From difficulties in defining it to concerns over clickbait, native advertising has generated a lot of conversation yet not always a huge amount of trust. But now its teething period is over, at least in the premium content recommendation space. Stephanie Himoff (pictured below), UK MD, Outbrain speaks to ExchangeWire about how the combination of innovative technology, receptive publishers and clever brands is paving the way for native content that pays.

The web cannot be free

Digital media is unrelentingly competitive, and with so many publishers jostling for attention, it is unwise to sit back and wait for organic audience growth. In the fight against social media and ad blocking, publishers are losing readers to walled gardens and revenue to ad blockers.

Not least because ad blocking is establishing itself as a permanent antagonist. Only last week, Opera became the first browser to introduce a built-in ad blocker, promising quicker page loads for its users but ultimately hindering publishers’ revenue. The news was announced less than six months after City AM became the first UK publication to block ad blockers. These constant attacks and counterattacks signal an industry-wide problem that cannot be solved overnight, and publishers urgently need to earn back consumer trust by investing in user experience.

And whereas the dawn of social media brought promise of boundless referral traffic to publishers’ sites, this is no longer the case according to analytics from SimpleReach and SocialTracker. As first reported by Digiday, the ten publishers who rely most heavily on Facebook for this reason saw referral figures fall by 42.7% from January to October last year. The Huffington Post was among the hardest hit, with a drop of 60.1% in desktop Facebook traffic. This is set to decline further with the advent of Instant Articles. All in all, publishers who initially benefited from social media now need to wrest back control.

In light of these issues and their constant, well-reported developments, today’s most pressing industry issue - still far from being resolved - continues to be how publishers can monetise their digital content without disturbing the user experience or damaging their brand.

Quality, a pathway to quantity

Content recommendation is one solution that fits the bill, driving ROI for the publisher and offering valuable content to the reader, in a way that chimes well with the media brand and the editorial environment - more so than display ads and their negligible CTR. However, this tactic is meaningless without an equally consistent quality of content, personalised and relevant to every user. There is little use in championing subtlety only to ruin it with sensationalist headlines and shock-factor photos. This is something we are working towards as we believe educating publishers and marketers will only benefit the space we work within and inspire trust from audiences.

Engagement will increase revenue, but the benefits increase exponentially if you build long-term relationships with users. Shock them and their dwell time will be momentary. But if their interest is genuinely provoked, they will likely keep coming back for more. In the long run, serving links based on each unique user’s interests will result in 10 or 20 times higher CTR than display ads.

Not all page views are created equal

However, there is little sense in spending time creating valuable content, only to place it at the wrong time or page and see few results. Driving publisher revenue should be based on insight, not guesswork, yet until recently it was impossible to understand the constant fluctuation of user traffic. Our research shows the yield on a single page of video can fluctuate by 60% over the course of a day - and for written content this can reach 262%. There are 30 common variables from platform type, to RTB partners, make-goods and house ads, all of which contribute to making one piece of content more valuable than another at any given time. If publishers were able to more deeply understand the shifting value of their pages, brands would benefit from greater exposure resulting in higher CTR.

That is why there is a need for tools like our Automatic Yield, which lets publishers track all this information in real time on their ad server, so they can be as nimble as possible in their content programming. Its development, following our acquisition of ad tech startup Revee, makes monetising audiences symbiotic with user personalisation and revenue delivery. So once that quality piece of content has been crafted, the publisher can effortlessly ensure it is seen at the right time and place by the right people, simultaneously keeping readers happy and revenue on track.

Bring on the brands

For publishers, effectively monetising native through premium content recommendation could be the answer to a grave problem. But the good news is brands can just jump on and enjoy the ride. Expanding your content marketing strategy by moving into the content recommendation space will mean you engage with existing and future customers on a new and effective wavelength. Contributing to prevalent debates or commenting on topics of wide and current interest will see an immediate increase in your web traffic, social traffic, and search engine visibility. Starting relevant and personalised conversations with your target audience will foster trust and lend authority to your brand.

However, the greatest benefit of creating and promoting content with true value is its perfect alignment with your brand’s business goals, which are ultimately not page views but delighting and engaging your customers, and inspiring their long-term loyalty and engagement.