How can your brand get in-feed sponsored content right? This question can only be answered by the consumer, which highlighted the need for the research conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) with partner Edelman Berland.
The result was the IAB-Edelman Berland consumer in-feed sponsored content study, sponsored by TripleLift and released to the public July 22. Featuring insights culled from 5,000 news consumers online (desktop devices only) and focus groups in New York and Washington D.C., brands and publishers will see clear ways to plot the future of native advertising strategy.
Here are six things the IAB-Edelman Berland research showed.
1. Consumers understand why they see advertisements.
Consuming free, high-quality news content has its tradeoffs, and 86 percent of news consumers said they understood why they saw advertisements during the course of their online activities. Publishers and advertisers should avoid any hesitation and focus on producing brand-appropriate sponsored content rather than trying to hide the fact it is native advertising. To support that concept, 85 percent of entertainment news consumers said content shown to them was clearly sponsored by a brand.
2. Sponsored content relevance is the most important factor of all.
The IAB-Edelman Berland research showed that brand-relevant information was the biggest draw for consumers before they clicked on in-feed sponsored content. An average of 90 percent of entertainment news, business news and general news consumers said relevance to the brand got them to click. After the click, 83 percent of those who found the sponsored content interesting felt that the content was relevant to the reader.
3. Brand authority and trust dictate success of content strategies.
After relevance, consumers who considered clicking on in-feed sponsored content said they gravitated toward brands they considered authoritative, familiar and also trusted. In fact, over 80 percent of those surveyed cited these factors as their motivation to click on the content. After the click, these attributes were considered very important amongst those who found the sponsored content to be interesting or enjoyable.
4. Sponsored content has the potential to increase site favorability.
There is no reason to shy away from a sponsored content strategy if you are an established brand. Besides understanding the need for native ads, consumers said they were not put off by in-feed sponsored content they encounter. In fact, 54 percent of those surveyed in the IAB-Edelman Berland study said they had an increased favorability rating for the website when the content was relevant to them. The numbers were almost identical for brands that were known as trusted authorities in the field. While in-feed sponsored content is not for launching a brand, it is a way to enhance a brand’s reputation when done right.
5. General news consumers are harder to win over.
Among the different types of news consumers surveyed in the IAB-Edelman Berland study, general news readers were the toughest to get an increased favorability rating from in-feed sponsored content. Compared to 58 percent of business news consumers and 57 percent of entertainment news consumers, just 42 percent of general news consumers said they had an increased favorability of a site, even when the content was relevant. The same disparities held in the stats for authoritative and trustworthy brand content.
6. Advertisers and publishers need to choose relationships wisely.
When a brand puts relevant content on a respected website, the content’s credibility rises dramatically. Sponsored content got an 82 percent boost in credibility when the website where the content was placed had high credibility ratings for the consumer. It shows just how highly consumers value brand reputation when in-feed sponsored content is concerned.
In fact, it’s enough for advertisers to walk away from favorable deals from publishers with poor reputations. The same holds for publishers who could stand to earn considerable sums from advertisers. Unless the content is authoritative, relevant and coming from a credible source, a better strategy is to walk away.
