Trends shaping Native Advertising
The shift from traditional advertising to Native Advertising accelerated quite some time ago. As habits change and new technology continues to advance we want to highlight 6 major trends that are forecasted for this year in Native Advertising:
1. MOBILE FIRST
The move towards mobile will continue to accelerate. With a traffic growth of 800% on mobile predicted this year, it is worth to say “Go Mobile first”. 43% of today’s consumers start their online research on mobile, with an average conversion rate of up to 64% compared to desktop. So it‘s time to jump on board the mobile revolution!
Desktop or mobile, what should I choose for my native advertising campaign ?
2. GREATER SCALABILITY
Technological developments towards new SSPs and DSPs platforms (Open RTBs) will simplify and empower the buying-selling process and will allow real-time ad serving. For Advertisers, this means that RTB technology will improve the audience targeting effectiveness, and propel the creation of more engaging and dynamic formats. Therefore bringing more scalability and technology improvements.
3. MEASUREMENT STANDARDIZATION
Currently it is difficult to determine the revenue generated from native advertising campaigns or measure the benefits it has for a brand. Brands and publishers are increasingly expressing the need for more insights regarding their target audience. With the lack of standardized metrics to assess performance (engagement, time spent, traffic, CPC, CPV, social sharing) and the increasing shift towards video content, there arises the need for a consensus.
4. BETTER TRANSPARENCY
By essence, native advertising is created to fade into the editorial background. The difficulty for readers to immediately identify the sponsored content is then easily understandable. But contrary to what it is usually thought, a clear labeled and differentiation from the editorial content would not input the brand performance but increase effectiveness (i.e: study New York Times – Wendy’s Fresh Food).
Advertising vs. clickbaits: why choose quality over quantity ?
5. MORE VISUAL CONTENT WITH NATIVE VIDEO
Forecasts indicate bright days ahead for Native Video content. It will become the second most employed format after written content. Nevertheless, improvements still need to be made, especially to meet mobile format and better monetization for native video campaigns.
6. AFTER-CLICK OPTIMIZATION
Advertisers will focus more on what happens after the click. They will be pushed to optimize the landing page experience. A good ad will retain consumer intention and trigger a click, but the actual content will engage the consumer with the brand and hopefully build a connection.
