Native advertising — is advertising that looks like part of the platform itself: an article on a news website, a post in a feed or a link in a «You might also like» section. Users don't immediately realize they're looking at an ad and don't automatically scroll past it. In traffic arbitrage slang, this type of advertising is called «native ads».
The main purpose of native advertising — is to overcome banner blindness. People have long learned to ignore traditional banners, but they pay attention to content that looks familiar on a website.
Native advertising formats
Native ads adapt to the placement where they're displayed:
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in-feed advertising — ads placed between posts or news articles and designed to look like them;
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recommendation widgets — «Read also» sections below or beside articles, where advertising links appear alongside links to the website's own content;
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sponsored articles — content commissioned by a brand and written in the publisher's style.
Native advertising in traffic arbitrage
Native traffic is purchased through native advertising networks. These networks place ads on thousands of websites: news, entertainment and niche-specific platforms. An ad consists of an image and a headline, and advertisers mainly pay per click.
Visitors from native ads — are a cold audience: they were reading news and weren't actively searching for anything. That's why they're usually directed to a pre-landing page rather than straight to the offer. This could be an article, review, roundup or quiz that builds their interest. From there, users proceed to the landing page.
How native advertising is set up
In a native advertising network, you select the GEO, devices, operating systems and ad schedule. But the main work begins after launch, with the placements — the websites where your ads appear. The network provides statistics for each website: some generate leads, others only waste your budget, and some may have bot traffic. Unprofitable websites are added to a blacklist, while the best-performing ones are collected into a whitelist, and traffic is then directed only to them. To track which placements generate leads and sales, traffic is routed through a tracker.
How native advertising differs from teaser ads
Teaser ads also consist of an image and short text and are displayed on websites, while many networks offer both formats. The difference lies in their presentation and placements. Teaser ads aim to grab attention with bright, sometimes clickbait headlines, while native ads are designed to look like regular website content. Native advertising networks work with larger, higher-quality websites, so clicks are more expensive than in teaser networks.
Important: major native advertising networks have strict moderation. They review not only the ad itself but also the pre-landing page and landing page, and aggressive gray-hat approaches won't be approved. Before launching, study the network's rules so you don't waste time creating ads that won't pass moderation.
