Native or natural advertising has become an increasingly popular way for brands to connect with their target audience in a non-intrusive, engaging manner. These ads dissolve in the content of websites, social media platforms, or other digital environments, thus becoming more appealing to users compared to traditional display ads. One of the most effective ways to distribute native ads is through specialized affiliate networks, which help advertisers place their content on high-quality platforms while allowing publishers and media buyers to monetize their traffic efficiently.
For advertisers, native advertising is a powerful tool for boosting brand awareness, generating leads, and driving sales. Since these ads integrate naturally into the user experience, they tend to perform better in terms of engagement and conversion rates. On the other hand, for media buyers and affiliate marketers, native advertising networks present an excellent opportunity to earn substantial revenue by strategically placing these ads across various digital properties.
However, navigating the vast landscape of native advertising networks can be overwhelming, even for experienced affiliates. The market is flooded with different offers, each varying in terms of commission structures, payment methods, targeting capabilities, GEO, and a multitude of other factors. With so many options available, choosing the right network that aligns with your goals and business model requires careful consideration and research.
To simplify the process and help you make an informed decision, we have compiled a comprehensive guide on selecting the best native advertising network for your needs. In this article, we will break down the key factors to consider when evaluating different networks and provide you with a curated list of the top-performing native advertising platforms in the industry.
What is Native Advertising?
Native ads closely resemble the content of the website they are posted on, so the user doesn't immediately understand this is an advertisement, treating it as valid information. As you can see, this format quickly builds and solidifies trust in the target audience as it does not force potential customers to buy an item: it is a non-intrusive offer, which works way better than lackluster hucksterisms screaming at clients from their screens.
Still, such ads, disguised as content, come out marked as an advertising piece: there are regulations and laws controlling the sphere, so an attentive eye can spot a teeny-tiny asterisk with a warning.
However, affiliates are nonetheless relatively free in terms of the ad design: there are no restrictions regarding the format or type of native advertising, so focus on consistency, and tailor the ad for the needs of your target audience, making sure that it does not divert attention from content consumption. There's a logic behind it: users uninterested in the content they browse will leave. Let us explore the types of native ads before we fully switch to the topic of the best native ad networks.
Articles. More than 80% of native advertising consists of articles: reviews, expert materials, case studies, or even reports and detailed feedback. Such articles don't normally require immediate action from the user. Usually, this format implies a detailed overview of the problem, intangibly interweaving information about promoted products.
Social media. Native ads organically fit into newsfeeds: users flip through the feeds, not understanding that a post they've just seen is an ad. The rest is paperwork: an offer that piques curiosity will inevitably be checked out by the user clicking the link attached to the post.
Recommendation lists. Recommendation lists are placed on the same page with the material of interest: they represent a set of links to other articles on similar topics. For example, if there's a detailed overview of Berlin, the site can offer a Munich-related text or an instruction on how to get your Schengen clearance approved. As you can see, native advertising is cleverly dressed up as content, and it cannot be distinguished from the recommended material: if the reader is interested in the banner and headline, they will click the link.
Videos. Native advertising has grown popular in the last 2-3 years, and you sure as hell can bump into it watching your favorite YouTube blogger, no matter if you're into Markiplier or Good Mythical Morning. Approximately 70% of users prefer to learn about products and services via videos.
Tests and additional services. This format also organically fits into the structure of the site where it is located. This approach takes time and effort: games, for example, require several months and quite a few people who can find out and eliminate all bugs before release.
Types of Native Advertising
Native advertising blends seamlessly with the content of a website or platform, offering a non-disruptive way to engage users. Here are some common types of native advertising you can explore before examining the list of native ad networks.
Content Recommendation Widgets
Content recommendation widgets are a widely used feature on websites, particularly on news portals, blogs, and content-driven platforms. These widgets are strategically placed either at the end of an article, in the middle of the content, or within the sidebar to integrate with the user’s browsing experience. Their primary function is to suggest additional content that users might find interesting based on their reading habits, past interactions, or contextual relevance.
Often labeled as Sponsored, Recommended for You, or You May Also Like, these widgets can promote a variety of content types, including articles, blog posts, videos, and even product recommendations. Publishers use them to keep users engaged for longer periods, increasing page views and reducing bounce rates, while advertisers leverage them as a subtle yet effective way to drive traffic to branded content, landing pages, or e-commerce stores.
