Adyoulike surveyed a total of 1,000 UK adults aged between 18 and 34 and found native advertising works for most of the UK’s under 34 internet population. The report also found that 57% of this age group will visit online content that appeals to them, whether the content is branded or not. However, this figure increases to a staggering 63% for those aged between 18 and 24.
Written feature articles were found to be the most popular type of content most viewed online (32%) followed by list articles (24%) and videos (17%). However, while sponsored social media posts remain a key part of many brands content strategies, only 13% of those surveyed will interact with them.
A knowledgeable audience
Native advertising platform; Adyoulike also looked into how knowledgeable this age group were in terms of the language publishers, agencies and content creators use. The results were shocking:
- 52% understood the term “editorial”
- 41% understood the term “sponsored”
- 32% understood the term “advertorial”
- 29% understood the term “branded”
The Managing Director of Adyoulike, Francis Turner added that users simply want “great content and they don’t care if those articles and videos are sponsored or not”.
Sponsored content has been employed by brands and publishers for years, the rise of native advertising is simply the digital world catching up, he said.
However, with users being more switched on to branded content than ever before, it is vital that brands ensure all native ads are labelled as such – in line with the recent Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) guidelines – so that it is obvious that piece of content has been paid for.
“Native ads don’t have to try and ‘trick’ consumers into thinking they’re viewing standard content, whether it be through video, online or mobile – this study shows that if the content is good enough, people don’t care where it came from,” Turner concludes.
Current internet trends
The survey also looked at the current internet trends and the most popular subjects this age group would use the World Wide Web for. The research found that a staggering 76% of the 1,000 adults questioned use the internet for their regular news updates, this was followed by:
- Sport – 38% (61% among men)
- Lifestyle pieces – 24%
- Food – 23%
- Films – 22%
- Music – 16%
- Fashion – 11%
It was also found that the vast majority (85%) prefer to use newspaper websites or the BBC to get their latest news fix – this figure rose to 93% for those aged between 18 and 24. Moreover, only 6% will use newer news sources such as; BuzzFeed or Mashable, while 9% will use social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
With whole populations spending their time on the internet to educate themselves on news from around the world, publishers have the opportunity to take advantage of what native advertising has to offer.
