NEW DELHI: When native advertising had entered the marketing world, just a few years ago, many questions were raised regarding its feasibility for both advertisers and publishers. From people not trusting sponsored content to it diminishing the credibility of a news publication, doubts loomed large over its future. However, the much-maligned ad format has risen above all that, and how. Forecasts from BI Intelligence, IAB and eMarketer show that global native advertising has grown by 213 per cent in 2020 as compared to 2016. Another report by ADYOULIKE, a leading in-feed native advertising technology, indicates that it will further grow by 372 per cent from 2020 to 2025, reaching a total global value of $402 billion.
In a recent virtual fireside chat with Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, & editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari, BBC Global News SVP - commercial development for Asia & ANZ Alistair McEwan claimed that around 60-65 per cent of the organisation’s commercial revenue in the Asia Pacific region is driven by native advertising, which they’ve dubbed “commercial content marketing solutions.”
McEwan was speaking on day one of Indiantelevision.com’s virtual conference PubNation (digital & print), organised in partnership with Quintype Technologies and Gamezop.
“We are either producing content directly with and for the brands, or we are commissioning advertiser-funded editorial programming. The sponsorships are thus a very significant amount of our output. But we create this content with the same editorial standards that we do for our other editorial outputs. And actually, that’s why we have seen this enormous growth in branded content,” he elaborated.
McEwan, who had joined the conference from Sydney, added that he is seeing a massive growth coming from India too.
He also highlighted that to tap the full potential of the Indian and global market, when it comes to native advertising, BBC has also put in place its in-house content agency called BBC Content. “We launched in India two years ago and we are now producing a lot of branded content for different organisations, both in public and private sectors.”
PubNation (print & digital) is a two-day-long virtual confluence of the leading publishers, advertisers, and agencies across India. Launched on 9 December 2020, it will dissect hot-button issues including advertising opportunities, the content that will define the future of publications, and technologies that will aid that. You can watch the event live on Indiantelevision.com and its social media handles. For more information, visit (https://www.indiantelevision.com/pubnation/index.html).
