A Year Among The 'Natives': An Early Action Report on Scalability, Effectiveness, Relevance
The most buzzworthy ad format of the year is also among the most argued. Is "native advertising" really just "custom content" or "advertorial" by another name? As every publisher struggles to label something in their ad portfolio as 'native' (even mid-page banners) diffused quickly. And even if there is something different about going "native" what have both sellers and buyers learned about the scalability and sustainability of the model in this year of the trend's arrival. Is this really more of a sideshow, where sponsored posts and branded content make sense for a select few publishers like Buzzfeed and the social media networks but not for most media types? And how are these programs being measured relative to traditional branding and DR campaigns? Is the effort going into them really showing ROI? Early-in publishers and agencies give us their early action report.
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