Brooklyn-based Riot New Media Group is testing a new native ad feature on the market, proving that native ads are of appeal to publishers big and small.

Infinite Scroll, powered by feed monetization solutions company Sharethrough, will allow publishers the flexibility to control the location and delivery cadence of their desktop and mobile inventory. While Facebook and Twitter popularized this monetization strategy as mobile and in-feed content consumption has grown, publishers of all sizes are giving these ads a try.

"Riot New Media Group properties use infinite scroll design,? said Clinton Kabler, COO of Riot New Media Group, New York. ?Sharethrough's Infinite Scroll support will enable net-new revenue that matches user behavior."

Sharethrough believes the new feature will maximize publishers? revenue, give them control over location and frequency, create an opening for hassle-free integration and provide an elegant user experience. 

"On an intimate device like a phone or a tablet, there is limited real estate for reaching audiences,? said Dan Greenberg, CEO of Sharethrough, San Francisco. ?By placing traditional ad formats on those platforms, that real estate can be completely overrun.

?Instead, mobile ads should be about respecting the user's experience and bringing them content that is meaningful and engaging,? he said. ?Native, in-feed ads, which match both the form and function of the a publisher's site, are incredibly effective at driving those goals."

The above image is not a screenshot of a live feed but instead a mock visualization of what the user experience may look like.

The backside view of the tool lets publishers input ads quickly and easily.

Infinite Scroll is now available to Sharethrough publishers, including Forbes, Men?s Health, Business Insider, Time, Inc., and more than 300 others.

Sharethrough has also recently announced that its entire inventory is now available on 100 percent viewable impressions to ensure quality consumer engagement for advertisers, which aims to signal a paradigm shift for the native ad industry.

Publishers of all calibers have been testing native ads and have seen positive results.

The University of California recently tested native advertising on online magazine source Slate.com and saw a strong response on social media with one story receiving more than 7,000 likes on Facebook.

Through the use of Slate?s internal agency SlateCustom, and native advertising platform Polar?s MediaVoice, the University ran a series called Breakthroughs, which aimed to raise awareness around research conducted on the University system?s various campuses. While native ads have been known to fit conveniently in between editorial content and not cause interruptions for the reader, Slate?s native programs have garnered encouraging results, while some campaigns have seen an average time spent per user of more than 3 minutes and up to five minutes on mobile (see story). 

The History Channel and on-demand media streamer Netflix were a few initial experimenters to try new native experience ads that appeared on publishing Web sites and took over the user?s entire screen.

The ads showed some success, garnering an average view time of 57 seconds. Delivered in partnership by international media and marketing solutions company Gannett and New York-based SaaS analytics company Moat, these particular ads, appearing on USAToday.com, show the brands? reliance on native advertising (see story).  

Many believe banner ads are dead. Meanwhile, native ads are the most reliable alternative, given the placement of these ads and how they do not interrupt readers? digestion of Web content.

"An interruptive advertisement has the ability to negatively affect an individual?s content consumption experience,? Mr. Greenberg said. ?When you are reading an article, watching a video, or viewing an image, an interruption can be both jolting and unwanted. 

 

?For content publishers and brand advertisers, that is something to consider when making monetization or media buying decisions," he said.