Advertisers Double Down on Native Advertising Investment According to Nativo’s 2017 Spend on Native Advertising Report (SONAR)

LOS ANGELES, April 03, 2018 -- Native advertising spend continues to rise according to Nativo, the leading unified advertising technology platform for native advertising, in its Spend on Native Advertising Report (SONAR). The report analyzes year-over-year investment in native advertising from 2016 and 2017 and is a follow up from last year’s 3-year benchmark research that analyzed spend on native advertising from 2014-2016.

Nativo's Business Intelligence team analyzed ad spend across its entire marketplace, identifying key trends from major verticals such as Automotive, Travel, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Health and Fitness, Finance and Insurance, Tech (both B2B and B2C), Entertainment, and Food and Drink. The report found continued growth in nearly every vertical among more than 600 brands that Nativo serves, and the top four verticals--auto, travel, finance, health & fitness-- accounted for 88% of the growth in 2017. This tracks with similar trends in the native advertising market including eMarketer’s prediction that native advertising spend will top $28 billion in 2018.

2017 share of native ad spend

“Knowing that content lives in trusted and brand-safe environments, precisely when readers are researching and evaluating business or leisure destinations, is the ideal context to engage a motivated audience’s discovery,” said Lindsey Patterson, Media Director, R&R Partners. “We consistently see strong performance, and the learnings we identify from testing different content strategies are meaningful to our clients’ larger marketing programs.”

Key vertical findings from Nativo's SONAR include:

• Automotive secured the top spot once again with 42% overall growth. Asian OEMs saw explosive growth from 2016 to 2017, contributing to the auto manufacturer subcategory’s 56% increase.
• Travel soared into the No. 2 spot (from No. 4) with increases in every subcategory, including a 519% jump for airlines and a 222% increase for hotels.
• Finance and Insurance remained third with a 54% year-over-year increase in native ad spend and a 12.5X increase in the insurance subcategory.
• Health and Fitness showed tremendous growth in the health care subcategory, which saw a 233% increase while pharma grew 20%.
• CPG and Food and Drink were among the few verticals that experienced a year-over-year decline, paralleling macro ad spend trends among major advertisers. 
  

"The value of native advertising for specific verticals has come into increasing clarity through our continued exploration of advertisers' investments," said Casey Wuestefeld, Vice President, Campaign Operations at Nativo. "For example, one common thread we've seen across verticals is that native can serve as an ideal vehicle for deeper purchase considerations-those that require more time researching, reading articles and relying on trusted resources to make informed decisions. As advertisers continue to embrace native, these ongoing studies will help provide them with category specific insights and best practices for content advertising."

To learn more about Nativo's vertical ad spend study, download the white paper S.O.N.A.R: Spend on Nativo Advertising Report or contact [email protected].

This story first appeared in VentureBeat.

About Nativo
Nativo is the leading advertising technology platform for brand advertisers and publishers to distribute, optimize, and measure native advertising. Nativo arms brand advertisers with a comprehensive catalog of native formats and the ultimate content advertising platform that combines automation and insights with highest-quality reach. For media companies, Nativo provides an integrated native technology stack that makes it easy to sell, deploy, and optimize native ads across their media properties expanding their revenue potential while delivering a better, non-interruptive experience for their audiences. More than 600 brands and 400 publishers converge on the Nativo platform to power the new paradigm in digital advertising. Learn more at www.nativo.com.

Media Contact
Nikki Reyes, WIT Strategy for Nativo
(408) 499-0033
[email protected]

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