There is no escaping advertisement. Gone are the days when small businesses could imagine staying out of the digital advertising foray and rely on other means of promotion. Today every single business is busy trying to make the most of the digital advertisement options. The reason – digital marketing and advertising has changed forever! And, the big battle is between native ads and display ads. 

If recent trends are to be taken into consideration, native ads are winning the battle quite clearly. They have become the marketers’ favorite when it comes to gaining maximum traction. But, how is that so? Before understanding the reason behind the success, let’s take a dive into what sets the two approaches apart. 

Understand And Identify Native And Display Ads

Display ads are pretty obvious. You will find these in the form of banners, bill-boards, pop-ups, carousels, tiles, and other similar advertisements. It’s the classic form of advertising that we grew up seeing all across the Internet. 

However, native ads are much subtler and mimic the environment and blends in; hence, the term ‘native’. You will find native advertisements in the form of blogs, articles, and various other engaging content. They can also be simply a part of a content, providing suggestions and solutions, and blending right in. The promoted search results that merge within the organic search engine results are also a form of native ads. These advertisements are everywhere, and yet hidden perfectly in plain sight. 

Key Differences That Pushes Native Ads Ahead Of Display Ads

There is no way to escape advertisements. It’s not merely true for marketers and businesses, the same goes for the target audience. Thanks to the increased penetration of the Internet and communication technology, a person is quite literally bombarded by advertisements all through day and night. And, the most glaring ones are in the form or display ads. No wonder we have developed a sort of ad blindness, which means we just skim past advertisements without properly noticing anything. And, then there are the ad blockers that people use while surfing. 

But, that’s not the case with native ads. It takes the form of soft selling. The customer is already looking for similar content wherein the advertisement is placed, and the subtle suggestion is much better accepted. There is a much higher chance of conversion. 

Revenue And Traffic Insights

Will you believe if I tell you that native ads have a click through rate (CTR) as high as eight times that of display ads? Believe it or not, that’s what statistics is saying. And, you can actually test this in action. The reason is pretty simple. When you are placing information before a target audience for something that he/she is already searching for, there is a much higher probability of the person clicking the link. Imagine searching for a particular brand of Smartphone and finding an article with comparative review between that brand and other brands providing similar Smartphones. Wouldn’t you check out the pros and cons and buy the one that you find best? But, what if a person who has no intention of buying any phone comes across an ad for the same? It’s highly unlikely to generate a click! 

Moreover, display ads cost quite a lot of money, even if you opt to pay only for clicks. Resulting in the overall budget to go high. Native ads are curated content for which you are paying once. You need not pay for every click or every sale! Now that’s amazing! 

GDN Is Bridging The Gap

GDN (Google Display Network) is bridging the gap between display ads and native ads. The Google AI can identify intent of the people searching through its network and deliver native ads of products and services based on intent. The ads can be placed on any one of the Google websites or on any website that’s part of the Google Display Network. This creates an amazing opportunity for display ads to be placed just like native ads, thereby smashing the difference and merging the best of the two forms of advertising. 

Digital marketing and advertising is continually changing. If you need to stay ahead, learn to teach yourself and update with technology.