What is a Native Ad?

A native ad is an ad that follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed. The ad has the same visual design and the behavior of organic content.

Sharethrough's native ads match the surrounding content by utilizing Real Time Templating to bring together dynamic ad components to match publisher design.

What Are The Ad Components?

Required

A. Thumbnail - The image associated with the creative.  Will be replaced with a video for Silent Instant Play ads on enabled placements.

B. Headline - The creative's headline, which is the largest contributor to the value of the impression.  Maximum of 140 characters.

C. Brand Disclosure - Designates the advertiser promoting the content.  Having the advertiser name is required, but "Advertisement From" can be changed.  More examples can be found in the FTC Guidelines here.

D. User Opt-Out Icon - Will only appear for creatives running through the Sharethrough Exchange (STX).  The icon's link leads to Sharethrough's Privacy Policy, which contains instructions for opting out of user tracking.

Optional

E. Description - Additional commentary of the ad content, with a limit of 160 characters.

F. Brand Logo - A small advertiser logo can accompany the brand's name within the ad unit.  This will only appear if the advertiser chose to include a brand logo with their Native Advertising campaign.

G. Creative Content Type Icon - If desired, the icons can appear for Hosted Video, Youtube, Pinterest, Vine, and Instagram creatives.  These provides users with a hint of what type of content is contained within the ad.

H. Advertisement Disclosure - Some publishers chose to designate the ad unit as "Advertisement", "Promoted", or "Sponsored" content to distinguish it from surrounding editorial content.

Additional Information

For detailed creative specs, please read our Creative Ad Specs.

For more information on Content Types and instructions for setting up Creatives, please read How to Set Up a Creative.

For tips on designing your ad unit, please see our Best Practices for Designing Native Ads.