Native advertising is advertising that looks like the content around it: a sponsored article in a news feed, a sponsored video among other videos, or a product card that matches the style of the page. "Native" means that the ad belongs to the place in its look and format. Native ads must still be labelled, for example as "Sponsored" or "Ad", so that readers know that someone paid for them.
A native ad platform sells this kind of ad space for publishers, the owners of websites and apps, and helps advertisers fit their ads into it. Its main task is to turn one advertiser's material into many formats. A news app's feed shows a headline, a small photo and the name of the source. A shopping app shows product cards. The platform takes the advertiser's headline, image and logo, and lays them out in the style of each page.
Imagine a Kannada news app with a feed of stories. A reader in Mysuru scrolls through the morning's news. The sixth item looks like the others, with a photo and a headline: "5 ways to save tax before 31 March". Below it, small text says that it is sponsored by a mutual fund company. When the reader taps it, the article explains tax-saving mutual funds and links to the fund's sign-up page. The fund company pays for each tap, say ₹6. The news app's supply-side platform (SSP) sold that place in the feed in an automatic auction. The native platform supplied the ad in the feed's own style.
Native ads get more taps than ordinary banners, because readers notice them while they read. That is also the risk. If the label is small or unclear, readers may think that the ad is the publisher's own reporting. In India, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the advertising industry's own body, has guidelines that require such ads to be clearly marked as ads. A digital news publisher that cares about its readers' trust also keeps sponsored articles visibly separate from its journalism.
Native platforms also sell rich media. These are ads that move, expand or respond when a user touches them, such as a banner that opens into a short video. The content of a native ad can be fitted to each reader by dynamic creative optimisation (DCO). Some platforms also sell ads placed inside streaming shows, such as a brand's panel shown beside the picture during a pause in play. These are sold as part of connected TV (CTV) advertising.