to the cohesive maturity of digital ads with organic content, which improves the audience’s browsing experience. It provides advertisers and publishers a more effective way to deliver paid ads that increase engagement, brand lift, and reach than traditional banner ads. In terms of increasing reach, since native ad units are more visually engaging, 25% more consumers were measured to look at native ad units than display units, and consumers looked at native ads 53% more frequently than display ads. Native ad units also drive higher brand lift than banner ads with an 18% higher lift in purchase intent and 9% higher life in brand affinity. Moreover, native ads are more share-worthy and have more potential to go viral; therefore, they increase higher reach and penetration than display units. In fact, 32% of consumers are willing to share native paid content with family and friends versus a mere 19% for display ads. By delivering scalable, share-worthy paid content that is consistent with the surrounding function and design, native advertising helps advertisers and publishers better achieve their goals in leveraging user experiences as well as increasing ad effectiveness. Mobile is an Opportunity Consumer attention has become increasingly elusive as mobile adoption and usage grows. Since native advertising is visually engaging and commands focus and attention, it can be an effective method for advertisers to better engage with highly-distracted audiences. In fact, mobile native ads are reported to have a 57% higher CTR and a 33% higher engagement than desktop native ads. Therefore, as more and more audiences are consuming content through mobile devices, native advertising with cross-platform capabilities is inevitably becoming a key part of advertisers’ content marketing strategy in 2015. Challenges Both ad agencies and advertisers may face a few challenges along with favorable ad effects with native advertising. For agencies, since every platform has a unique way of presenting paid content, it might be challenging to find a general ad format to adhere to. Therefore, following the “principles of native advertising” that will be covered in the next section is key to creating content that is easy to scale between various publishers and ad platforms. Also, since tracking and measuring results from each individual platform may be difficult, determining native campaign objectives in order to call for the best metrics across various platforms becomes crucial.

Transcript of Native Advertising POV

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Native Advertising

June 7th, 2015

What’sNativeAdvertising?

Nativeadvertisingrepresentsafundamentalturningpointintheevolutionofdigitaladvertising–itoutlinesthetransformationfromintrusivepre-adolescentdisplayadstothecohesivematurityofdigitaladswithorganiccontent,whichimprovestheaudience’sbrowsingexperience.Itprovidesadvertisersandpublishersamoreeffectivewaytodeliverpaidadsthatincreaseengagement,brandlift,andreachthantraditionalbannerads.

Intermsofincreasingreach,sincenativeadunitsaremorevisuallyengaging,25%moreconsumersweremeasuredtolookatnativeadunitsthandisplayunits,andconsumerslookedatnativeads53%morefrequentlythandisplayads.Nativeadunitsalsodrivehigherbrandliftthanbanneradswithan18%higherliftinpurchaseintentand9%higherlifeinbrandaffinity.Moreover,nativeadsaremoreshare-worthyandhavemorepotentialtogoviral;therefore,theyincreasehigherreachandpenetrationthandisplayunits.Infact,32%ofconsumersarewillingtosharenativepaidcontentwithfamilyandfriendsversusamere19%fordisplayads.Bydeliveringscalable,share-worthypaidcontentthatisconsistentwiththesurroundingfunctionanddesign,nativeadvertisinghelpsadvertisersandpublishersbetterachievetheirgoalsinleveraginguserexperiencesaswellasincreasingadeffectiveness.

Mobile is an Opportunity

Consumerattentionhasbecomeincreasinglyelusiveasmobileadoptionandusagegrows.Sincenativeadvertisingisvisuallyengagingandcommandsfocusandattention,itcanbeaneffectivemethodforadvertiserstobetterengagewithhighly-distractedaudiences.Infact,mobilenativeadsarereportedtohavea57%higherCTRanda33%higherengagementthandesktopnativeads.Therefore,asmoreandmoreaudiencesareconsumingcontentthroughmobiledevices,nativeadvertisingwithcross-platformcapabilitiesisinevitablybecomingakeypartofadvertisers’contentmarketingstrategyin2015.

Challenges

Bothadagenciesandadvertisersmayfaceafewchallengesalongwithfavorableadeffectswithnativeadvertising.Foragencies,sinceeveryplatformhasauniquewayofpresentingpaidcontent,itmightbechallengingtofindageneraladformattoadhereto.Therefore,followingthe“principlesofnativeadvertising”thatwillbecoveredinthenextsectioniskeytocreatingcontentthatiseasytoscalebetweenvariouspublishersandadplatforms.Also,sincetrackingandmeasuringresultsfromeachindividualplatformmaybedifficult,determiningnativecampaignobjectivesinordertocallforthebestmetricsacrossvariousplatformsbecomescrucial.

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Foradvertisers,becauseoneofthekeycomponentsofeffectivenativeadvertisingiscoherencewithsurroundingorganiccontent,theymighthavelesscontroloverthecontentitselfaswellasmarketingmessageswithinthecontentwhilecollaboratingwithpublisherstoproducepaidcontent.Thatistosay,advertisersshouldamplifythevalueofpaidcontentbycreatingquality,share-worthycontentthatistailoredtoeachindividualpublisher.

