Native ads (native advertising or native display ads) refer to all paid advertising formats that are discreetly labeled as ads. They are part of performance marketing. Simply put, native advertising is advertising that does not look like advertising. Native ads offer minor disadvantages, but above all advantages. Did you already know? According to a white paper by AppNexus, the CTR of native display advertising is 8.8 times higher on average. According to Forbes, the purchase intention increases by 18% with native ads. We also always measure a higher CTR in our customer projects. What does this have to do with? Personalization of content, storytelling and more discreet communication channels: referral marketing. Why native advertising? What is native advertising? What is advertising?
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We all know them: sponsored content. When reading online magazines, on social media platforms. Native ads nestle almost inconspicuously into the environment of the respective medium. Native ads are therefore both visually and personalized, with content adapted to the environment of the advertising measure. Native ads can be used in both online and print advertising.
Typical markings are:
“Sponsored content”
“Recommended for you”
…
When a user clicks on these ads, they are redirected to a third-party website/app. This is just one example of native advertising (native ads). As described, native advertising cleverly disguises itself in existing media formats. This includes aspects of design (color, font, font size, etc.), as well as targeting the audience.
In Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Munich, Hamburg and across Germany, native ads allow brands and companies to deliver desired content in a non-typical, promotional way. So unlike banner ads, native ads look like a natural part of the user interface. It therefore does not interrupt the UX (user experience).
70% of users want to learn more about products through content, not traditional advertising.
Native Ads:
Integrative advertising (unobtrusive)
Indirect, sales-promoting measure
Also for PR, online reputation, brand awareness
Why native ads?
In recent years, display ads have been the means to drive online sales. Banner blindness and ad fatigue are real and advertisers have a challenge to combat them.
We are all familiar with the phenomenon of overdosed advertising in city centers. Who notices individual posters anymore? On the Internet, too, users ignore banner ads or even block them completely with ad blockers. “Classic” display advertising in online marketing is becoming less effective (not less relevant) as users become more and more immunized. Native advertising arose out of the need to adapt to new user behavior.
Native ads are ads that don’t look like ads, or simply put:
In 1990 articles were bought in magazines, today in online magazines
Advantages & disadvantages of native ads
Here is a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of native ads. Let’s start with the disadvantages first:
Disadvantages of this strategy: monitoring and time
Performance measurement
Time, work and costs
Hidden labeling
Performance measurement
Measuring the performance of native ad campaigns is one of the most difficult challenges to solve for each individual campaign. Precise statements about key figures such as return on investment (ROI) are difficult to measure.
Time, work and costs
Native ads also always mean storytelling. A good story and appealing design (e.g. infographics, etc.) require time and talent. If you “only” rely on social ads, a good, meaningful graphic is ideally enough.
Hidden labeling
According to our definition, native ads are all paid advertising formats that are discreetly labeled as ads. It is therefore all the more important that users are only confronted with online advertising that is fair, clear and appealing and really delivers added value. Such native ads are often labeled “too discreetly”, which is also a source of criticism.
Advantages of the strategy: personalization and CTR
Referral marketing
Customized content
Higher CTR
Customized content
Tailor-made native ad content is more trustworthy than traditional advertising, as you can see in the key figures on the market and the development of online advertising, as it is more targeted, informative and entertaining for the target group compared to traditional advertising. They encourage users to think and, as a PR tool, can also have an impact on reputation and brand image.
Referral marketing
75% of users engage with a topic when they are most interested in it (source: Reuters). This is precisely the time for native ads. Because it usually doesn’t matter whether the content is branded or not.
To make this work, you create a real, emotional connection with the user through content that is tailored to the personality of the user/target group, through appealing layouts and designs, as well as videos and infographics.
Higher CTR
As seen in the disadvantages, it is difficult to measure the exact success of native ad campaigns. What is easy to understand, however, is the higher click-throughrate (CTR) compared to typical display ads.
