Native advertising - in all its forms - has become a key item for publishers, accounting for a fifth of advertising revenue.
That is one of the findings of a new study, Native Advertising Trends in News Media, by WAN-Ifra and the Native Advertising Institute. By 2021, it is expected that 36 per cent of overall ad revenue will come from some form of native advertising.
The survey included 148 news media executives from 53 countries.
"Publishers continue to hone their strategies around native advertising as it increasingly plays a significant role in their overall ad strategies," says WAN-Ifra chief executive Vincent Peyrègne. "With native advertising, advertisement becomes less disruptive and more relevant to the consumer experience.
"The appetite for native advertising grows as experiential becomes increasingly important to every business model, especially on mobile".
Founder of the Native Advertising Institute Jesper Laursen says that while native advertising "might not be the Holy Grail" to solve every problem, it is becoming an integrated part of the business model.
The report also includes case studies featuring publishers including the New York Times, The Atlantic, JP/Politikens in Denmark and Telegraaf Media Groep in the Netherlands.
Among findings were:
• 52 per cent of publishers surveyed said native advertising is very important to their overall ad strategy, and 43 per cent said it is important.
• 87 per cent of respondents have a positive feeling towards native advertising.
• Publishers are no doubt building and organising their operations to seize the opportunities that native advertising represents: 42 per cent of respondents to the survey say they now have their own dedicated native ad studio, up from 35 per cent last year. Another 29 per cent have a dedicated native ad team.
However, many publishers are using their editorial team much less than just one year ago as this practice has dropped from 47 per cent to 29 per cent.
One disconcerting finding from the study shows that nine per cent of publishers do not put any labelling on native advertising. This has improved on last year's 11 per cent, but is still a far cry from where it should be at zero per cent.
WAN-Ifra members can download the report free at www.wan-ifra.org/native_ad_report