In a bid to help provide more transparency to consumers around native advertising, the IAB has released the first part of a new set of guidelines for the industry.
Supported by ISBA, the Association for Online Publishers and the CMA, the guidelines have been produced to provide advertisers, publishers, agencies and ad tech companies with “clear and practical” steps to make it easier for consumers to distinguish native ads from editorial content.
Two of the key guidelines for native advertising formats are:
– Provide consumers with prominently visible visual cues enabling them to immediately understand they are engaging with marketing content compiled by a third party in a native ad format which isn’t editorially independent (e.g. brand logos or design, such as fonts or shading, clearly differentiating it from surrounding editorial content).
– It must be labelled using wording that demonstrates a commercial arrangement is in place (e.g. ‘paid promotion’ or ‘brought to you by’).
Commenting on the guidelines, ISBA’s director of public affairs, Ian Twinn, said: “Advertisers welcome this timely and clear guidance on native advertising. ISBA has worked closely with the IAB to produce the guidelines, a further example of advertising self-regulation that delivers consumer transparency around advertiser funding of digital media.”
Native and content advertising spend – including paid-for sponsorships, advertisement features and in-feed distribution – hit £216 million in the first half of 2014, accounting for 21% of display adspend.
The second part of the guidelines is set to be published in the second quarter of 2015, and will cover online advertorial and sponsored content, including how digital can learn from good practice in print media.
