Are Marketers Skeptical of Native Advertising?

Feb 8, 2017

More say they've tried it, but haven't committed

A new survey reveals that more marketers and agencies are beginning to adopt native advertising. However, the data hints that they aren’t necessarily ready to truly commit to native.

According to a report from Advertiser Perceptions, nine out of 10 marketers and agencies in the US had at least gotten started with native in 2016. Just 10% had not tried it.

Interestingly, though, while the number of marketers who had tried native rose over 2015 levels, there was no increase at all in terms of committed users. In 2016, 33% of those surveyed identified themselves as “mainstream adopters” of native advertising, exactly the same level as a year earlier.

Some marketers may be skeptical of native advertising because the concept is broad and somewhat murky. Consumers feel the same way: A September 2016 survey conducted by Radius Global Market Research for Contently and the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism found that US internet users had a hard time recognizing native ads, with 43% of them classifying native as “editorial content.” And while that might be seen as a positive by some marketers, they should be cautious: The same survey found that 54% of respondents said they had felt deceived by native advertising.

—Rimma Kats

 


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