What makes these widgets particularly effective is their ability to blend naturally with the site’s content. Unlike pop-ups or auto-play videos, which can disrupt the user experience, content recommendation widgets work in harmony with the reader’s journey, offering valuable suggestions without being overly aggressive and intrusive.
Many major publishers and media platforms partner with content recommendation networks to optimize these widgets for maximum engagement. These platforms use sophisticated algorithms and AI-driven personalization to ensure that the recommended content aligns with the user's interests, increasing the likelihood of clicks and interactions.
In addition to benefiting publishers and advertisers, content recommendation widgets also enhance the user experience by helping readers discover new and relevant information they might not have actively searched for.
In-Feed Ads
In-feed ads are a popular and highly effective form of native advertising built into the user experience on various digital platforms. These ads are placed directly within the main content feed of social media platforms, news websites, blogs, and other online publications. As they mimic the appearance and style of organic posts or articles, they are deemed less disruptive than traditional banner ads or pop-ups.
One of the key advantages of in-feed ads is their ability to blend naturally with the surrounding content. Unlike display ads that often stand out as promotional material, in-feed ads adopt the same format, structure, and visual aesthetics as the platform they appear on. This “camouflage” helps them capture user attention more effectively while maintaining a non-intrusive and user-friendly approach. They may include images, videos, headlines, and descriptions that match the platform’s editorial style — all for the sake of looking like an organic part of the feed.
In-feed ads are widely used on social media; they are practically omnipresent on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok. These platforms place sponsored posts or promoted content within users’ feeds, ensuring that they are naturally woven into the scrolling experience. Similarly, news websites and content-driven platforms incorporate in-feed ads within their article lists or recommendation sections, presenting them as engaging stories, videos, or interactive content.
Advertisers favor in-feed ads because they offer a high level of visibility and engagement. Since these ads appear in the middle of users’ browsing activities, they are more likely to be noticed and interacted with compared to ads placed in less prominent locations. Additionally, in-feed ads often leverage sophisticated targeting options, allowing advertisers to reach specific demographics, interests, and behaviors to maximize their impact.
Promoted Listings
Promoted listings are a powerful form of native advertising that appears on online marketplaces, e-commerce websites, and digital shopping platforms. These ads are designed to showcase certain products or services by placing them in prominent positions within search results, category pages, or recommendation sections.
The primary purpose of promoted listings is to enhance visibility and drive more engagement for sellers looking to increase their sales. Since they are strategically positioned to appear among regular search results, they attract more attention from potential buyers without feeling overly intrusive. While these listings resemble organic product offerings, they are typically marked with labels such as Sponsored, Promoted, or Featured to indicate that they are paid placements.
Promoted listings are commonly used on major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart Marketplace, and Google Shopping. On these platforms, sellers can bid on keywords or specific product categories to ensure their items appear higher in search results, increasing the likelihood of clicks and conversions. Many online marketplaces operate on a PPC or PPI model, meaning sellers only pay when users interact with their promoted listings.
One of the biggest advantages of promoted listings is that they target users who are already in a purchasing mindset. Promoted listings reach those shoppers who are actively searching for products. Additionally, these ads offer flexibility in terms of targeting, allowing advertisers to refine their campaigns based on demographics, location, shopping behavior, and keyword relevance.
From a consumer standpoint, promoted listings can enhance the shopping experience by highlighting relevant products that match their interests. Well-optimized promoted listings often feature high-quality images, compelling descriptions, and competitive pricing, making them appealing choices among organic listings.
For sellers, using promoted listings effectively requires a strategic approach. Factors such as keyword selection, bid management, pricing competitiveness, and product ratings all play a role in determining the success of a promoted listing campaign.
Native Search Ads
Native search ads are a highly effective form of advertising that integrates into search engine SERPs while maintaining a natural look that closely resembles organic search listings. These ads are placed within the list of search results and are designed to align with the format, structure, and style of unpaid search entries. However, they are clearly marked with labels such as Sponsored, Ad, or Promoted to differentiate them from purely organic results.
Native search ads provide valuable, relevant information that matches the user’s search intent. As they are positioned among regular search results, they tend to receive higher engagement rates compared to other types of digital ads.
