Have you ever been reading an article on a website, only to be distracted by a seemingly related article with a catchy headline? You click on it, thinking it’s part of the website’s content, only to find out it’s actually an advertisement. This, my friends, is native advertising. It’s a form of advertising that aims to blend in with the website’s content, some consider this controversial, but honestly most others just understand it for what it is. A cleaver way for advertisers to connect with their target audience and for content websites and apps to generate significant revenue. In this blog post, I’ll explain what native advertising is and why some people thing it’s controversial.
What is Native Advertising?
Native advertising is a type of advertising that matches the form and function of the platform it’s on. In other words, it’s an advertisement that looks and feels like it belongs on the website or app it’s placed on. Native ads can take on many forms, including sponsored content, promoted listings, and in-feed ads.
Two of the most popular platforms for native advertising are Taboola and Outbrain. If you’ve ever visited a news website, you’ve likely seen their ads. The ads range from clickbaity headlines, such as “You Won’t Believe What Happened When This Woman Did X” or “Doctors Are Speechless After This New Breakthrough.” to the more utilitarian headlines like “Save 15% on your car insurance”! There is also a lot of retargeting that happens on Native Platforms. So if you are shopping on Amazon, then go to CNN, Amazon might show you an ad for the item you were looking at through one of these platforms. The goal of course, is to get you to click on the ad and visit the advertiser’s website. Here are a couple examples.
Why is it Controversial?
Native advertising is controversial for a couple reasons. First, it can be deceiving. But I want to set the record straight here, as a Native Advertiser you should never try and deceive your audience. Not only will it annoy the end user, but ultimately it doesn’t work. Annoyed consumers don’t buy from advertisers! However, some advertisers will still try and use this method. Again, I don’t recommend it and Taboola and Outbrain will most likely reject these ads anyway. Many people click on native ads thinking they’re clicking on part of the website’s content. This is the beauty of Native Advertising. It takes on the look and feel of its environment. The end result is a much higher clickthrough rate as compared to standard display.
Second, some people argue that native advertising is just plain annoying. They don’t want to be interrupted by ads while they’re trying to read an article or watch a video. They feel like native ads are invasive and disrupt their online experience. Umm ok, well sure but if you are annoyed by ads, then you can either use an Ad Blocker, which is basically stealing or you can support the website or app your are on by buying a subscription. At the end of the day, content is only free when its ad supported. Without ads, your favorite website would need to charge you a subscription just like old fashioned news papers. I think the subscription model is great, but its very difficult to pull off for most websites and apps. We, as the great mass of internet users, have been groomed to expect everything on the internet to be free. Its only free with ads though!
Conclusion:
Native advertising is “to some people” a controversial form of advertising that attempts to blend in with the content of the platform it’s on. While it can be extremely effective, in rare cases it can also be deceiving, because of a few bad advertisers. As with any form of advertising, it’s important to use native advertising ethically and transparently to maintain trust with users. So the next time you see a clickbaity headline on a news website, remember that it might just be a native ad. If the headlines catches your interest, click on it! You will not only be supporting the website you are on, you may even find a new product or service!