News Media Publishers Are Relying Less on Editorial Teams for Native Advertising

Over the past year, publishers in the news media industry appear to have turned away from their editorial teams when it comes to native advertising, a new global report by the Native Advertising Advertising Institute (NAI) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) shows.

This year, 29% of publishers surveyed indicated that they rely on editorial teams for the production of native ads. This is down from 47% last year.

There is a very significant shift taking place with a much clearer division between church and state and more dedicated native ad units.

At the same time, there’s been a climb in the number of publishers that have their own dedicated native ad studios.

Currently, 42% of publishers have there own ad studios, this is up from 35% just one year ago. Additionally, there’s been a small spike in the number of publishers relying on dedicated native ad teams—from 28 to 29%.

“When we look at how news media organisations are delivering native advertising, there is a very significant shift taking place with a much clearer division between church and state and more dedicated native ad units,” says Jesper Laursen, Founder and CEO of the Native Advertising Institute in the report.

It will be interesting to see how this industry will keep evolving.

An indication of shifting organisational structures?

This move away from editorial teams and toward dedicated native ad units may well indicate a push to better organise around and capture greater value from native advertising efforts.

“News media publishers are building and organising operations to seize the opportunities that native advertising represents,” says Laursen.

This restructuring seems warranted because after all, native seems to be growing in financial importance for news media publishers.

In 2016 native advertising brought in 18% of total advertising revenue. A number which grew to 20% in 2017. In 2021, that number is expected to climb to 36%.

This changes certainly make it an interesting time to be involved with native advertising, and Laursen agrees:

“Native advertising is still a fairly new discipline for many publishers. But to a growing number of media companies, it’s becoming an integrated part of their business model. It will be interesting to see how this industry will keep evolving.”