As traditional display advertising loses effectiveness, publishers are increasingly turning to native advertising, which integrates ads seamlessly into original content, with 78% of publishers and 61% of brands planning to adopt this format. Native ads are adaptable to various platforms and can achieve significantly higher click-through rates than traditional ads. However, concerns regarding editorial independence and the potential for ad-blocking technology pose risks to the growth of native advertising.

1. S u m m a r y
Advertisers are looking for alternatives to conventional display advertising campaigns as
consumers become more immune to them and click-through rates decrease.
Thus, publishers are increasingly offering Native Advertising formats which seamlessly integrate
with a website’s original content. Critics see this as a threat to editorial independence.
Nonetheless, 78 % of publishers and 61 % of brands worldwide plan to use Native Advertising
1
Native Ads can be displayed easily on small mobile screens, which further increases their
relevance.
uPDaTE
NaTivE aDvErTiSiNg
www.nunatak.com issue 3
Sources: 1
Hexagam/Spada (2013), 2
The Awl (2013)
april 2014
D E f i N i T i o N
The term Native advertising describes high-value content created or commissioned by
brands, which is integrated into a website’s look and feel. Platforms such as Buzzfeed rely
solely on Native advertising. Lately, an increasing number of traditional publishers
have jumped on the bandwagon and started selling Native ads (e.g. NyT, WSJ, forbes).
Promoted links in
search results
Content sponsored by
companies for newsletters
addressing a niche topic
Stories on general interest
topics produced by companies
blend with other content
Ads in form of
online articles
Promoted posts in
social media, integrated
into the newsfeed
1929
2004
2005
2006
2009
2011
2013
First print ads made to
look like articles in the
Hawaiian Star Advertiser2
Promoted product
listings in search results

2. Posts produced by
companies blend
into original content
Sponsored videos
Sponsored
playlists
Sponsored posts
Sponsored listings
Sponsored stories
Sponsored links
Video recommendations
in search results
Playlists’ cover photos
can be linked to URLs,
playlists can be created
by companies
Stories produced by
companies mix
with other content
Advertised listings are
shown in search results
Promoted links appear
within search results
E x a m P L E S
o f N aT i v E
a D S
Sources: 3
Hexagram/Spada (2013): sample size > 1000, 4
Native Advertising Leaderboard (2013), 5
Sharethrough (2013),
6
Online Publisher Association (2013)
Ads corresponding
to look & feel of third
party website
Third party publisher
sites like Buzzfeed or on
social media
Sponsored posts in
text, picture and video
formats
Content creation
and advertising space on
third party website
Agencies, publishers
and perhaps companies
themselves
Content posted on
company’s own web
properties
Brand’s own website,
blog or newsletter
Mainly text with pictures,
videos or charts
Content creation, hosting,
administration
Companies and brands,
agencies
Difference to Content marketing
Native advertising Content marketing
How do costs for
advertisers occur?
What do these ads
look like?
Where is the content
hosted?
Which formats are
used?
Who creates these
ads?
34
46
41
61
78
62
agencies Brands Publishers
Expected worldwide
use of Native
advertising: 2013 vs.
20143
(in percent)
2013
2014
The brand MINI reached
1.3 m social actions with the
most successful Native
Advertising campaign to date4
of U.S. consumers notice
Native Ads more
frequently than traditional
banner ads5
of publishers in the United
States offer Native Advertising
on their platforms6
73 %53 %1.3 m

3. Publisher Newcomers and traditional media
Brand Native ads for image building
>Revenues solely from Native Advertising
>CTRa
is at 1.5 %, therefore up to 16
times higher than traditional banner ads7
>Cost of a month-long ad campaign
on Buzzfeed: approximately USD 100,000
(167 advertising partners in 2013)7
>As a Buzzfeed partner, T-Mobile
publishes content on lifestyle topics
>Buzzfeed team creates content on
behalf of T-Mobile
>T-Mobile is only mentioned with
their logo and at the end of an article
B u z z f E E D
T- m o B i L E
f u r T H E r
E x a m P L E S
Sources: 7
Forbes (2014), 8
AdAge (2014), a
CTR = Click-Through-Rate
Promoted content is highlighted in yellow
>Dell is the first partner publishing
Native Ads on the NYT-website, paying a
six-figure dollar sum for a three-month
campaign8
>Dell produces the content itself and
carries editorial responsibility
>Published articles are not deleted
upon end of campaign, the reader can
find them in the site’s archive
N E W yo r k T i m E S (N y T )
The New York Times offers different
kinds of Native Ads
Elite Daily was among
offer Native Advertising
Post’s approach to engage
brands with consumers
Forbes created "Branded
Voice" in order to
run Native Ads for brands
Buzzfeed partner
Nestlé produces
high quality video ads
for Facebook

4. Sources: 9
Sharethrough (2013), 10
MandLoys (2014), 11
news.solvemedia.com (2013)
The Nunatak group is a digital strategy consultancy based in munich.
our focus is on mobile media, Social media, growth Strategy, Digital Coaching and
investment Support for companies in growth industries.
The Nunatak Group GmbH | Managing Partners: Robert Jacobi, Rupert Schäfer | www.nunatak.com | info@nunatak.com
o P P o r T u N i T i E S r i S k S
outlook for Native advertising
>Unique, informative or entertaining
content is less intrusive and
can increase customer interest
Relevant for
Platform Brand Publisher
>70 % of U.S. users prefer to learn
about a company or a product through
content than traditional print or
banner ads10
Platform Brand Publisher
>Service providers such as Contently
also start to offer content for Native
Ad formats
Platform Brand Publisher
>57 % of venture capitalists, business
angels and private equity firms in the
U.S. will probably invest in companies
that sell Native Advertising11
Platform Brand Publisher
>Cost-intensive and time-consuming
measure: Since ads are produced
for single platforms, they can only be
used once
Relevant for
Platform Brand Publisher
>Development of jurisdiction (e.g. FTC
regulation in USA) still uncertain
Platform Brand Publisher
>Ad-blockers can be used to success-
fully block Native Ads
Platform Brand Publisher
>If customers get used to the new
advertising format they may start
ignoring it
Platform Brand Publisher
Adaptly is a start up
which advertises Native
Ads in social networks
Mopub creates social
Native Ads for mobile apps
(belongs to Twitter)
Nativo is an automated
platform producing
Native Ads
Platform marketplaces for publishers and brands
>An online marketplace which allows
publishers to sell their Native Ads
>Sharethrough’s software automatically
transforms regular advertising into
Native Ads
>More than 200 m final users reached9
>Customers: Pepsi and Nestlé
S H a r E T H r o u g H
Projects related to
Native advertising:
Establishment of a
multimedia content
services group
Supervision
and implementation
of a content
strategy for a global
consumer brand
Positioning and
development
of a content service
provider, which
offers creation of
Native Advertising
formats