While the marketing landscape has seen its ups and downs in the past few years, there’s one ad format that continues to stand above the rest: native advertising.
Why? Because native advertising is tailored to the consumer’s experience. Across channels, native ads are built to match their surrounding content and context, so they fit into the user journey instead of interrupting it.
Especially now that audiences are growing tired of traditional ads and more people are using ad blockers, brands of all sizes are investing in native ads to continue reaching consumers at just the right moments.
The reasons Google loves native advertising, according to MediaRadar, are that it’s:
- Well-integrated with content. Native ads sit within content making them less noticeable and less disruptive than display ads. Take a look at these native advertising examples to get a better idea of where exactly native ads are placed.
- Beneficial. Native advertising can benefit publishers, advertisers and consumers. Content consumers enjoy a better flow of content. Advertisers get higher engagement rates. Publishers can see higher CPMs and revenues.
- Useful everywhere. Native advertising has always fit comfortably into the mix of mobile, video, and social media advertising. Social media channels present opportunities for brands to be more personal and build brand awareness, helping their message gain a bit of value.
Here, we’ll share some of the most notable native advertising statistics for 2022.
Native Advertising Stats
The past couple of years have unearthed eye-opening statistics and trends that illustrate the continued growth and success of native advertising.
1. The global native ad market will be worth $400 billion by 2025.
According to native advertising firm AdYouLike via The Drum, native ad spending will increase by a whopping 372% between 2020 and 2025—making native the number-one digital ad format of the 2020s.
2. Native digital display ad spend has already reached $53 billion.
According to Statista, U.S. native digital display advertising exceeded $52 billion by the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021—up from $35 billion in 2018.
3. Native is one of the top-performing video ad formats for U.S. brands and publishers.
Second only to social video ads, native video ads deliver better outcomes than other video ad channels and formats, including over-the-top or connected TV and in-stream ads, says eMarketer.
4. Native ad images with no text drive higher CTRs.
Taboola Trends offers weekly native advertising insights based on data from roughly 75 million clicks across 50 billion impressions. According to the latest US trends, pulled on March 16th 2022, native ads should be close-up photos that do not include text drive higher CTRs.
5. Advertising alongside news content increases brand trust.
Over 80% of news consumers say seeing ads within news content increases or maintains brand trust, according to IAB Europe. That’s where native advertising shines — fitting seamlessly into its surrounding content in order to provide a more intuitive experience for the reader.
6. Almost half of U.S. internet users say ads feel too invasive.
Nearly 45% of U.S. internet users report that when brands use their data in advertising, the ads often feel too invasive. Instead, they prefer more less intrusive and interruptive ad experiences, especially ones that don’t impact page load speeds.
7. Native ad videos with women, color, and no text see higher completion rates.
According to US Taboola Trends, pulled on March 16th, 2022, native videos with winter landscapes, food, and color illustrations are seeing more engagement and higher completion rates among native ad audiences.
8. 83% of B2B native advertisers in 2021 were new.
As MediaRadar reported, B2B native advertising saw a dip in spend in 2020 due to the pandemic—but not as much as other B2B ad formats. And by the time 2021 came around, brands were back to native advertising in full force.
In fact, over 80% of all B2B native advertisers were new to the format that year. And it’s easy to see why. As a type of branded content, native advertising allows companies to share their messages across platforms without interrupting the consumer experience, shared MediaRadar.
As more brands catch on to the importance of native advertising, spend in this industry will only increase, and audiences will be treated to more seamless, intuitive ad experiences.
In fact, all trends point to a rise in the positive impact of native advertising that won’t be coming to an end any time soon. And remember: the benefits of native advertising are even greater when advertisers follow native advertising best practices and continuously optimize their strategies for success.