If the Federal Trade Commission decided to audit publishers' native ads today, around 70 percent of websites wouldn't be compliant with the FTC's latest guidelines, according to a new report from MediaRadar. After reviewing thousands of native ads, MediaRadar found only one-third of publishers currently label their native advertising properly to adhere to rules released by the FTC in December. The guidelines clarifies which words publishers should include to make it clear that readers are reading an ad or sponsored content, rather than a traditional editorial story. Some advertisers, like Lord & Taylor, have already been slammed by the FTC for not properly labeling native content. For example, only 5 percent of websites reviewed by MediaRadar included the word "ad" in with their native ads. Examples of publishers already complying with the FTC are The New York Times, which includes the phrase "This is a paid post" with sponsored content, or The Guardian, which labels native content as "Paid content." Of native ads published in 2015, around 54 percent were labeled with the words "sponsor" or "sponsored." The second most popular label last year was "promoted," which was listed on around 12 percent of all native ads reviewed. Less than 5 percent of ads included phrases like "brought to you by," "partner content" or "content by." Another 12 percent of ads surveyed included no label at all. While most publishers are labeling branded content, they often violate FTC... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'
[ AdWeek | 2016-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]