ContentPrinciples

TypesofNativeAdvertising

1.In-feedSponsoredContent:

Designedtofitnaturallyinapublisher’sfeedtoprovidesimilaruserexperience,matchinguserexpectationswithestablishedorganiccontentpatterns.

o SponsoredStory-Mimicstheformandfunctionoforganiceditorialcontentinnewsfeeds.

ExampleI:Desktop

ExampleII:Mobile

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o SocialAd-Takestheformoforganiccontentandmakesadunitssimilartowhattheaudienceexpectfromafriendtoincreasetrustandopportunityforengagement.

2.PromotionalListings:

Appearalongwithsearchresultsornon-editorialcontentandarepresentedinaformatandfeelsimilartoorganiclistings,aimingtodriveimmediateengagement.

o PromotionalDisplay–Designtofitseamlesslyintotheproduct-focusedexperiencewithlinkstoaproductpage.1

ExampleI:Etsydisplayspromotionalproductlistingsaspartofthesearchresults.

1 Native Advertising Insights -Research, Infographics and Resources. sharethrough. Retrieved from https://www.sharethrough.com/nativeadvertising/

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ExampleII:AmazonshowcasesSponsoredProductsbasedonauser’srecentactivitiesonthesite.

o PaidSearchUnits–AppearnexttoorganicsearchresultswithCTAstodrivetraffictoapage.

ExampleI:Searchengines

ExampleII:PromotedsearchlistingofTheSalvationArmyonYouTube

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3.RecommendationWidgets:

Apreviewofpromotedcontentfeaturedinrecommendationwidgetsonvarioussites.Thesewidgetstendtoalwayslookthesamefromsitetosite,andthenativeexperiencecomesfromtheconsistentuserexperienceacrossmanysites,whichallowsthemtoblendin.2

ExampleI:DailyFinance

ExampleII:StarMagazine

2TheSixCoreTypesofNativeAds.Flite.Retrievedfromhttp://blog.flite.com/home/2014/3/25/the-six-core-types-of-native-ads#.VS1mZc6FFUQ=

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4.EmbeddedBanners:

ComeinstandardIABcontainers(e.g.300x600banners)andcontaincontextuallyrelevantcontentwithintheadwithlinkstoanoffsitepage.

ExampleI:WhoWhatWeardisplayscontextuallyrelevantbanneradsontheirlandingpagewithlinkstoapageoffofthesite.

ExampleII:Recipe.comembedsbanneradsthatarecontextuallyrelevanttoapagewithlinkstoanoffsitepage.

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5.ProprietaryNativeUnits:

Customizednativeunitstailoredtoaspecificplatformtoprovideuniquecontentexperienceexclusivelyfortheplatform.

ExampleI:PandoraworkedwithGatoradetocreatethreebrandedworkoutstationsassociatedwiththebrand’sGseries.

ExampleII:SpotifylaunchedAppFinder,enablingbrandssuchasRollingStoneandPitchforktobuildabrandedpageandpromoteplaylistswithinSpotify.

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ExampleIII:DuringthestoryflippingprocessonFlipboard,adsthatarehighlyrelevanttoatopicthatauseriscurrentlyflippingpopup,withlinksoffoftheapp.

PrinciplesofNativeAdvertising

1.Non-intrusiveDesign:Designnaturalpromotedcontenttoblendinseamlesslyintothesurroundingorganiccontent,aimingtoprovidealess-interruptivebrowsingexperience.

2.Shareworthyness:Createshare-worthy,scalablecontenttoprovidethesamevalueandrelevancyasanyotherorganiccontent.

3.ConsistentFunctionwithSurroundings:Thetypeofcontent(e.g.videoorstory)andintendedbehaviors(e.g.linktoanarticle)providedbynativeadunitsshouldfunctionthesamewayasthesurroundingorganiccontent.

4.AdTransparency:Disclosurelanguagesuchas“sponsored”or“promoted”isrequired.

5.Cross-platformAccessibility.AsmobilenativeplacementshaveaCTRone-thirdhigherthanidenticaldesktopplacements3,beingabletoprovidecross-platformnativeadunitsiscrucial.

LandingPageGuidelines

1.LinktoanExistingWebsite:NativeadunitswithclearCTAdirectuserstoalandingpagedisplayingcontentexpectedbyuserswithinanexistingbrandwebsite.

Example:EssieonWhoWhatWear

3 Slate Adds Scale to Native with Polar. AdExchanger. Retrieved from http://adexchanger.com/native-advertising-2/slate-adds-scale-to-native-with-polar/

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2.LinktoaCampaignLandingPage:NativeadunitswithclearCTAdirectuserstoalandingpagedesignedexclusivelyforacampaign.

Example:JollyTime“UnplugPopConnect”

3.LinktoaPostwithoutLeavingtheSite:Sponsoredcontentthatfitsintothesurroundingsanddirectsuserstoaquality,share-worthypostwithouthavingtoleavethesite.

Example:Boudreaux’sButtPasteonSkinnyMom