Native advertising is a web advertising method in which the
advertiser attempts to gain attention by providing valuable content
in
the context of the user's experience; it is similar in concept to an advertorial,
which is a paid placement attempting to look like
an article. A native
ad tends to be more obviously an ad than most advertorials while still
providing interesting or useful
information.
The advertiser's intent is to make the paid advertising feel less
intrusive and thus increase the likelihood users will
click on it.
Among the formats for native advertising are promoted videos, images,
articles, music and other media. Examples of the
techniques include Search Engine Marketing (ads appearing alongside search results are native to the search experience) and Twitter
with promoted Tweets, trends and people. Other examples include Facebook's promoted stories or Tumblr's promoted posts.
Content Marketing
is another form of native advertising, showing "other content you might
be interested in" which is sponsored by
a marketer alongside editorial
recommendations.
The types of platforms and websites that participate in native
advertising can be split up into two categories, “open” and
“closed”
platforms. “Closed” platforms are brands creating profiles and/or
content within a platform, then promoting that
content within the
confines of that same closed platform.