Content Marketing

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY:
HOW CONTENT MARKETING

AND NATIVE WILL DRIVE A NEW
ERA OF ENGAGEMENT
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Introduction
12
Proving the value of content

marketing and native
What you need to know
17
Content marketing and

native still have a catch 22
Understanding the
definitions & landscape of
content marketing and native
20
Advertising technology will

power content marketing
Where the dollars

are headed
21
Conclusion
Q2 2015 / A STATE OF THE INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE REPORT FOR BRANDS AND PUBLISHERS
INTRODUCTION
Marketers understand the importance of evaluating

campaigns for both brand impact and tangible performance
goals. While content marketing has helped brands create
one-to-one engagements with audiences, scaling it has
been a challenge. Advances in advertising technology,
specifically programmatic, are the final piece of the puzzle.
Using programmatic technology to deliver content and
native ads enables great storytelling at scale it helps
publishers and advertisers put the right content in front of
the right consumers at the right time.
How well we understand the nuances between content
marketing and native advertising how they differ, what
objectives they meet, their execution and implementation
strategies is crucial to understanding how both can be
amplified by todays automation technology.
3 / HOW CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE WILL DRIVE A NEW ERA OF ENGAGEMENT
The answers to these questions are more crucial now than

ever before:
83 percent of marketers surveyed in our 2014

study on the intersection of programmatic
and content marketing believed that content
will be programmatic by 2017.*
In the interest of clarifying the distinction between content
marketing and native advertising, PulsePoint and Digiday
polled over 500 brands, agencies and publishers, digging
into the formats, current trends being used and marketplace
challenges that define the content marketing and native
landscape. Heres what we found out.
*PulsePoint State of the Industry Report 2014
PULSEPOINT + DIGIDAY
WHAT YOU NEED

TO KNOW
SEVEN KEY TAKEAWAYS TO TAKE TO THE OFFICE
CHALLENGES
Agencies, brands and publishers alike cited lack
of resources as the largest challenge they have
with content marketing and native today.
DEFINITIONS
To support brand engagement objectives,

67 percent of marketers use content marketing
and 66 percent use native.
The definitions are in: Content Marketing

is a strategy to create and distribute valuable
content to attract and define an audience.
Native Advertising is paid media that matches
the form and function of the platform on which it
appears; i.e., advertising that mimics the environment its delivered in.
BUDGETS
STRATEGY
By 2017 content marketing and native ad budgets

will grow 59 percent and 46 percent respectively,
while display and search growth will stagnate.
Agencies and brands (60 percent) view content

marketing as very significant to their overall
marketing strategy.
OBJECTIVES
Publishers (61 percent) say content marketing

is significant or very significant in terms of their
revenue models, and a close 54 percent say the
same about native advertising.
THE FUTURE
As automation encompasses more of the content
and native distribution process, real-time access
to on-demand metrics and the potential to exponentially boost the reach of a campaign will be
clear boons to advertisers from all corners of the
industry. Publishers who can offer these capabilities will lead the pack.
83 percent of
marketers believe
content marketing
will go programmatic
by 2017.*
*PulsePoint State of the Industry Report 2014
UNDERSTANDING THE
DEFINITIONS & LANDSCAPE OF
CONTENT MARKETING & NATIVE
We know the difference
but dont think anyone else does
Content marketing was identified primarily as the strategy
behind creating and distributing valuable content to attract
and acquire a clearly defined audience (74 percent) and
content created, owned and distributed by the brand (67
percent). Simply put: material that captures consumer attention by giving engaging and/or useful content that is associated with a brands core identity (versus a direct promotion).
When it came to native, respondents were most likely to
identify it as paid media that matches the form and function of the platform on which it appears (73 percent) and
advertising that mimics the environment its delivered
within (71 percent).
While content marketing and native advertising are not interchangeable terms, they do have traits in common. Survey
respondents equally listed content marketing and native
advertising as sponsored content aligned with brand
messaging, and while in-app or in-stream delivery was more
often associated with native (39 percent), content marketing
didnt lag too far behind (29 percent). This crossover is
likely because these factors are (or are becoming) essential
to the larger mission of marketing, and crossover occurs in
certain cases.
While respondents seemed clear on the difference between
content marketing and native, they were far less confident
in the rest of the industrys understanding. A little over half
(57 percent) say the industry understands both formats and
strategies not too well or not at all. Based on the findings, individuals are in fact more educated on the nuances
between content and native than most of us realize (or are
giving credit for).
UNDERSTANDING THE DEFINITIONS & LANDSCAPE OF CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE
The Primary Difference

Content marketing is the
overarching strategy. Native
is one tactic of execution.
Q2 2015 / A
A STATE
STATE OF
OF THE
THE INDUSTRY
INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE
INTELLIGENCE REPORT
REPORT FOR
FOR BRANDS
BRANDS AND
AND PUBLISHERS
PUBLISHERS
HOW DO YOU DEFINE CONTENT MARKETING?