Major search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo offer native search advertising solutions through their respective ad platforms, including Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads). These platforms allow advertisers to create, manage, and optimize their campaigns, ensuring that their ads reach the right audience at the right time. Additionally, many e-commerce and content-driven websites incorporate native search ads within their internal search results, helping brands reach users even outside traditional search engines.
From a user perspective, native search ads can enhance the search experience by offering relevant solutions tailored to their needs. Instead of intrusive advertising, users receive useful and informative content that aligns with their interests, whether they are looking for a product to buy, a service to book, or information to consume.
Pros and Cons of Native Advertising
Native advertising has become a popular strategy for marketers, offering a more seamless and less intrusive way to reach audiences compared to traditional display ads. By blending with the content on a platform, native ads provide a more organic user experience, increasing engagement and driving conversions. However, like any marketing approach, native advertising has its own set of advantages and challenges. In this section, we’ll explore both the pros and cons of native advertising to help you determine if it’s the right choice for your marketing strategy — after all, you should always come prepared while choosing the option from a list of the best native ad networks for advertisers and the best native ad networks for publishers.
Advantages
- Audience Loyalty. Native advertising fosters strong audience loyalty. Readers do not perceive them as direct advertisements but rather as valuable, informative, or entertaining content that aligns with their interests. Because of this seamless integration, users are more likely to engage with native ads without feeling like they are being sold to. Over time, this approach builds trust, strengthens brand credibility, and enhances audience retention.
- Flexibility. Native advertising offers unparalleled flexibility, allowing advertisers to customize their approach based on their specific goals, target audience, and industry. You can choose from a variety of formats, such as sponsored articles, in-feed ads, content recommendation widgets, or promoted listings, depending on what best suits your product or service. Additionally, native ads can be distributed across multiple platforms, including social media, search engines, news websites, and e-commerce marketplaces. This adaptability ensures that businesses can fine-tune their advertising strategies to achieve the best results while maintaining consistency across different channels.
- Viral Effect. When executed well, native advertising has the potential to go viral. Since these ads are designed to be engaging, informative, or entertaining — rather than just promotional — users are more likely to share them with their networks. A well-crafted native ad can spark conversations, generate organic engagement, and spread across social media, forums, and other digital communities. This word-of-mouth effect amplifies brand reach without requiring additional ad spend, making native advertising a cost-effective way to increase visibility and drive user engagement.
- High Conversion Rates. Native ads consistently outperform traditional digital advertising in terms of engagement and conversions. According to AppNexus, native ads achieve an 8.8x higher CTR than display ads. This impressive performance can be attributed to the fact that native ads feel less like advertisements and more like relevant, useful content.
Disadvantages
Costs. Native advertising is synonymous with indistinguishable content placed on the site, so you're supposed to do your best to fit in: hire a designer who'd make a bombastic creative, stimulate your copywriters, and so forth. If you promised valuable information, share it, otherwise the reader, who's seen nothing but your ad, will feel deceived.
Price. Native advertising is always more expensive: consider the cost of content production and publications that are to be adjusted for different platforms. Some products are just not worth it.
How to Choose the Right Native Advertising Network
There are affiliate networks that help you place native ads. Hundreds of these. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re choosing native ad networks for small publishers or simply breeze through a native ad networks list — either way, you’ll need some guidance to continue, and we are happy to share our observations to give you a helping hand.
Targeting settings. This is an affiliate's major tool: the more flexible the settings, the better the campaign customization. Consequently, the ad will hit the right audience. In some networks, settings include regions and age; in others, you can discover an additional perk — interests. State-of-the-art networks resort to machine learning technologies for better customization.
Initial difficulties. Some sites offer a ready-made set of guides to help you set up your campaign. In most cases, you can also count on a personal manager ready to answer all your questions. Of course, such networks are more expensive, but in the end, beginners can get the best of it, learning and acquiring new knowledge without splurging their budget. Tinker-with-it sort of platforms exist too, so if you're confident enough or do not want to register another expense line in your expenditure list, go for this option.
GEO. Most networks are adapted for the English-speaking part of the Internet: Europe and North America. Options for Asia and Russian-speaking platforms are also available, but Europe and the USA, and/or Canada are top-priority as their users are the most expensive. Choose a network based on the main target audience of the promoted product.
