Native advertising is lauded in equal measure as the saviour and the pariah of modern publishing; it’s the Justin Beiber and marmite of online publishing all rolled into one.

Some people love it, others cannot stand it. But just like Beiber, I’m sure, native advertising can be misunderstood.

If you look at publishing evolution over the last decade or so, publishers have had to move fast and adapt, but most, to steal Mark Zuckerberg’s phrase, have not had the luxury of being able to ‘move fast and break things’. Rather it has been more a case of trying to ‘move fast, and not break anything’, as many publishers moving online have been forced not to disrupt too much of their print heritage business models.

Technological innovation swept many publishers by. We’ve had email, display, search, social, video, mobile, RTB and plenty more besides; every new ad format and digital ad solution promised to revolutionise digital publishing once and for all. And in fairness most of the above listed did revolutionise digital publishing; just not in the way most established publishers would ever want.

Instead of additional revenue, which most of these ad solutions promised, many publishers have seen their userbase carved up by younger, more agile publishing start-ups.

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