The strategy behind creating and
distributing valuable content to
attract and acquire a clearly
defined audience
Content created, owned and

distributed by brands
74%
Where They Intersect

Content marketing is the
message. Native can be the
envelope it is delivered in.
HOW DO YOU DEFINE NATIVE?

Paid media that matches the form
and function of the platform on
which it appears
73%
67%
Advertising that mimics the

environment it is delivered within
71%
UNDERSTANDING THE DEFINITIONS & LANDSCAPE OF CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE
BRANDS/AGENCIES
HOW SIGNIFICANT OF A ROLE DO CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE
ADVERTISING PLAY IN YOUR OVERALL MARKETING STRATEGY?
VERY SIGNIFICANT
SIGNIFICANT
SOMEWHAT SIGNIFICANT
NOT TOO SIGNIFICANT
THE POWER OF PERCEPTION
NOT SIGNIFICANT AT ALL
WHICH IS MORE POPULAR? DEPENDS WHO YOU ASK
0%
Is there a preference between content marketing and native advertising?

Well, there are two sides to the coin: those who buy it vs. those who sell it.
Agencies and brands view content marketing as much more valuable to their
overall marketing strategy, with 60 percent saying its significant or very significant. Only 29 percent said the same of native advertising. It could be because
advertisers have been doing content marketing since the late 1800s. But
distributing it strategically across digital media something that native placements can certainly help with is much newer territory.
61 percent of publishers say content marketing plays a significant or very significant role in their overall business development strategies, inline with brand
strategies. On the other hand, publishers perception of native is much more
positive than brands and agencies, with 55 percent listing it as significant to
very significant.
20%
40%
CONTENT MARKETING
60%
NATIVE ADVERTISING
PUBLISHERS
HOW SIGNIFICANT OF A ROLE DO CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE
ADVERTISING PLAY IN YOUR OVERALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY?
VERY SIGNIFICANT
SIGNIFICANT
SOMEWHAT SIGNIFICANT
NOT TOO SIGNIFICANT
NOT SIGNIFICANT AT ALL

0%
20%
CONTENT MARKETING
40%
60%
NATIVE ADVERTISING
WHERE THE DOLLARS

ARE HEADED
CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE RATE OF GROWTH
WILL SURPASS OTHER FORMATS IN NEXT 2 YEARS
Content marketing and

native growth will outpace
display and search
Both will capture more brand dollars. Brands, agencies and publishers
reported that content marketing and native are both important to their
organizations and strategies. But are the ad dollars and digital inventory
available to back them? The answer is definitively yes: both supply and
demand are expected to grow in the next two years.
While display and search still command most of the ad dollars, 37 percent
named content marketing as one of the largest spending buckets.
And that gap between display/search budgets and content marketing/
native is only set to narrow, with content marketing and native ads marked
as the top two formats to receive major increases in budgets in the next two
years. The only other format getting anywhere close to that much attention? Digital video. Why? These formats elicit higher audience engagement, which is pivotal for brands with upper funnel campaign objectives.
CONTENT MARKETING
59%
NATIVE ADVERTISING
46%
DIGITAL VIDEO
40%
WHERE THE DOLLARS ARE HEADED
BRANDS/AGENCIES
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING USES THE LARGEST PROPORTION OF
YOUR BUDGET?
BRANDS/AGENCIES
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING DO YOU EXPECT TO SHIFT MORE BUDGET
TO IN THE NEXT 2 YEARS?
NATIVE ADVERTISING
NATIVE ADVERTISING
CONTENT MARKETING
CONTENT MARKETING
STANDARD DISPLAY
STANDARD DISPLAY
HIGH IMPACT/RICH MEDIA
SEARCH
SEARCH
DIGITAL VIDEO
DIGITAL VIDEO
MOBILE DISPLAY
MOBILE DISPLAY
MOBILE IN-APP
MOBILE IN-APP
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
PUBLISHERS ANTICIPATE SIGNIFICANT REVENUE GROWTH FROM CONTENT

