The Top Native Advertising Platforms That Advertisers and Publishers Need to Know

Introduction

As third-party cookies vanish from the digital landscape, content-driven and contextually focused strategies are rising to the top of advertisers’ media plans. Perhaps the most promising of those is native advertising. In the U.S. alone, native ad spend is expected to grow to $97.46 billion in 2023.

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Native advertising is a well-established strategy within the digital ecosystem. Its growing momentum signifies just how well it addresses the many challenges advertisers are facing today when it comes to breaking through the digital clutter and reaching people with relevant messages when they’re most receptive to them, all while respecting their privacy and adhering to current regulations and policies for data use. Importantly, it also enables marketers to leverage their content marketing assets to connect with audiences within the mid-funnel to drive true consideration for a product or service. 

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For most brands and agencies, the question isn’t whether to leverage native advertising, but rather how to do it with the greatest efficiency and highest impact. That’s where native advertising platforms come in. Let’s talk more about the importance of native advertising and how native advertising platforms help brands and agencies make the most of this important approach to consumer connections. 

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What Is an Example of Native Advertising?

Native ads can be created in a wide variety of formats, and the possibilities are constantly expanding as new technologies emerge. The key is to create ads that are relevant and engaging to the target audience and that blend in seamlessly with the surrounding content.

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Types of native ads can include:

• Sponsored content
• Promoted content
• Content recommendation widgets
• In-feed units (e.g., Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, news sites)
• In-app rewarded video
• Sponsored outstream video found within a feed or article

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The beauty of native advertising is that it can take many forms. The goal is to blend seamlessly into the user experience and bring value to it. That means native advertising might look a little different on any given site, but across the board, research shows that people pay 53 percent more attention to native ads than they do to typical display advertising. Some examples of native advertising executions include: 

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• A sponsored post on a news website about the best new travel destinations for 2023, featuring a video ad for a travel company.
• A custom playlist on a music streaming service curated by a popular influencer, featuring songs from the influencer's favorite artists.
• A social media camera filter that allows users to add an “on brand” overlay to their photos.
• A sponsored audio segment on a podcast about the latest trends in fashion and beauty, featuring an interview with a fashion expert and product placements from relevant brands.
• An interactive native ad on a website for a clothing retailer that allows users to quiz themselves on their personal style and receive recommendations for new clothes to buy.
• A social media ad on Instagram that looks like a regular post from a user, but is actually an ad for a product or service.

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When it comes to creating and distributing native advertising content, that’s where the rubber meets and road—and where native advertising platforms become so important. 

What Is a Native Advertising Platform?

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A native advertising platform helps advertisers create and distribute ads that look and feel like the content around them. This makes those ad experiences less intrusive and more engaging for users. For example, a native ad on a news website might look like a regular article, but it will have a label that says "sponsored content." Or, a native ad on a social media platform might look like a regular post, but it will have a label that says "promoted."

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Native advertising platforms represent important partners for brands and agencies because they help them reach their target audiences with ad experiences that are more effective than traditional display ads. Studies have shown that native ads have higher click-through rates and conversion rates than display ads. 

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Consider this analogy: Imagine you are walking down the street, and you see a person handing out flyers. You are probably more likely to ignore the flyer if it is just a generic advertisement for a product or service. But if the flyer is designed to look like a coupon or a map that’s relevant to where you are walking in that moment, you are more likely to take it and read it.

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Native advertising platforms work in the same way. They help advertisers create ads that are more likely to be noticed and engaged with by users, and they make sure they’re being circulated in the right “neighborhoods”—that is, the places where people are most likely to be receptive to them.

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How Do You Select a Native Advertising Platform?

Native advertising platforms help publishers and advertisers create and deliver native ads. Publishers and advertisers can both benefit from working with native advertising platforms. For publishers, native advertising platforms can help to increase revenue, improve user experience, and attract new advertisers. For advertisers, they can help to improve brand consideration, generate leads and sales, and improve ROI. Importantly, they’re the most effective partners when it comes to helping advertisers bridge the gap between their upper-funnel awareness efforts and their lower-funnel acquisition efforts. That’s because native advertising helps drive true consideration within the mid-funnel—an area too many brands today tend to overlook.

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When choosing a native advertising platform, there are a few factors to consider:

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• Audience: Which platform has the audience you are trying to reach?
• Budget: How much are you willing to spend on your native ad campaign?
• Features: Which features are important to you, such as audience targeting, ad creation, and ad delivery?
• Integration: Does the platform integrate with your existing marketing tools and systems?

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Once you have considered these factors, you can start to compare different platforms to find the best one for your needs. 

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What Are the Top Native Advertising Platforms?

Native advertising platforms can be a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes to reach their target audiences. Here are a few of the top native advertising platforms in the digital ecosystem today. 

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• Taboola: Taboola provides content recommendation widgets that appear on many popular websites and allows advertisers to promote their content to a wide audience.
• Outbrain: Similar to Taboola, Outbrain offers content recommendation and native advertising solutions. It's known for its partnerships with high-traffic news and media sites.
• RevContent: RevContent is another native advertising platform that focuses on content recommendation. It offers personalized recommendations to users based on their interests.
• MGID: MGID is a native advertising network that provides content discovery and native advertising solutions for publishers and advertisers.
• Sharethrough: Sharethrough offers native advertising solutions and a programmatic advertising platform that helps advertisers create and distribute native ads across various channels.
• Nativo: Nativo specializes in native advertising for publishers, brands, and agencies. The platform offers a range of native ad formats and targeting options, making it easy to use content to drive influence and outcomes. The company’s patented technology leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate the distribution of content in a non-interruptive, fully integrated experience within trusted environments.
• Adyoulike: Adyoulike is a native advertising platform that provides a variety of native ad formats and programmatic solutions for advertisers and publishers.
• TripleLift: TripleLift offers native programmatic advertising solutions, enabling advertisers to create and distribute native ads across various platforms and devices.
• Dianomi: Dianomi specializes in native content marketing, particularly in the financial and business sectors. 
• Adblade: Adblade is an advertising network that offers native advertising solutions, with a focus on in-content placements.

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Deciding which platform is best for a given advertiser depends on that advertiser’s specific needs and goals. It's a good idea to research each platform carefully to find one that is the best fit for your needs. If you’re just getting started with native advertising, you might also want to consider trying out a few different platforms to see which one works best for you.

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Which Platform Is Best for Native Ads? 

The best platform for native ads depends on your specific needs and goals. Nativo is one of the most popular and well-regarded native advertising platforms for several reasons.

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• It’s focused on content: Nativo helps brands create and distribute high-quality content that is relevant and engaging to their target audiences.
• It leans into AI and machine learning: Nativo's platform uses machine learning to understand the context of each publisher's audience and to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time. The company’s proprietary, privacy-safe cookieless technology takes strong engagement signals from content (context, device, demographic, etc.) and uses AI to find look-a-like engagers across all browsers.
• It’s transparent. Nativo provides advertisers with full control over their campaigns and gives them access to detailed reporting on their performance. Nativo also has a team of experts who work to ensure that the ads on its platform are relevant to the content that they are served alongside.
• It drives outcomes. Brands that work with Nativo drive 5x more time spent, 2x greater click-through rates, and 2x lower conversion costs. Nativo allows you to easily scale your existing brand content to 228M+ users across 7,000+ publisher direct relationships to achieve campaign KPIs and deliver business outcomes.
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If you are unsure which native advertising platform is right for you, you might want to consult an expert. A digital marketing agency can help you to choose the right platform for your needs and goals. An agency can also help you to create and manage your native advertising campaigns, or help you find a native advertising platform that will manage these activities for you directly. 
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