Native advertising - What to expect in 2020 and beyond

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard that native is big and getting bigger. Sandeep Balani, head of India at Outbrain, outlines what's driving this growth

Native is at the intersection of massive shifts in consumer behaviour and technological improvements in the advertising industry. From a consumer perspective, users are fed up with interruptive ad formats that disrupts their online browsing - thus, the rise of adblockers reaching close to 40 per cent around the globe on desktop. Another seismic change in consumer behaviour is the shift to mobile content consumption.
There's simply no place on a mobile screen for a banner.  "Furthermore, we are Generation X  i.e. the generation that can't wait to press X and get on with what I actually want to watch," Balani says. And finally, the shift in the way content consumed on mobile has fundamentally changed with the adoption of the feed experience. Consumers expect and prefer the feed format first developed by search and social platforms. 
Outbrain is a mobile-first company over 50 per cent of its revenues, PVs and clicks are on mobile. And it is now becoming a feed first company.  This has led Balani to believe that native is definitely the future of digital advertising, and many tend to agree. Native ad spending is expected to grow exponentially over the coming years. 
 So what's next for native?
1.  The halo effect, AKA trust: The Halo Effect, i.e the lift in trust a brand receives from advertising on a premium publisher's site, is not an advertising myth but a well-documented advertising reality. 
This context has a greater bearing on whether or not we trust the ad enough to proceed to click on it and even go on to make a purchase. 
This summer, Outbrain conducted a consumer research study with Dutch research agency Lumen - where it surveyed 900 consumers regarding their perceptions of ad formats and environments. "It has long been believed that this context has a greater bearing on whether or not we trust the ad enough to click on it and even go on to make a purchase," Balani points out.
The results were very clear. Ads shown on premium news sites are much more likely to be trusted (+44 per cent), clicked on (+21 per cent) and lead to future purchases (+24 per cent) than ads shown on social media platforms, concluding that native ads within premium publishing sites take the lead over ads within social environments when it comes to trust. 
Premium publishers' sites for once are rewarded for their rigorous editorial checks and balances, and quality content. This is a good reminder to all stakeholders of such sites to keep their environments pristine to retain consumer trust.
2. Native video: Video marketing is no different than any other form of digital marketing in the sense that it's susceptible to shifting consumer behaviour. It is well-known how it feels when a video is interrupted or delayed by an ad - that is not creating any meaningfully full engagement. This will create the need for video advertising to become native, i.e non-intrusive and chosen by the end-user. 
3. Native audio: There is definitely a rise in publisher-owned podcasts amongst Outbrain's partners and as a result, it recently launched podcard. The smartfeed technology allows it to create new experiences as they emerge, such as podcasts. Publishers can drive readers to their podcasts through an RSS feed. Readers can listen from within the feed or go directly to the podcast page.
Next, Balani confirms that brands will be moving into this space too. "For the first time, marketers will have no choice but to consider the audio characteristics of their brands," he adds.
A good example of this is the brand Sephora who recently launched a lipstick line under the Sephora Collection brand, called #Lipstories -  a multi-channel campaign to promote what Sephora calls "lipstick for real life". One arm of that campaign is a new branded podcast of the same name. #Lipstories narrates "stories from everyday lives" of "influential female founders, creators and thought leaders". 
But the biggest trend for 2020 will have to be about the whole industry coming together to build a better ecosystem. According to Balani, there must be an effort to invest in creating value on the open web that works for everyone. Users want to discover relevant, trusted, high-quality content presented in engaging formats.
Marketers are looking for scalable ways to engage their audiences and channels they can invest in to drive return on their advertising budgets. And publishers need to find business models to fund quality journalism alongside ways to reach and develop ongoing relationships with audiences.

• Media & Marketing