What Is A Native Ad?

Date First Published: 18th September 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Advertising

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 5/10

Learn more about what a native ad is in this article.

A native ad is a type of online advertisement that is designed to blend in with the content around the page, provide a better user experience and generate higher conversion rates for advertisers and higher chances of revenue for publishers. Native ads can be difficult to differentiate from the actual content of the website, so they should be labelled as 'Advertisement', 'Sponsored', 'Suggested post' or 'Ad' to avoid misleading users and indicate that they are paid ads.

Native ads contain sponsored content that advertisers are charged for and are designed to catch the reader's information by showing them information about what is being advertised using images, a small amount of text, or animations. Unlike banner ads, these are integrated into the design of a website and can be less intrusive. For example, when watching a video on YouTube, the ad that appears above the videos on the right side of the webpage is a native ad. Native ads can be displayed on a website, app, or software program.

Like banner ads, native ads can be personalised, meaning that they display content based on the website type, the visitor's geographical location, what they browsed before, and their interests, which can greatly increase the chances of clicks. However, this can also lead to users buying items that they don't need and impulse purchases.

Types Of Native Ads

• Native video ads - These involve the advertiser describing a product or service on a video for a certain period of time. An example of native video ads would be the ads on YouTube that play before the actual video loads and are skippable after 5 seconds. Advertisers are charged for every 1000 video impressions and for each click. The number of visitors that watch a native video ad through to the end has an effect on the publisher's earnings and the advertiser's costs. This is known as viewer retention and suggests that visitors are engaged.
• Native posts - These are the most common type of native ads and involve the advertiser describing a product or service using an image and a small amount of text and are often labelled with 'Sponsored' or 'Advertisement'. Clicking on the image will take the visitor to the advertiser's website. For example, when getting a list of results, a result may appear at the bottom or the top that blends in with the other results, but is labelled as a paid ad.
• Paid search results - These ads appear at the top of the search results before the organic results and blend in with the size, font, and text colour, but are labelled with 'Ad'. They often contain 3-4 ads.

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