To answer the question above we first need to define what advertising is.
Making it as simple as possible advertising is the communication that businesses and business man use to persuade and encourage audiences into taking some sort of action. May that be a purchase of a product, a service, an email subscription etc.
We are talking about a huge industry.
One that I and Baseify take pride at being a part of.
There are tons of advertising solutions that work can better or worse for you depending on a variety of factors. I will not go into now.
One of these advertising solutions is Native Ads.
My personal favorite.
Native Advertising on the rise
Let’s start off by discussing exactly what native ads are.
In a nutshell, Native Ads are ads designed to blend in with the website’s design and content.
Native ads are a form of advertising that blends in with the platform it appears on. The format and design these Ads use is exactly the same as the content contained on the platform.
Because of this, they have been described often as advertising in disguise.
Even though this may be part of what native ads manage to pull off, the intention behind is not to trick the audience.
The central goal, at least the central goal of quality native ads is to present the promotion without disrupting the websites design and damaging the user experience.
Bad native advertising, on the other hand, has a different goal, make the ads appear as supplementary content rather than what it really is, an advertisement.
It’s advertisers like these that are damaging the industry reputation.
There is a dark side to every monetization strategy online so there is one here is well.
Being a part of the native ads universe I for one do not agree this is where native ads are heading.
All in all, native ads are still accepted a lot better than display ads.
Consumers look at native ads 53% more frequently than at display ads. A study conducted by IPG Media Lab confirms the notion that Native Ads are outperforming traditional banner advertising.
The numbers don’t lie.
Native advertising is on the rise and it’s gaining popularity.
So how does it all work?
There are three parties involved: The Advertiser, The Publisher, and The Ad Network
Ad Networks have a long list of Publishers under their hat.
They make deals with media websites and blogs and later share the revenue stream coming from the advertisers with them.
This is as simple as it gets. Regardless of what side your own native ads provide value none the less.
Native Ad Widgets
Native Ad widgets are the different “ad” solutions Native ad networks provide. Recommended Content is the most popular one by far. It is the first thought that falls to mind when someone mentions native ads. Maybe not for people involved in the industry but definitely for the broad public.
Native ad widgets have been evolving and smart solutions have emerged. There are native ad widgets available that do a lot more than just display ads. Widgets these days actually add functionality besides giving a media website the ability to monetize.
Some of the widgets available include:
- Promoted related product or service listings
- Recommended Apps
- Sponsored Articles
- Comparison shopping widgets
- In image button
- Financial calculators
- Travel price quotes
- Investing Tools
- Stock Quotes
- Search Suggest
At the end of the day, the way that I view the future of native advertising is by employing a closed garden of results within native type placements. By using native widgets and units with structured and niche specific results, relevance will be guaranteed and publisher brands safeguarded. This is the directions native ad networks are heading and this is why I believe smart native widgets are the future of advertising.
