GET TO KNOW NATIVE FROM A PROGRAMMATIC PERSPECTIVE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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WHAT IS NATIVE? 3

WHAT DOES NATIVE LOOK LIKE? 4

HOW TO BUY NATIVE 6

HOW DOES NATIVE PROGRAMMATIC WORK? 8

REAL-TIME BIDDING (RTB) 9

WHY BUY NATIVE PROGRAMMATICALLY? 10

REACH, TRANSPARENCY, AND CONTROL 1 1

WHY PROGRAMMATIC WORKS 12

NATIVE AD BEST PRACTICES 13

THE CASE FOR GETTING STARTED

WITH PROGRAMMATIC NATIVE TODAY 14

3

WHAT IS NATIVE?

With the staggering growth of native advertising—mobile native alone is predicted to account for $53 billion1 in ad spend this year—it can sometimes be difficult to remember just how new the format is to our industry.

Let’s start with the basics. What is native? Simply put, native advertising refers to ads that match the form of the content in the publication or app in which they appear. They can take many forms, from sponsored articles and videos to in-feed posts to search results.

The critical thing that differentiates native ads from standard ads is that they match the form and function of the user experience and look the same as content that is native to the site.

1 Source: Mobile Native Advertising To Drive $53B In Ad Spend | MediaPost

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WHAT DOES NATIVE LOOK LIKE?

Native ads blend into the consumer experience seamlessly and can provide relevant content that enhances the experience of users all around the web. There are even publishers who have opted to off er native placements exclusively, in order to maintain a more consistent user experience. As of Q4 2016, the IAB defi nes six core native ad units:

These are ads that appear front-and-center, inside a newsfeed or equivalent primary content on a website. These can be images, videos, advertorial articles, and other types of posts.

IN-FEED UNITS

The results that sit atop and adjacent to organic search results on search engines—often called paid search ads—can be considered native ads, as well.

Sites typically feature a section labeled “You might also like” or “Recommended articles from around the web,” featuring a number of links. The links in these sections are native ads.

PAID SEARCH UNITS

RECOMMENDATION WIDGETS

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These ads are designed to fi t seamlessly into the browsing experience and are presented to look identical to the products or services off ered on a given site.

In-Ad native fi ts into a standard ad container but features content that is contextually relevant to the site on which it appears.

This is a catch-all term for special ad formats that don’t fi t the other categories, like Tumblr Sponsored Day, a Yahoo Homepage takeover, or custom sponsored items within publications or applications.

PROMOTED CONTENT

IN-AD UNITS

CUSTOM [CAN’T BE CONTAINED]

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Getting Premium Performance From Native

Advertisers often ask, “how do we get premium performance from native?”

We’ll dive into the benefi ts of buying programmatically in more detail,

but one key strategy is to use the controls available in your programmatic

buying platform to target the apps and publishers you want to run ads

on and blacklist the ones you don’t. Keep track of your metrics to identify

which apps and publishers are delivering the results you’re looking for.

Double down on the ones where you’re seeing good performance.

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HOW TO BUY NATIVE

Native performs exceptionally well, and it’s growing at an explosive pace. Native is projected to account for 74% of all display ad revenue by 2021.2 Want in? How can you get started?

How Does Native Perform?

Advertisers in diff erent verticals might fi nd varying performance across diff erent publisher types.3

2 Source: Native ads will drive 74% of all ad revenue by 2021 | Business Insider

3 Source: Yahoo performance analytics

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APP

WEB

Low Conversion High Conversion

SPORTS

TECHNOLOGY

GAMES

SHOPPING

MESSAGING

NEWS &MAGAZINES

Entertainment

Auto

Tech/Telco

Financial Services & Insurance

Travel

Travel

Careers/Education

Tech/Telco

CPG

Entertainment

CPG

Real Estate

Tech/Telco

Tech/Telco

Entertainment

Health/Wellness

Tech/Telco

Tech/Telco

Auto

Auto

Financial Services & Insurance

Financial Services & Insurance

Travel

Travel

Publisher Top Advertiser Verticals

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Because of native’s fl exible nature, it may seem like the preferable, or exclusive, method to buy native impressions is through direct sales. While that may be true for some native units—like customized sponsored articles or complete homepage takeovers—the reality is that direct isn’t the only way to buy native.

This can seem like the obvious fi rst choice. If you have a specifi c publication or app in mind, you will want to negotiate a direct deal with them. But there’s more to it than targeting an individual site or group of visitors. When you want a completely custom experience, go directly to the publisher.

Many publishers off er self-serve tools that enable advertisers to buy placements on their sites and apps like Yahoo Gemini.

Programmatic buying unlocks the vast potential of intelligent, individually evaluated impression buying and applies it to the strengths of native. In-feed, recommendation widgets, and in-ad units can be bought and sold programmatically.

DIRECT SALES

PUBLISHER AD PLATFORMS

PROGRAMMATIC

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HOW DOES NATIVE PROGRAMMATIC WORK?

By combining programmatic buying with native placements, publishers and advertisers can take advantage of the strongest performing tools in digital advertising today.

Programmatic advertising uses data to evaluate buys on an individual basis, ensuring that each impression meets the needs of the buyer, from the identity of the viewer to the technical specifi cations of the placement. With the integration of native, marketers can get even more value from each impression.

