Content ads are the next big thing

Content ads will soon be as big a segment as video, display and social advertising. At least that’s what Zemanta’s Todd Sawicki told attendees of the Digiday Publishing Summit. The reason for this upsurge? Content ads are set to be the primary ad format for mobile.

But what is a content ad? Put simply, it’s any ad that uses content as the creative. It includes things like promoted recommendations, sponsored content, and native ads (all examples of content formatted to be consistent with the publisher site). Unlike other types of ads, content ads do not require standard formats, but do require standard components. These components are used to seamlessly incorporate the ads into a variety of different publisher environments.