In an era of widespread personal data breaches, users are increasingly seeking ways to safeguard their privacy through any means possible. Responding to these concerns, Google has taken several steps to eliminate user-tracking cookies. On the other hand, Apple introduced iOS 14 along with App Tracking Transparency, emphasizing the need for transparency in application tracking. Furthermore, major platforms such as Google, Facebook, and YouTube have reduced the range of options available for targeted advertising campaigns.
While these solutions are of help to the users, they threaten advertisers, including affiliates due to significantly reduced targeting accuracy. Advertisers are facing difficulties in tracking their campaign performance and ROI. Also, they are spending more on traditional ad formats for the right audience.
What should an affiliate marketer do to face these uncertain changes?
The answer is to use Native Ads
Experienced affiliates are already exploring alternative advertising methods to reach their target audiences and achieve higher conversion rates, rather than struggling to survive in intense competition and paying more for potentially irrelevant leads.
What attracts the attention of those who adapt to the changes? Native Ads, also known as native traffic, have emerged as a highly effective format for grabbing audience attention and motivating them to take action. The success of Native Ads is evident in the projected market value of $402 billion by 2025, which represents a remarkable 372% increase from 2020 when affiliates first began embracing this format. The USA and Western Europe will account for over half of this market share:
Users tend to come across Native Ads on social media, promoted search results, and websites. Unlike other ad formats, native ads are not intrusive or annoying to users. On the other hand, as the name suggests, these ads merge with the content around them, enriching and improving the user experience rather than ruining it.
Native Ads Relevance and Overcoming Audience Irritation
Merging with surrounding content is not the only advantage of the format. There are a few other similar advantages of Native Ads over other formats, such as location and ad relevance.
On sites visited by the target audience, Native Ads appear on high-traffic pages such as:
- Homepage: ideal for campaigns to draw attention to the features of the offer;
- Middle of the article: most useful for capturing the attention of users before they leave the page;
- Under the Article: Perfect for a call to action, as users are ready to explore the topic further.
Nowadays, most of the commercial content on the Internet is occupied by contextual advertising. But it also often causes criticism from users due to the fact that it sells what they do not need. According to Statista, 50% of US adults find such ads annoying and irrelevant.
Unlike traditional contextual advertising, Native Ads easily overcome this problem, as affiliates can reach the right audience by targeting relevant topics.
For example, a food delivery offer might be shown to users on a food site after they read an article about using seasonal ingredients, or on a wellness site. Another example is when a user reads about relationships and at the end of the article he will be prompted to instantly find a partner. In both cases, Native Ads will appear relevant to the user. They continue on the topic of the article without invading the user's personal data.
How do Native Ads work?
Most Native Ads today are bought and sold through advertising networks. Within a fraction of a second, the winning bid is determined, and the campaign is posted on the publisher’s website. In MyBid, all sites where Native Ads are shown are either internally owned or verified, so you should not worry about the quality of traffic.
Banner blindness and ad blockers
Users are bombarded with ads from morning to evening, which, to be honest, makes them freak out. As a response to such a destructive stimulus, people have developed a blindness to advertising - the so-called "banner blindness". They simply do not notice ads and automatically absorb only the content that is relevant to the topic of the article. In addition, almost half of all Internet users worldwide use ad blockers, which significantly reduces the effectiveness of advertising and increases the cost of traffic.
Experienced affiliate teams following the strategies of big brands tend to overcome banner blindness with the help of native advertisement.
The numbers speak for themselves:
- Native Ads bring in 53% more views than banner ads and increase the desire of buyers to take action by 18%;
- 70% of people prefer to learn about new products and brands through the quality content that Native Ads offers;
- 32% of people will share Native Ads with friends or family, but only 19% will share banner ads;
- 84% of consumers have maintained or increased their trust in products posted on news sites.
Conclusion
Native Ads is a model that cannot be ignored. However, this model is not an absolute solution for all affiliate marketing troubles. Not all ad networks offer effective Native Ads placements, which may cause some affiliates to have the wrong opinion about them. MyBid confidently offers its affiliates Native Ads, since more than 90% of the sites where such ads are placed belong to the company itself. Just write to their affiliate managers and they will help you launch and scale your campaigns.
