{"id":5266,"date":"2015-09-10T11:47:40","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T18:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/?p=5266"},"modified":"2015-09-10T16:24:59","modified_gmt":"2015-09-10T23:24:59","slug":"native-advertising-app-complete-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/development\/native-advertising-app-complete-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Native Advertising: A Complete Guide to Adding This Revenue Stream to Your App"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of our\u00a0Building Blocks series<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/i>, which provides comprehensive guides on common features of web and mobile apps. We’ve talked about\u00a0chat<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and payments<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0and now we’re tapping into the world of native advertising.<\/i><\/p>\n

On mobile, those old-fashioned banner ads take up valuable screen space. So it was only a matter of time before advertising got more economical and strategically placed. Cue the start of native advertising. <\/span><\/p>\n

But, it\u2019s not all about size or location. Timing and audience are also key factors to consider when adding ads to your web or mobile app. <\/span><\/p>\n

If this sounds too complicated, keep in mind the stats from <\/span>an Edmunds study<\/a>,<\/span> which show that native ads on mobile had CTRs (click-through rates) 406%\u00a0higher than conventional banner ads. <\/span><\/p>\n

Companies like\u00a0<\/span>Yahoo<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Buzzfeed<\/span><\/a> are banning banner ads altogether. And data from <\/span>BI Intelligence<\/span><\/a>\u00a0predicts that spending on native ads will grow from $7.9 billion this year to $21 billion in the next three years. Want to get your cut? <\/span><\/p>\n

First, take a look at the native advertising you encounter every day. Promoted tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram posts scroll in and out of our eyelines, silently and without intrusion. <\/span><\/p>\n

They can even feel a little creepy\u00a0<\/span>\u2014\u00a0like when a hotel ad pops up the week you\u2019ve been doing some travel searches. But, this is all in an effort to keep ads relevant to you, making them beneficial instead of a burden. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are ways to bring all of these seamless qualities to your app, which we explore below in\u00a0our complete guide to native advertising.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Learning from the Best in\u00a0Native Advertising<\/h2>\n

Native advertising can do more than monetize your app and boost the advertiser\u2019s revenue. It can go viral. <\/span><\/p>\n

With the right integration and a delightful user\u00a0experience, the press will love talking about a clever native advertising\u00a0campaign. It\u2019s possible for an ad to go viral and for people to check out your app just for that experience \u2014 no matter what kind of app it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Native<\/a><\/p>\n

Feed Apps<\/h3>\n

This is probably where you see native ads most often: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. It\u2019s probably one of the most convenient types of apps to slip an ad into as long as it\u2019s relevant. A lot of this rides on finding the overlap in your user base and the advertiser’s desired audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, you might like to follow pretty Instagram accounts where even \u201cimpromptu\u201d brunch photos are elegantly staged, so an ad for a classy lifestyle brand like West Elm would fit right in. If you like to follow health grammers, you\u2019d probably see an ad for Nike or maybe Soylent Green. <\/span><\/p>\n

When the ads are built for your users’ specific experiences, they don\u2019t get annoyed or distracted from your UX. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Even if the ad visually looks right at home in your feed app, it will do a lot for your and the advertiser’s integrity for the ad\u2019s text (if any) to speak to the experience of the app rather than just a sale or promotion. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the examples above, the movie <\/span>The Intern <\/span><\/i>blends into Instagram by taking a meme-style approach, while travel agency Refuga went for a collage and caption that were much more \u201cin the moment.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever your audience and whatever the feed, it\u2019s important that your users stay in your app and to do that, you have to stay true to the app\u2019s experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Native<\/a><\/h3>\n

Social Apps<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re a single adult, you\u2019ve <\/span>probably done some online dating<\/span><\/a> using services like OKCupid, Tinder or Match.com. We\u2019re not here to pick favorites. But for this post we’ll focus on Tinder, as it seems to have\u00a0started a long-term relationship with ad agencies. <\/span><\/p>\n

