Fixing Native Advertising: What Consumers Want From Brands, Publishers, and the FTC

As 2016 comes to an end, the media industry faces an uncertain future.

Contently partnered with The Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at CUNY and Radius Global Market Research to understand how consumers identify and perceive native content. Through focus group studies and a survey of 1,212 adults who regularly access the internet, we found:

• 54 percent of respondents have felt deceived by native advertising in the past.
• 44 percent were not able to correctly identify the sponsor of the native ad they read.
• When a trusted publisher features native advertising for an untrustworthy brand, 43 percent of consumers lose trust in that publisher.
• Conversely, when a trusted publisher features native advertising for a trustworthy brand, 41 percent of consumers gain trust in that publisher.
• “Sponsored” is the clearest label for native advertising to consumers.
• Consumers have a much easier time recognizing native advertising on Facebook than on publisher sites.

Download now to discover the full results of the study now!