In today’s world, the average person will see between 4,000 to 10,000 ads in one day.

It’s no secret that ads have been one of the most essential marketing tools businesses and brands have had at their disposal for decades, and with the growth of the internet and social media, consumers are constantly met with ads on virtually any device they own that is connected to the internet.

However the constant influx of ads has created a new problem, banner blindness. So many people today are willingly ignoring or not even noticing information they perceive to be ad-like choosing rather to continue their activity rather than pay attention to the ad being displayed no matter how invasive it may be. Things are getting even worse as more people opt to pay for ad blockers rather than having to deal with ads.

However, there does seem to be a solution that can still help companies promote their businesses through ads without irritating the consumer and that is native advertising.

What Is Native Advertising?

Native advertising is a form of paid advertising where the ads are created to match the appearance, look and feel of the page of the page they are displayed on.

At first glance you wouldn’t notice that a native ad is an ad considering how they are designed. In fact most people would not notice the difference between native ads and ordinary content if native ads did not have the promoted or sponsored content in their display.

Usually native ads are displayed in either of these three ways:

In-feed ads – these are ads that appear on the news feed of different social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. These are usually the posts you see labeled sponsored content.

Search & Promoted Listings – these native ads usually appear at the top or sidebar of your search engines.

Content Recommendations – these native ads will appear at the bottom of the page you are on and look like an article recommendation.

Are Native Ads Effective?

Absolutely. You see the great thing about native ads is they do not look like ordinary ads, thus people are less likely to ignore them. Native ads are also less intrusive than traditional ads. Thus most people don’t feel like their browsing is being interrupted or they are being forced to view their ad. Instead they tend to encounter native ads more naturally, which most consumers appreciate.

Plus, considering how targeted native ads are, they tend to pique the interest of the consumer more making the more likely to engage.

Why Are Native Ads Controversial

The many controversy with native ads stems from the fact that these can look like ordinary blog content which can sometimes raise the ethical issue whether the consumer is being misled with promotional content. However, all native ads today are clearly identified as an ad with statements like promotional post, recommended for you or sponsored content. Thus consumers can easily recognize it as an ad and act accordingly.

All in all, native ads are great tool to help businesses and brands to promote their products and services without the user feeling irritated by the interruption to whatever they were doing.