Around the time of SXSW, you may have swiped right on a beautiful woman named Ava and even texted with her. But after examining her Instagram profile, you would have found out that she was in fact an actress playing a robot in the indie\u00a0<\/span>sci-fi hit Ex Machina<\/a>,<\/span>\u00a0which premiered at SXSW. <\/span><\/p>\n

For some, this may cross the line into creep territory. But to be fair, it is a movie about a robot learning what it\u2019s like to be human and the whole thing is a bit creepy. So it puts you in the spirit of the film.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps a false profile feels a little deceitful for your own social app, but there is some good that can be done with this model as well. <\/span>Webby nominee<\/span><\/a> Hunted<\/span><\/i><\/a> is a documentary about the <\/span>anti-gay vigilantes who attack gay people in Russia. They teamed up with Tinder to create false profiles that lead to images of various victims and ways to spread the word about the film. <\/span><\/p>\n

People, press, and social media will always gather around a good cause. Social impact<\/a> is a huge draw in native advertising not only for the ad company but also as a way to show your support for a cause your company believes in.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Native<\/a><\/p>\n

Gaming Apps<\/h3>\n

Real-life stadiums are packed with ads. So, as a way to squeeze revenue onto the screen, sports games like Madden, NHL and PGA Tour have started <\/span>doing the same thing<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

But, the ad integration goes even deeper than that. For example, before highlight videos from the player\u2019s game, users\u00a0might see a GMC spot branding the playback as \u201c<\/span>GMC Never Say Never Moments of the Game\u201d [sic].<\/span><\/p>\n

Because there is a real-life counterpart, these gaming apps tap into opportunities that sports lovers are used to seeing during\u00a0live games. The\u00a0app creator\u00a0makes money, the advertiser gets exposure, and even though the user is still enduring ads, they actually add to the realism of the complete experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

If your gaming app is not of the sports variety and instead of the fantasy variety, there are still ways to include ads in your web or mobile app\u00a0without invading the game experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the example below, Zagat has placed an ad amidst a list of gamified food using Google\u2019s service <\/span>AdMob<\/a>\u00a0(more on it below)<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Native<\/p>\n

NativeX<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is the leading native advertising platform for mobile games. Its team looks at <\/span>11 different places<\/span><\/a> in a game where an ad could potentially fit in seamlessly, such as\u00a0when the game is paused or loading or the player is moving\u00a0up a level. <\/span><\/p>\n

To find your own opportunities for in-game ads, immerse yourself in the world of the game to see if there are opportunities to include ads organically and look for natural pauses in gameplay as a user.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Native<\/a><\/p>\n

Utility Apps<\/h3>\n

These apps may not be as flashy, and people may not go to them as a place to linger, but that doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t include advertising in utility apps. <\/span><\/p>\n

Take Waze. They\u2019ve been using insight from their users’ daily patterns to create partnerships with companies and enhance their UX. Ads on Waze occasionally pop up when you pass certain locations, or they simply <\/span>show on the map itself<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

In utility apps, it\u2019s especially important that call-to-action buttons and any actionable taps are in the same place and function in the same way as the other elements around them. In the case of Waze, this means a user can exit an ad pop up in the same way they exit a traffic notification. <\/span><\/p>\n

Everything should act in a way that\u2019s familiar, in addition to visually blending in to its surroundings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ThinkApps-NativeAdvertising-inforgraphic\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tools to Add Advertising to Your App<\/h2>\n

Adding ads to your web or mobile app doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch. There are plenty of services to help you navigate everything from banner ads to native ads.<\/p>\n

Take your pick from some of the most\u00a0common advertising\u00a0services, which we explore in detail below.<\/p>\n

Flurry for Publishers \u2014 The Basics<\/h2>\n

As part of the <\/span>Yahoo Mobile Developer Suite<\/span><\/a>\u00a0since 2014, <\/span>Flurry<\/span><\/a> leverages cross-platform advertising through the Yahoo\/Flurry\/BrightRoll ecosystem. <\/span><\/p>\n

