Native advertising is paid advertising that takes the look and format of the content around it, so it reads as part of the page instead of interrupting it. The most common forms are the "recommended for you" boxes under news articles (Taboola, Outbrain, MGID), sponsored posts in social and product feeds, and articles a publisher writes for a brand. This guide explains how native advertising works, the main types, what it costs, how it compares with display, social and search, and how to start. We run native campaigns every day as an official Taboola, Outbrain and MGID partner.
Key takeaways
- A native ad matches the form of the platform where it appears, and it must still be clearly labelled as an ad.
- The IAB groups native into three types: in-feed and in-content ads, content recommendation ads, and branded content.
- In performance native, the ad sends the reader to a pre-sell page (an advertorial or a listicle) before the product page. That page decides most of the result.
- Most networks sell clicks in a CPC auction. Across six accounts we manage, the average CPC was $0.43 on smartphone and $0.73 on desktop.
- Native works best for products that need a story or an explanation, and for lead generation. It is a weak fit for brands with no tracking and no budget to test.
Native advertising, defined
In its guide for businesses (December 2015), the US Federal Trade Commission describes native advertising as content that bears a similarity to the news, feature articles, product reviews, entertainment and other material around it. The IAB, the advertising industry body, calls it in its Native Advertising Playbook 2.0 (May 2019) "a concept encompassing both an aspiration as well as a suite of ad products": ads that feel like they belong on the page.
In practice, three things make an ad native:
- Form: it uses the same format as the surrounding content (a headline and a thumbnail in a list of articles, a post in a feed).
- Placement: it appears inside the content experience, not in a separate banner slot.
- Disclosure: it is still recognisable as paid. A native ad that hides that it is an ad is deceptive, not native.
The three types of native advertising
| Type (IAB) | What it looks like | Where you buy it | Typical goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-feed / in-content | An ad inside a feed of articles, posts or products, styled like the items around it | Social platforms, publisher feeds, marketplaces | Clicks, app installs, sales |
| Content recommendation | A thumbnail and headline in a "recommended" box, usually under an article, linking to another page | Taboola, Outbrain, MGID and similar networks | Traffic to an advertorial, then sales or leads |
| Branded content | A full article or video produced with the publisher in its editorial style and labelled as sponsored | Directly from publishers' brand studios | Awareness and trust |
The Playbook treats social and product feeds as kinds of in-feed ads, and promoted listings as part of the same family. For real examples of each type, including ads that ran for months on Taboola, see our native advertising examples.
How performance native works, step by step
Most of the native budget we manage goes to content recommendation networks. This is the path a click follows:
- The ad. A reader on a news site sees your thumbnail and headline in a recommendation box.
- The pre-sell page. The click opens an advertorial, a listicle or a short presell that explains the problem and the product in an editorial tone. Cold readers rarely buy straight from an ad, so this page does the persuading.
- The offer. The reader moves to the product page, a checkout or a lead form.
- Tracking. A pixel or a server-to-server postback tells the network which clicks converted, including soft events such as add to cart or form start.
- Optimization. The network's algorithm bids more on the readers and placements that convert. You block placements that spend without results (sites on Taboola, sections on Outbrain, widgets on MGID) and keep testing new headlines, images and pages.
This is why native campaigns are built in pairs: the ad and the page. A strong ad on a weak page wastes the click. See native ad creatives that convert for the ad side.
Native vs display, social and search
| Native (recommendation) | Display banners | Social ads | Search ads | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where the person is | Reading an article | On any page, next to the content | Scrolling a feed | Searching for an answer |
| Intent | Low, but curious | Low | Low to medium | High |
| What works | A story and a pre-sell page | Brand visuals, retargeting | Video, UGC, offers | Answering the query |
| Usual pricing | CPC auction | CPM | CPM, optimized to results | CPC auction |
| Best for | Products that need explaining, lead gen, scaling beyond social | Awareness, retargeting | Visual products, broad audiences | Existing demand |
Native does not replace social or search. For most of the brands we work with it is the next channel after Meta, with a different audience and a different creative. We compare them in detail in native ads vs Facebook ads vs Google ads.