MARKETING AND NATIVE ADVERTISING OFFERINGS
CONTENT MARKETING
69%
DIGITAL VIDEO
71%
The shift in brand/agency spend is good news for publishers. Currently,
70 percent of publishers name content marketing and 65 percent name
native as major sources of their revenue, and they expect both sources of
revenue to increase significantly in the next two years.
NATIVE ADVERTISING
79%
The cause of this shift is clear: display (78 percent) and mobile display (65
percent) will continue to have their place, but their growth will slow as
newer digital formats prove more successful in creating stronger engagement between brands and their audiences. With brand dollars moving
into content and native formats, there is a compelling case for publishers
to offer more of these solutions and increase their revenue.
Publishers should expect content marketing and native to even further
displace mobile display, as both formats present a highly effective mobile
alternative for reaching audiences.
PUBLISHERS
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING CURRENTLY BRINGS IN REVENUE FOR
YOUR PUBLICATION?
NATIVE ADVERTISING
CONTENT MARKETING
STANDARD DISPLAY
SEARCH
DIGITAL VIDEO
MOBILE DISPLAY
MOBILE IN-APP
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
PUBLISHERS
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BRING IN MORE
REVENUE FOR YOUR PUBLICATION IN THE NEXT 2 YEARS?
Respondents who arent currently buying or selling content marketing

and/or native are split into two camps. 59 percent of buyers/agencies
and 71percent of publishers are right on the brink, saying they will be
in the next 12 months.
NATIVE ADVERTISING
CONTENT MARKETING
By contrast, approximately 28 percent claim theyll never use those

formats. Content marketing and native advertising might not be for
everyone, but the majority is clearly ready for it.
STANDARD DISPLAY
SEARCH
DIGITAL VIDEO
MOBILE DISPLAY
MOBILE IN-APP
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
PROVING THE VALUE

OF CONTENT MARKETING
AND NATIVE
Campaign
objectives
and campaign
measurement
are still
disconnected
Why and how does this disconnect exist between

objectives and measurement? To get to the heart of
the differences between content marketing and native
advertising, its useful to consider what marketing
objective each supports.
Brands/agencies overwhelmingly indicated that they
use content marketing for upper funnel strategies: 67
percent list brand engagement as the number one
objective best supported by content marketing and
55 percent list brand awareness.
66%
Native advertising perches at the
top of the funnel: 66% of marketers
leverage native to support brand
engagement
PROVING THE VALUE OF CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE
BRANDS/AGENCIES
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MARKETING OBJECTIVES ARE BEST
SUPPORTED BY CONTENT MARKETING?
BRAND AWARENESS
BRANDS/AGENCIES
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MARKETING OBJECTIVES ARE BEST SUPPORTED
BY NATIVE ADVERTISING?
BRAND AWARENESS
BRAND ENGAGEMENT
BRAND ENGAGEMENT
LANDING PAGE TRAFFIC
LANDING PAGE TRAFFIC
LOAD GENERATION
LOAD GENERATION
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION
SALES CONVERSIONS
SALES CONVERSIONS
0%
20%
40%
60%
0%
20%
40%
60%
Engagement metrics will soon replace CTR for content