Flurry offers standard banner and full-screen ads as well as native ads. It\u2019s part of a broader solution that includes\u00a0analytics, monetization, and advertising, and analyzes over 150 billion app sessions per month, according to <\/span>TechCrunch<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The platform offers the unique ability to provide custom funnels as a way to measure consumer conversions and the ability to differentiate between paid and free users. Flurry also leverages its huge app data set of over 700 million smart devices to provide more insightful analytics. <\/span><\/p>\n

Real-Time Bidding (RTBs)<\/h3>\n

One of the unique features of Flurry is its real-time bidding engine, orchestrating an automatic buying and selling of advertising inventory on a per-impression basis. <\/span><\/p>\n

Advertisers are provided with unique data hints about each impression based on\u00a0age, gender, and <\/span>Flurry Personas<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Through the advertiser exchange model, advertisers bid more to reach their target audiences, increasing eCPMs (effective cost per thousand impressions) for the app creator.<\/span>\u00a0\"Native<\/a><\/p>\n

Flurry Setup<\/h3>\n

To get started, log in to the <\/span>Flurry Portal<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and select <\/span>Ad Spaces<\/b>\u00a0> <\/span>New Ad Space\u00a0<\/b>under the publishers tab. Then follow the prompts and enter the appropriate information, selecting\u00a0<\/span>full-screen placement<\/b> for video ads or <\/span>stream placement<\/b> for native ads.<\/span><\/p>\n

From there,\u00a0follow the individual <\/span>iOS<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>Android<\/span><\/a> instructions to integrate the SDK into your mobile\u00a0app. <\/span><\/p>\n

Flurry Native Ads<\/span><\/h3>\n

Developers have the option of publishing native ads, which are delivered in a <\/span>stream format\u00a0and can\u00a0<\/span>include v<\/span>ideos<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The image below shows how a native video add\u00a0would look in an\u00a0iOS\u00a0app, blending in with the app\u2019s content to allow for a more seamless user experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Native<\/a><\/p>\n

It can be difficult to balance incorporating native ads\u00a0and\u00a0providing the best yield in terms of visual experience and integration with your app. <\/span><\/p>\n

But, it is<\/em> possible using\u00a0Flurry’s custom Table View cells and by adhering to Yahoo\u2019s <\/span>native advertising guidelines<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Native<\/p>\n

The easiest way to implement native ads is to download the <\/span>sample code available<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and consult the <\/span>documentation guide<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flurry Interstitial and Full-Screen Ads<\/span><\/h3>\n

Interstitial<\/a> and full-screen ads are the easiest to implement. You can choose between the two with just one line of code. <\/span><\/p>\n

On iOS, you use the following code for full-screen ads:<\/span><\/p>\n

adInterstitial<\/span>.<\/span>presentWithViewController(<\/span>self<\/span>);<\/span><\/p>\n

And here is the code for interstitial ads, which\u00a0literally take over the entire screen:<\/span><\/p>\n

adInterstitial<\/span>.<\/span>fetchAd();<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Native<\/h3>\n

Flurry Banner Ads<\/span><\/h3>\n

Banner ads, which are displayed and refreshed every 30 seconds by default, are\u00a0one of the most common and traditional\u00a0forms of mobile advertising. <\/span><\/p>\n

On iOS, implementing banner ads is essentially as straightforward as full-screen and interstitial ads:<\/span><\/p>\n

override func viewDidAppear(animated: Bool){<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0super.viewDidAppear(animated);<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\/\/ Fetch and display banner ad for a given ad space<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0adBanner.adDelegate = self;<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0adBanner.fetchAnddisplayAdInView(self.view, viewControllerForPresentation: self);<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i> \u00a0}<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Flurry Payments<\/h3>\n