How much native advertising costs
Recommendation networks sell clicks in a CPC auction, so there is no price list. CPC depends on country, device, vertical and competition. Some reference points from our own data and from the platforms:
- Across six Taboola accounts we manage (about $467K of spend), the average CPC was $0.43 on smartphone and $0.73 on desktop. In our accounts, Italy is several times cheaper than the US. Full tables in our Taboola benchmarks.
- Taboola's Realize recommends a daily budget of at least 10x your target CPA. On Outbrain we work with at least 7x the CPA goal. MGID asks for a $100 minimum deposit.
- We test with $100–200 a day per campaign and judge on cost per acquisition, not on CPC or click-through rate.
To size your own test, use the native ads budget calculator or read how much native ads cost.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Reach on large news sites outside the social platforms | Cold, low-intent traffic: you need a pre-sell page |
| Room to explain a product with a story | Strict ad review, especially in health |
| CPC pricing: you pay for clicks, not impressions | Placement quality varies; it needs weekly blocking |
| A new audience when Meta costs rise | Testing takes budget and a few weeks |
Who native advertising works for
- DTC health and wellness brands with a product that needs explaining, and a funnel that already converts somewhere. See native ads for DTC brands.
- E-commerce with a story, where an advertorial or a comparison listicle can carry the sale. See native advertising for e-commerce.
- Lead generation in finance, insurance and home services. See native ads for lead generation.
- Affiliate offers, within each platform's rules.
It is a weak fit if you have no conversion tracking, no budget for a few weeks of testing, or a product that people only buy when they are already searching for it.
How to start with native advertising
- Pick one network that fits your market: Taboola for premium reach in the US and Europe, Outbrain for premium European publishers, MGID for cheaper tests. We compare them in the best native advertising platforms and in Outbrain vs MGID.
- Set up tracking before launch, with the purchase or lead event plus soft events.
- Build one pre-sell page that matches the promise of your ads, with proof you can document.
- Launch 10+ ads per campaign, with mobile and desktop in separate campaigns.
- Cut and block weekly: pause ads that spend without converting and block placements that spend 1.5x the target CPA without results.
- Scale slowly: we raise budgets by 15–20% every two days on Taboola.
Is native advertising legal?
Yes, as long as readers can tell it is an ad. The FTC says an ad is deceptive if it mimics the surrounding content and is not readily identifiable as advertising, and it lists labels such as "Ad", "Advertisement" and "Sponsored Advertising Content" as likely to be understood. The IAB Playbook says the disclosure must use language that "conveys the advertising has been paid for" and be large and visible enough to notice. Our examples guide covers labelling in the US and in Italy. This is general information, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is native advertising the same as sponsored content?
Sponsored content is one type of native advertising: the branded articles or videos made with a publisher. Native also includes in-feed ads and the recommendation ads sold by Taboola, Outbrain and MGID.
What is the difference between native advertising and content marketing?
Content marketing is content you publish on your own channels. Native advertising is paid placement on someone else's site or feed. A native ad often promotes a piece of content, such as an advertorial.
What is an advertorial?
A page written in an editorial style that tells a story about a problem and a product before sending the reader to buy. It is the most common landing page in performance native.
Does native advertising work?
It can, when the ad, the pre-sell page and the tracking work together. Judge it on cost per acquisition after a few weeks of testing, not on clicks in the first days.
Which platforms offer native advertising?
The main recommendation networks are Taboola, Outbrain and MGID. Social platforms such as Meta sell in-feed ads, and publishers sell branded content directly.
Want native advertising that pays for itself?
We are a media team of two brothers and an official partner of Taboola, Outbrain and MGID. We build the ads, the pre-sell pages and the tracking, and we optimize the campaigns every day. See how our native advertising agency works, read how to choose a Taboola agency, or book a free strategy call.
Claudio Dell'Ariccia
Co-founder & Media Buyer
Claudio Dell'Ariccia is co-founder of Digital Brothers. He runs native ad campaigns on Taboola, Outbrain and MGID every day for e-commerce, lead gen and affiliate brands worldwide.
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