marketing and native
Whats interesting are sites that score
content based on how long it takes to
read [articles] and reporting on how far
someone scrolls to give a sense of how
much of content was consumed all of
those granular scores are important.
Bill Evans
EVP and Chief Digital Officer
Team Chemistry
WPP Group
The metrics marketers are using to gauge the performance of each format say a lot about their intentions,
and it makes the situation a bit more complex. Brands
and agencies are most often using CTR and impressions
to judge the success of native advertising, metrics best
suited for lower funnel objectives.
On the other hand, theyre more likely to use things
like time on page and social engagements to measure
content marketings performance, indicating an understanding that with content, its often the quality and not
the sheer quantity of interactions that matter.
Unsurprisingly, publishers are currently offering CTR
and impressions to brands and agencies at the highest
frequency for both content marketing and native
advertising. Additionally, an overwhelming number of
publishers indicated that they do not yet offer engagement metrics like scroll velocity (80 percent).
BRANDS/AGENCIES
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING METRICS DO YOU USE TO MEASURE
THE SUCCESS OF CAMPAIGNS?
PUBLISHERS
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING CAMPAIGN METRICS DO YOU PROVIDE?
CTR
CTR
VIEWABILITY RATE
VIEWABILITY RATE
IMPRESSIONS
IMPRESSIONS
TIME ON PAGE
TIME ON PAGE
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS
SCROLL DEPTH
SCROLL DEPTH
SCROLL VELOCITY
SCROLL VELOCITY
TIME IN VIEW
TIME IN VIEW
0%
CONTENT MARKETING
20%
40%
NATIVE ADVERTISING
60%
80%
N/A
0%
CONTENT MARKETING
20%
40%
60%
NATIVE ADVERTISING
80%
N/A
While publishers are providing some engagement metrics, theyre not offering
enough to meet buyer demand. Publishers are slightly more likely to provide
social engagement metrics for content marketing (58 percent) than native
advertising (52 percent), showing that they are growing attuned to how their
buy-side peers are assessing each.
The metrics publishers offer could be due to a lack of awareness that marketers
are using engagement to gauge campaign success or a technical inability to
offer this type of data. As buyer demand for this grows, publishers will need
to figure out how to offer more granular engagement and page level metrics
moving us all beyond CTR, and into the era of engagement.
What metrics are being used?

Things from 15 years ago: clicks
and page views. What should be
used? Time and attention.
Jason Kint
CEO
Digital Content Next
CONTENT MARKETING
AND NATIVE STILL HAVE
A CATCH 22
Lack of demand comes

from lack of resources
in bandwidth
The industry has a wider set of interwoven challenges to tackle before

brands fully embrace content marketing & native advertising strategies
and before publishers can fully support them.
Lack of budgets and resources to deliver high quality content efficiently
is the number one barrier brands/agencies cited today (55 percent).
Being able to better measure ROI (which 50 percent listed as the
second largest challenge), would help them to solve for this. By
measuring the metrics that matter, brands and agencies can better
prove ROI internally, which would in turn empower them to demand
greater resources. Success begets success.
CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE STILL HAVE A CATCH 22
The barrier is overcoming this idea that its harder or

more expensive or that it takes more resources. Its just
another way of structuring your marketing plan.
I predict brands are going to take on more of the
role of content publishers.
Bill Evans
EVP and Chief Digital Officer
Team Chemistry
WPP Group
BRANDS/AGENCIES
WHAT BARRIERS ARE PREVENTING YOU FROM DOING MORE
CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE?
LACK OF RESOURCES/BUDGET TO DELIVER

HIGH QUALITY CONTENT EFFICIENTLY
55%
34%
INABILITY TO TARGET AND DISTRIBUTE AT SCALE

PROVING ITS VALUE TO MY EXECUTIVES/
ORGANIZATION
26%
50%
DIFFICULTY MEASURING/PROVING ROI
21%
LACK OF CLIENT DEMAND
NOT A PRIORITY/UNSURE HOW TO BEGIN
13%
CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE STILL HAVE A CATCH 22
PUBLISHERS
WHAT CHALLENGES ARE HOLDING YOU BACK FROM EMBRACING
CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE?
37%
INSUFFICIENT BUYER DEMAND

LACK OF INTERNAL RESOURCES AND OVERHEAD
ALLOCATION
44%
TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE DOESNT SUPPORT HIGH IMPACT/NATIVE FORMATS
20%
21%
NO CLEAR DEFINITION OF AD STANDARDS

CONCERNED ABOUT PRESERVING PUBLICATION/
EDITORIAL INTEGRITY
INABILITY TO DRIVE ENGAGEMENT
LIMITED DATA AND/OR REPORTING TO
SHARE WITH ADVERTISERS
Publishers still fear

sponsored stigma
38%
15%
24%
Similarly, publishers listed insufficient internal

resources and the overhead allocations required
to support an increase in these placements as
their top barrier (44 percent). As with buyers,
increased revenue would lower the barrier to
entry by making more resources available. The
second highest barrier listed, at 38 percent, is
more difficult to solve: the fear of sponsored
stigma, or the desire to avoid losing editorial
integrity by hosting sponsored content. Developing clear guidelines and best practices on
how to maintain a clear division of church and
state, and the metrics that will best prove client
success, are critical to overcoming potentially
negative perceptions and limited funding for
content marketing and native tactics.
ADVERTISING TECHNOLOGY WILL

