This Week in Native Ads 2/24

This week I got out of the big smoke and headed to Chicago & Boston to talk native with existing and soon-to-be clients. It’s the best part of my job — sitting down, helping people adopt native. The common thread is what I touched on last week, there’s a bunch of brands still sitting on the fences, as they need some help getting started with native. So whilst early adopters are getting slick, the bulk of the adoption curve need it to be easier to get started. Something for us in the industry to continue to improve!

Notable Stories this Week

Yahoo extends Yahoo Gemini reach through new UK partners, ‘including The Telegraph, the Guardian, The Independent, the Evening Standard and Hearst UK.’ Yahoo is one to keep an eye on, they’re kind of flying under the radar but look to be making solid progress with Gemini.
TripleLift & BidTellect connect the pipes. Nice one! And Simpli .fi adds native to its localized programmatic offering.
WSJ launches its first branded podcast for Billions.

Deals/M&A

Turn acquired for $310m by Amobee/Singtel, valued at 2-3x revenue.

Campaign of the Week

Does good hair equal a good mood? This Vice Partnership with MailChimp, takes ‘MailCrimp’ the popularized misprouncement of MailChimp on Serial podcast and turns it into a hairstyle – the MaleCrimp. Like the creativity and straightforward execution.

Smartest Commentary

“Clickbait simply isn’t effective in the feed so if you’re a brand using those tactics, you’re wasting the opportunity to reach the 99% of people who will pass right by. It is essential then, for brands to optimise their native creative towards communicating their marketing objectives in a clear, human fashion.” –Ally Stuart, Sharethrough
^ Yes Ally. Nudge sees this in post-click metrics, simple clear headlines drive the most engagement after the click as well. So alignment here is a win/win for pre & post click.
“While native ads are growing in popularity, native advertising campaigns are difficult to manage in-house, even for experienced teams.” –Mor Meroz, VP Revenue, mtmy and myDSP.

Datepoints of Note

Time Inc. worked with 400 advertisers on native programs in 2016, helping double their native revenue.
Tech & CPG are the top verticals finding value in programmatic.
[Indonesia] Sponsored content specifically, is growing three times faster than other formats of marketing.

Events & Webinars