Digital Advertising Trends: Display Vs Native Ads

There’s no question that digital advertising is where the money is. The question is which types will be the most successful for your business. Digital marketing is an incredibly broad term, referring to any advertising that uses electronic devices. That covers everything from radio to smartwatches. Today we will compare display ads and native ads.

Display ads are the traditional types of advertisements we’ve seen online since the 90s. They are clearly promoting something, and stand out from the surrounding content. Banner ads are the most common example of display ads. Others include animated and video ads, interactive ads with embedded features, and interstitial ads that cover the interface of a host application. Display ads were once the gold standard in digital advertising, but more and more advertisers are shifting to native ads.

Native ads, unlike display ads, blend seamlessly into surrounding content. Sometimes referred to as ‘recommended content’, or ‘promoted stories’, native ads mimic the style and tone of the articles and pages around them. Native ads can be articles, in feed social media posts, or sponsored search results, which blend in with regular search results. The key is that they are integrated in and relevant to what potential customers are already looking at.

The biggest reason that native ads are the more effective digital marketing tool is that people don’t like display ads. 80% of consumers use ad blockers to ensure they don’t see banner ads. Even among those who DON’T use ad blockers, the phenomenon of “ad blindness” or “banner blindness” is a huge problem in digital advertising. The term “banner blindness” was coined in 1998 after website usability tests showed a majority of the test subjects either consciously or unconsciously ignored information that was presented in banners. There are techniques that help to overcome ad blindness for display ads, but none are as effective as native ads.

Digital advertising numbers don’t lie. The clickthrough rate (CTR) for display ads is only 0.05%, meaning that out of every 10,000 people who see your ad, only five will click. The CTR for native ads is as much as eight times higher. Because native ads encourage web users to read or watch content related to what they’re already interested in, they also drive significantly more web traffic. They also result in more revenue. Consumers view more than 50% more native ads than display ads, and native ads result in a significant increase in purchase intent.

None of this is to say that display ads are obsolete. A comprehensive digital advertising plan may include both display and native ads along with other types of digital marketing. REAL Moxie produces customized strategies that align with your unique business goals. We work with you to understand your goals, what you offer, and your target market. Then we develop a cross-media digital advertising strategy to fit the online digital behavior of your consumer.

To learn more about your digital marketing options, call 816-348-3769 or click here to schedule your FREE consultation.