POWER CONTENT MARKETING
In this new era of engagement, both marketers and publishers agree that the
data-driven, automated technology that powers search and display today will
soon do the same for content marketing and native campaigns. While they
dont see technology getting heavily involved in the creation and production
process, they do feel that automation will help them not only scale content
marketing and native, but enable better targeting, measurement and optimization techniques.
60 Percent believe advertising technology will

provide more precise, data-driven targeting to
distribute content marketing and native ads in
front of the right audience in the right environment
at scale.
58 Percent anticipate that technology will bring

better measurement and optimization techniques.
And this reality is right around the corner:
83 percent of marketers surveyed in our 2014 study

on the intersection of programmatic and content
marketing believed that content marketing will be
programmatically powered by 2017.
HOW WILL ADVERTISING TECHNOLOGY AUTOMATION IMPROVE
CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE IN THE FUTURE?
CREATING QUALITY CONTENT

FASTER AND EASIER
29%
MORE PRECISE DATA DRIVEN

TARGETING
60%
45%
DISTRIBUTING CONTENT AT SCALE

BETTER MEASUREMENT AND
OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES
IT WONT
58%
11%
CONCLUSION
Standard digital ads have
continued to focus on direct
response while content
marketing has allowed more
creativity and engagement with
the consumer things further up
the funnel like building brands
and changing perception.
Digital content marketing and native advertising have seen significant growth
and maturation and both are set to see a period of positive, rapid change over
the next two years.
The rise and adoption of programmatic technology will make all of this easier. As
automation encompasses more of the digital advertising ecosystem, content
marketing and native distribution will benefit. Real-time access to on-demand
metrics and the potential to exponentially boost the reach of a campaign will
yield clear benefits to advertisers; and publishers who can offer these capabilities will lead the pack.
Jason Kint
CEO
Digital Content Next

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STATE OF THE INDUSTRY:

HOW CONTENT MARKETING

Proving the value of content

What you need to know

Content marketing and

Advertising technology will

Where the dollars

Marketers understand the importance of evaluating

The answers to these questions are more crucial now than

83 percent of marketers surveyed in our 2014

WHAT YOU NEED

To support brand engagement objectives,

The definitions are in: Content Marketing

By 2017 content marketing and native ad budgets

Agencies and brands (60 percent) view content

Publishers (61 percent) say content marketing

UNDERSTANDING THE DEFINITIONS & LANDSCAPE OF CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE

The Primary Difference

HOW DO YOU DEFINE CONTENT MARKETING?

Content created, owned and

Where They Intersect

HOW DO YOU DEFINE NATIVE?

Advertising that mimics the

UNDERSTANDING THE DEFINITIONS & LANDSCAPE OF CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE

NOT TOO SIGNIFICANT

THE POWER OF PERCEPTION

NOT SIGNIFICANT AT ALL

WHICH IS MORE POPULAR? DEPENDS WHO YOU ASK

Is there a preference between content marketing and native advertising?

NOT TOO SIGNIFICANT

NOT SIGNIFICANT AT ALL

WHERE THE DOLLARS

Content marketing and

WHERE THE DOLLARS ARE HEADED

HIGH IMPACT/RICH MEDIA

HIGH IMPACT/RICH MEDIA

WHERE THE DOLLARS ARE HEADED

PUBLISHERS ANTICIPATE SIGNIFICANT REVENUE GROWTH FROM CONTENT

WHERE THE DOLLARS ARE HEADED

Respondents who arent currently buying or selling content marketing

By contrast, approximately 28 percent claim theyll never use those

PROVING THE VALUE

Why and how does this disconnect exist between

PROVING THE VALUE OF CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE

LANDING PAGE TRAFFIC

LANDING PAGE TRAFFIC

PROVING THE VALUE OF CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE

Engagement metrics will soon replace CTR for content

PROVING THE VALUE OF CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE

PROVING THE VALUE OF CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE

What metrics are being used?

Lack of demand comes

The industry has a wider set of interwoven challenges to tackle before

CONTENT MARKETING AND NATIVE STILL HAVE A CATCH 22

The barrier is overcoming this idea that its harder or

LACK OF RESOURCES/BUDGET TO DELIVER

INABILITY TO TARGET AND DISTRIBUTE AT SCALE

DIFFICULTY MEASURING/PROVING ROI