Publishers experimenting with native advertising risk commoditising content and losing what makes them unique, Northern & Shell’s digital sales lead has warned.
Speaking at the IAB Content Conference on Thursday, Nick Bradley said that a publisher’s most prized asset is the content that it produces and the ability to tell great stories; and running native content – which is often generic and widely distributed – increases the risk of them losing what they do best.
“If we’re moving into a space where there’s generic content distributed across a multiple network of publishers, then it’s going to all go a bit down-market,” said Bradley.
“We don’t want to commoditise content – it’s the last bastion in the armoury of publishers and something that we should wrestle away from third parties and keep control of.”
Northern & Shell, owned by Richard Desmond, currently publishes newspaper and magazine titles including the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star, Daily Star Sunday, OK!, New!, Star, and TV Pick Magazine.
Bradley went on to say we have moved to a ‘feed’ experience of consuming content, where there is an “explosion of activity under the banner of native,” citing the likes of BuzzFeed, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest as the “reality of the modern world”.
“As a result, media owners think [native] is a great new opportunity and a new revenue stream […] But the opportunity has always been here… it’s the opportunity to tell compelling stories.”
According to research revealed at the event, two thirds of respondents said that in the past they have felt “tricked” or “deceived” by native advertising, which Bradley said points towards brands spending a lot of money on content but ultimately delivering a disappointing user experience.
“The onus is on us as publishers to do certain things when it comes to native and branded content: to be authentic – to make sure that native content is as good as editorial; to be discerning when choosing who you work with; and to be transparent.”
In a recent Newsline column, Raymond Snoddy said that the real issue with native advertising is how to do it well in a way that serves the interests of publishers, journalists, advertisers and – above all else – readers and consumers.
“In particular many journalists worry, rightly, that there should be some distinguishing line between editorial and advertising – marking out who is selling what and to whom,” said Snoddy, who also emphasised the importance of transparency.
“If native advertising, or content, is at heart trying to pass itself as editorial in disguise, then the more transparent you are and the more signposts you erect, the less well the trick might work.
“If things go well, and publishers behave sensibly, native will have been seamlessly integrated as one of the possible streams of revenue that publishers can dip into.”
