Yahoo & Wharton to develop native advertising framework

CEBU, Philippines - Yahoo Asia Pacific is collaborating with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Future of Advertising Program (WFoA) to jointly develop an industry framework for native advertising, a rapidly emerging form of digital advertising.

The framework will act as a guideline for maximizing the effectiveness of native advertising.

Online advertising is evolving with less obtrusive formats such as native ads, which have high engagement rates because they blend advertising seamlessly with the digital content environment.

The collaboration between Yahoo and Wharton will include selective crowd-sourcing of ideas and innovations for native advertising, both online and through roundtable discussions with practitioners, thought leaders and social scientists globally.

Wharton and Yahoo kick started the process by hosting an invitation-only roundtable recently in Singapore and discussed the future trends and likely direction of native advertising. Yahoo will also tap into the WFoA Global Advisory Board comprising more than 80 thought leaders from the world’s most innovative advertising agencies, technology companies and research institutes.

“We're proud to be leading the discussion on the future of native advertising amongst advertisers, publishers and agencies to develop an industry framework around this emerging trend. Working together with Wharton, we will create a reference point on how native advertising is defined and measured in the marketplace,” said Yvonne Chang, Managing Director, Yahoo India-South East Asia and Head of Advertising Solutions Asia Pacific.

Commenting on the partnership, Jerry Wind, Professor of Marketing at Wharton and Academic Director of the Wharton Future of Advertising Program, said, “We are excited to work on such a groundbreaking venture with Yahoo.” He added, “At Wharton we have a deep and committed interest in the future of digital advertising and how it will evolve over the years to come. Our collaboration with the Yahoo team will strengthen the output of a native advertising framework by matching professional experience with our academic rigor.”

According to industry reports, native advertising is the fastest growing segment of online advertising. eMarketer estimates that native ad spending in 2012 reached $1.63 billion and will increase to $2.85 billion by 2014.    (FREEMAN)