If they put inaccurate summaries within quotes the way you just did, that wouldn't be very good either: "custom video and list-style advertising content that lo

If they put inaccurate summaries within quotes the way you just did, that wouldn't be very good either: "custom video and list-style advertising content that looks similar to its own editorial content" != "ads pretend to be news stories" Native advertising done well is actually a rising tide that lifts all boats. Regular advertising can be as crude as "Coke is awesome, buy Coke!" and no-one really wants that. Native advertising, on the other hand, could be an intricate feature about how Coke cans are made and the history of soda cans. Would I rather have lots of screamy obnoxious ads in magazines, on TV, or on the Web.. or would I rather have well produced content that is clearly marked as being sponsor backed? The latter. And this is why it's taking off, because no-one clicks on banner ads, lots of people run ad blockers, and both media outlets and advertisers are responding by providing what readers do want and will engage with.. indeed, I predicted this years ago on Hacker News itself ;-) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3956158 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3956158 Now, can native advertising be done in a shitty, underhanded way? Absolutely. But so can journalism. So can reportage. But just because some journalism is shitty and biased doesn't mean journalism is shitty, and nor is native advertising when it's done right, it's better than display advertising because people are actually likely to consume it.