Native benchmarks and super sales statistics

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How much better do native ads perform than banner ads? How much better are CTR's above the fold? Will adding a color help or hurt engagment? Here's a round-up of current benchmarks for native advertising.  Make sure your sales teams can talk knowledgeably about native ads with this simple checklist of native benchmarks.

The first set is from research by Polar:

1. Native ads peform twice as well when headlines include numbers

Headlines should use numbers - listicles has just gained status as a word in the Oxford dictionary - and be of an optimal size: 40 to 60 characters.

2. Click through rates are 35% enhanced when native ad promotions are placed above the fold

This is an intuitive factor that should inform where native ads are placed - and it can be used as part of the sales pitch, especially against other native products with less inspired placement. Some media are charging more for above the fold fixed placements.

3. Light shading of the promotions performs 57% better

This seems counter intuitive, since shading native ads may make them less "look alike." Nevertheless light shading - and only light shading - performs remarkably better due, probably, to its ability to stand out on the page.

Don't go over a five percentage shading and keep the color warm - yellows and nudes - over blues and greens.

4. Subtle font color improves readership by 79%

Again, a slight color change makes native  headlines content pop - as long as it is subtle enough for readers to recognize the format and look as, well, native to the site, rather than a separate brand.

Even right rail ads that contain a little bit of color get the extra clicks. A nice feature for ads that are clearly marked.

5. Consistent fonts improved CTR's by 64%

Haven't we learned before to keep font styles consistent in regular ads? The same holds true for native.

Changing the font changes the brand, and the whole point of native ads is to mimic the editorial brand so that the credibility and values "flow over" without duping the audience. They need to know, yet respond viscerally on a subconscious level to the values embedded in the brand.

6. Adding the sponsor's logo obtains and extra 12% CTR to the client site

Amazingly, visitors click on images, including logos. If the content is sufficiently interesting, a full 12% will click on the sponsors logo when it is added. By all means, add it.

From an informal survey of lcoal native programs

7. Average CTR for article page 1 to 2%

The highest rate we saw was Deseret Digtal at 2 %. They also measure average social shares at 71, about .5% of page views of article page views.

The rest of these stats are from Content Amp, 2013:

7. 50 higher CTR's for native ads on mobile

If you think that the small size of mobile devices means fewer click throughs for native - think again. Remember, people are often on their phones when bored in line and at work,  where, as Buzzfeed motto suggests, peope are likely to be reading for entertainment. Native ads also "fit" well on mobile devices since they are placed in stream, making it an ideal native medium.

8. Native ads show a 50% increase in purchase intent than banner ads and a 40% increase in brand lift over banner ads

This is self explanatory. Local ads in our sample are typically achieving a 1% click through, many times higher than a banner ad.

From Neilson, on behaf of Sharethrough:

9. 82% brand lift for native compared to 5% brand lift for pre-roll in users exposed to both varieties

When selling against broadcast sites with pre-roll  - or just selling against video advertising in general - this is a great statistic.

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