It’s 2015. It’s also “the year of the native ad,” says Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer.
“Yahoo! is pushing the native advertising industry forward as fast as it can,” notes stock analysis site Trefis. “With a headline on its blog declaring 2015 “The Year of the Native Ad,” and claiming the industry will double in size within the next three years, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer wants to move to #1 from her current #3 position in the mobile advertising business.”
Native ads, unlike traditional display ads, are more effective at pushing more organic content. And they work exceedingly well on mobile, which Mayer and other industry heavyweights know is the wave of the future for digital advertising.
“Mayer is banking on mobile and sponsored content to spark growth in Yahoo!’s struggling advertising division,” contends Trefis author Aaron Maley. “Yahoo!’s legacy advertising revenues are declining about 1 percent overall annually, with banner ad revenues leading the decline at -5 percent annually.”
Yahoo! has fought back with a few acquisitions, including mobile ad delivery platform BrightRool at the tail end of 2014. It’s also investing in its in-stream native ad platform Gemini. Native ad revenue had to have been high on the wish list as well when Yahoo! acquired Tumblr last year for $1.1 billion.
“Native ads are hot right now,” says Mayer.
Trefis reports that Yahoo!’s revenue from native ads doubled last year, with mobile revenue up 23 percent in just a single quarter.
Trefis analysts said they expect continued growth in the coming quarters, saying “We expect the mobile user base to increase further as the company implements its strategy to deliver personalized content.”