The Interactive Advertising Bureau and its Native Advertising Task Force today released the "IAB Native Advertising Playbook" to serve as a consistent framework for the discussion surrounding native advertising.
The Playbook identifies native advertising as "an aspiration to seamlessly integrate brand messaging into consumers' content experiences, as well as a practical suite of ad products that successfully meet that objective," the IAB said in a statement.
The IAB laid out six core interactive ad formats that are currently being used within the native advertising landscape:
In-feed units Paid search units Recommendation widgets Promoted listings IAB standard ads with "native" element units Custom
"Marketers are already embracing native strategies and publishers are looking for a roadmap that will allow them to take full advantage of the trend," Peter Minnium, head of brand initiatives for the IAB. "The more we can define and structure the framework surrounding native advertising, the easier we will make it for brands to easily incorporate it into their ad buys."
The playbook suggests that marketers address six marketplace considerations to ensure that a unit will meet their brand objectives:
Brand Connections Form – How does the ad fit with the overall page design? Is it in the viewer's activity stream or not in-stream? Function – Does the ad function like the other elements on the page in which it is placed? Does it deliver the same type of content experience (e.g., a video on a video page or story among stories) or is it different? Integration – How well do the ad unit's behaviors match those of the surrounding content? Are they the same, e.g., linking to an on-site story page, or are new ones introduced? Buying & Targeting – Is the ad placement guaranteed on a specific page, section, or site, or will it be delivered across a network of sites? What type of targeting is available? Measurement – What metrics are typically used to judge success? Are marketers more likely to use top-of-the-funnel brand engagement metrics (e.g., views, likes, shares, time spent) or bottom funnel ones (e.g., sale, download, data capture, register, etc.)? Disclosure – How is this ad product identified as such?
The Playbook provides principles to ensure that consumers will be able to distinguish between sponsored content and a publisher's editorial content.
"I firmly believe that advertising on the modern internet will be defined by meaningful content, not standard ads. There's a movement happening, away from interruptive, traditional ads, and towards thoughtful brand stories — and native ads are the most potent and effective distribution strategy for content-based advertising," Dan Greenberg, founder and CEO of Sharethrough and co-chair of the IAB Native Advertising Task Force, said in a statement. "The IAB framework is the first step in standardizing a set of new native ad formats and represents a milestone for the movement. For advertisers, native, content-based advertising is the translation layer between the modern internet and traditional TV."
The IAB is also planning a series of Native Advertising Workshops beginning in March 2014, which will take a deeper dive into areas such as Measurement, Ethics & Disclosure and Consumer Attitudes & Behavior.
