Save 50% on a 3-month Digiday+ membership. Ends Dec 5.
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.
For these ads to see the growth Sawicki predicts, they need to be both scalable and engaging. Fortunately, supply-side platforms are beginning to support content ads.
Full video of Sawicki’s talk is available below.
Tech Talk with Zemanta: How Content Ads Will Come to Dominant Publishers Advertising Efforts from Digiday on Vimeo.
More from Digiday
Visa extends its reach into the creator economy’s liquidity crunch
The financial firm is working with creator financial platform Lumanu.
Why Carter’s new CMO wants more emotional, relatable marketing across channels
Carter’s CMO Sarah Crockett joined the company in the summer of 2025 with a goal of doing more realistic, relevant storytelling around childhood and parenting. In an interview with Modern Retail, she shared more about her approach.
U.K. retailer Tesco wants advertisers to see it as equal to any traditional media partner
Tesco’s client development director, Nick Ashley, talked to Digiday about its latest Upfront, the importance of shopper data, as well as how much its ad business impacts profit margins.