The Pieces of a Native Ad

Some native ads units are composed of individual pieces of data which can be integrated automatically across publications and applications. The unit will have a set design that is applied to the ad’s content, so the ad matches the form and function of the user experience.

Native Ad Structure

Description

Headline

Brand Name/Logo

Sponsored

Thumbnail Image

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RTB allows advertisers to set their price limits for what they want to pay for each individual impression. This fl exibility, which is one of programmatic’s core benefi ts, can help ensure that advertisers capture the maximum benefi t from each individual impression and allow for the reallocation of funds to pursue more eff ective strategies.

Native programmatic is enabled by OpenRTB 2.3, which expands the real-time bidding (RTB) specifi cations to include the various pieces of native ads along with the tools required to pass that data to ad servers.

How Native is Delivered Programmatically

A user visits a site, and a request for an ad is made.

Advertisers use their demand-side platform (DSP) to bid on the impression request.

The exchange conducts the auction, selects the winning bid, and the DSP delivers the native ad’s metadata to the publisher:

• Headline • Content URL • Description Text • Thumbnail • Brand Logo • Brand Name

The publisher’s system assembles the native ad to fi t the placement and delivers the ad.

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REAL-TIME BIDDING (RTB)

You may already know about the power of native, not only from this book, but also from the various white papers and analyst reports released over the past few years, showing the growth and impact of this ad format. However, buying native programmatically is a relatively new trend that off ers advertisers some unique opportunities.

Programmatic opens up rich targeting opportunities for advertisers. Demand-side platforms (DSPs) can allow ad buyers to reach people based on more detailed information than basic demographics.

By using their own data alongside the DSP’s data, as well as data from third-party sources, buyers are able to target people based on sites they’ve visited, actions they’ve taken, conversion events, device characteristics, location data, and more.

Advertisers often want to limit their campaigns to specifi c publications and apps, but also want to take advantage of the reach and targeting of programmatic. Those buyers can purchase pre-negotiated packages of apps and sites and have their campaigns executed programmatically—the best of both worlds.

And while native deals are not yet prevalent across the industry, the growth of deals for both display and video inventory are good indicators that native deals are just around the corner.

Buying Programmatic Native

The native ad units that can be bought programmatically: in-feed, recommendation widgets, and in-ad units.

TARGETING

DEALS

WHY BUY NATIVE PROGRAMMATICALLY?

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REACH, TRANSPARENCY, AND CONTROL

Programmatic gives digital advertisers unprecedented reach in their campaigns. With programmatic, a single campaign can target websites and mobile apps all around the world, locating impressions from users in a desired audience wherever and however they surf the web.

Brands and advertisers need to know where their native ads are placed and be able to limit publications and apps as they desire. Buyers can avoid casting a wide net by using programmatic platforms that give greater visibility into their buys, often down to the individual URL or mobile app level.

DSPs and Exchanges also off er tools that enable buyers to set blacklists for sites and apps they want to avoid displaying on or whitelists that allow them to choose the sites and apps where they do want to run their ads.

Use your DSP to plan, report, and optimize performance.

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WHY PROGRAMMATIC WORKS

The blend of powerful targeting capabilities, superb reach, and

buyer control makes programmatic the perfect partner for native

advertising. And the coming-together of these ad technologies

arrived at the right time, as publications begin to shift their available

inventory to native.

For instance, Yahoo has invested and integrated native advertising

across more than 51% of Yahoo owned and operated supply.4 With

native integrated into the programmatic ecosystem, buyers only

need to make adjustments to their creative and buying criteria to

take advantage of the fused power of native and programmatic.

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4 Source: AdWeek 2016: The Next Era of Programmatic presentation

Buying Tip

We’ve found pricing for programmatic native is actually closer to video eCPMs than display eCPMs. When you’re setting up your programmatic native campaigns, you may want to start with a higher bid and reduce as necessary to improve effi ciency. As always, track your performance metrics to ensure you’re getting value out of every buy.

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Yahoo recently conducted an in-depth study on native ads, Creative Best Practices: Native Ads, using eye-tracking and surveys to determine native ad eff ectiveness. The study is detailed and informative—and we hope it’s helpful when you build your next native campaign—but the short version of the fi ndings can get you started on the right path:

Use images that feature people, as they can drive engagement and fi xation on both desktop and mobile.

Make sure your logo is visible and prominent. Larger logos deliver recall, action, and longer fi xation across platforms.

Brand mentions, while not as powerful as logos, have a strong impact on performance. Include them in the headlines of your ads.

Ensure that you have a seamless mobile experience in place for the consumer post-click. When users engage, you want them to understand next steps easily.

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BEST PRACTICES

NATIVE AD BEST PRACTICES

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THE CASE FOR GETTING STARTED WITH PROGRAMMATIC NATIVE TODAY

Native’s stellar performance is digital advertising’s rising powerhouse. With programmatic technology behind them, ad campaigns can grow more effi cient, more cost-eff ective, and drive stronger results for advertisers.

Consumer response to native ads has been shown to be more positive than for other ad units. For example, a Yahoo study found that native experiences within premium environments can get 3X more attention, 55% stronger emotional response, and 23% higher quality ad perception.5

Ad exchanges, like the BrightRoll Exchange, are off ering native placements now. Take advantage of the opportunity and start your native campaign today.

Copyright ©2016 BrightRoll, Inc.

brightroll.com/contact

5 Source: Ad Environments: The Halo Eff ect | Yahoo (PDF)