Another example? Clark+Meyler’s native advertising campaign for GE (General Electric, USA), reached 5.1 million people and required 416,000 clickthroughs. That is a CTR of over 8 %. The comparison with traditional display ad CTRs is exciting. In 2000, these were still as high as 9%, but by 2012 it was only 0.2%. This is why they are usually measured in CPM (click per mille). These key figures are based on clicks and impressions.
Advertising expenditure and development in marketing
The more effective click rate for us is also directly related to the market key figures. How is online advertising currently developing?
Online advertising in Germany
Online advertising is growing in importance. The figures show this. In 2017, around 7.4 billion euros were generated with online advertising. In the same period, the figure for advertising in print media was EUR 8.7 billion. One year later (2018), it was already 7.9 billion (+ 500 million euros compared to the previous year; source: Federal Statistical Office).
Worldwide digital marketing
In 2021, online is expected to reach 52% of global advertising expenditure for the first time (source: Internet World). This is the general development of online advertising expenditure worldwide in the years 2014 to 2020, as well as a forecast up to the year 2024.
2014 – USD 146.62 billion
2016 – USD 191.87 billion
2018 – USD 283.35 billion
2020 – USD 332.84 billion
2022 – USD 441.12 billion*
2024 – USD 526.17 billion*
*Forecast from Statistia
Key figures USA: Share by sector
Native ads are not a new phenomenon, but they are becoming increasingly popular in companies. While many are still working on their Facebook account, some early adopters have been at it for some time. In the USA for many years.
Spending on native ads will rise to around 41.1 billion dollars in 2019 (no exact figures available yet). This means that native ads already have a market share of 61% in the USA when it comes to digital display advertising (source: eMarketer).
Native Ads: Examples
In the following, I would like to introduce you to a few new features and give you some ideas on how you can place native ads.
Online Magazine: Content Marketing
Focus, Ntv, Spiegel, Vogue, Bravo, in all magazines you will find “Recommended articles”. These are the big players. If you want to play out native ads, you prefer to use such online portals with a large reach and reader loyalty or SEO power(search engine optimization). If you want to build up a really effective network, you should use such A online media and also use B online media (i.e. smaller ones, such as blogs). These in turn refer to the articles or content placements in the large online portals.
In this way, the 1st page on Google gradually fills up with positive recommendations.
After the best family vacation I’ve ever had, I really wanted to tell you about my camping trip to the North Sea. We set off with our new roof tent to discover the sea … I found in a roof tent comparison…
Podcasts: Audio example
The number of podcast listeners is increasing from month to month. Millions in this country now follow their favorite podcasts on Spotify, Deezer & Co. If you have ever listened to American podcasts, then you know that native ads in the episodes are quite “normal”.
After having my car repaired, I was finally back on the road with my sports car at the weekend. The garage wanted to rip me off, so I did it myself. Have you heard of XYcars.com? Two weeks ago I went to the garage and they wanted to charge me hundreds of dollars. Do you know what I did? I went to XYcars.com and ordered the parts myself, for half the price. The team at Auto Shop makes it so easy to find the right parts…
Mobile Ads
Traffic is changing. While 5 years ago we still had over 80%, 90% of visitors on the majority of our customer projects who came via desktop PC (whether Mac, Windows, Ubuntu & Co.), today it is often 80%, 90% who surf on mobile. The market share for native ads, the:
Are compatible with the habits of the users,
The technical status of the end devices,
As well as data transmission
are increasing in relevance. If you want to advertise, you have to think mobile today. However, native ads still hardly play a role here, with only 8% of online marketers relying on native ads last year. However, a large proportion of advertising budgets are spent on video ads.
Have you already gained experience with native ads? And are you looking for new challenges? Perfect! Support us and our clients in performance marketing. Find out more about us, vacancies and contact details for your application here:
Email marketing is part of the overall performance marketing strategy.
Agency, strategy for closing sales
Performance marketing agency – Performance marketing includes a mix of online marketing tools. We will introduce you to all areas and advantages step by step. You will get to know: Social media, email marketing, affiliates, display and native advertising, but also content marketing, search engine ads and, last but not least, search engine optimization. It all starts with the right strategy and a good performance marketing agency that knows its trade.
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