Restrictions. Native ad niches are worth mentioning: some of them do not allow you to promote crypto or adult-related products, so you'll have to do a little digging if this is your primary vertical. To each their own, anyway, so there are different requirements for different ads in different networks.
Replenishment. Have you ever heard of wireless service providers? Have you ever used your smartphone to replenish your balance? Then you're good: native advertising networks operate similarly. Users replenish their accounts and can work with it until it's finally empty. Keep in mind, though, that the amount of replenishment varies depending on the network. In some cases, the minimum deposit is $100; in others, the deposit is at least $500.
Top Native Advertising Networks
Finally! It’s happening! We’re sharing the list of top native ad networks! Here’s a breakdown the networks categorized by their general scope, performance, and niche specializations.
General Native Ad Networks
These networks cater to a wide variety of advertisers, offering extensive reach, powerful targeting options, and diverse ad formats to suit different needs across multiple industries.
Taboola
Taboola is one of the largest and most well-known native ad networks. It offers personalized content recommendations that practically dissolve in editorial content. The platform helps target specific audiences across a wide range of publishers and websites.
Outbrain
Outbrain is another leading native ad network that delivers personalized content recommendations across a network of premium publishers. It allows advertisers to create ads that integrate naturally into the user experience and drive traffic with a focus on quality content.
MGID
MGID is a global native ad network that helps advertisers connect with audiences across the web through content recommendations. It’s known for its advanced targeting capabilities, including geo-targeting, device targeting, and behavioral targeting to maximize ad performance.
Revcontent
Revcontent is a top-tier native ad network that prides itself on offering high-quality placements on premium publishers. With strong optimization tools, Revcontent allows advertisers to track performance in real-time and offers one of the highest engagement rates in the industry.
Nativo
Nativo offers an advanced native advertising platform that allows advertisers to run highly effective ad campaigns across various premium publishers. It provides customized solutions for content marketing, helping brands deliver seamless and relevant ad experiences for users.
Performance & Programmatic Networks
These networks are designed for performance-driven campaigns as they provide automation, optimization tools, and programmatic buying to ensure better ad placements and cost efficiency.
TripleLift
TripleLift specializes in programmatic native advertising. It combines creative strategies with advanced data insights to optimize the performance of ad placements. TripleLift focuses on delivering high-impact ads through unique formats, including in-feed and video placements.
Adyoulike
Adyoulike is a performance-focused native advertising network that helps brands distribute content across a large network of publishers. It offers programmatic ad buying with a strong emphasis on targeting and optimizing campaigns for maximum ROI.
Sharethrough
Sharethrough is a programmatic native ad network that helps brands reach targeted audiences with high-quality, contextually relevant ads. Its technology integrates with publisher content seamlessly, ensuring a non-intrusive user experience while optimizing ad performance.
Niche and Emerging Networks
Niche and emerging native advertising networks focus on specialized markets or new ad formats, allowing advertisers to reach highly targeted audiences. These networks offer unique opportunities for advertisers to tap into specific segments or capitalize on the latest advertising trends.
PushHouse
PushHouse is a push ads platform. Campaigns can be launched in 180 countries. The site offers various payment methods, including crypto.
Traffic purchase options: CPC.
Targeting options: GEO.
Restrictions: no restrictions; 18+ offers can be launched.
Difficulty: low. Lots of tutorials and tech support that quickly responds.
Clickadu
Clickadu is an international clickander and popunder network. Provides 6 different advertising formats.
Traffic purchase options: CPM.
Targeting options: GEO.
Restrictions: no restrictions; 18+ offers can be launched.
Difficulty: low.
TapClick
TapClick is an international platform for buying and selling mobile traffic. The platform works with 200 countries and can be beneficial for both affiliates and site owners.
Traffic purchase options: CPM, CPI, CPC, CPA.
Targeting options: GEO, devices.
Restrictions: only mobile apps, entertainment topics, and online stores are available.
Difficulty: low. TapClick provides automated solutions without the hassle.
BigClick
BigClick is a teaser network specializing in adult and gambling topics.
Traffic purchase options: CPM.
Targeting options: GEO, devices, axes.
Restrictions: the site must comply with the internal rules of the site.
Difficulty: medium.
LadyClick
LadyClick is an intelligent teaser network specializing in female traffic: recipes, motherhood, esotericism, beauty and fitness. The network reaches more than 400 million users and supports computers and mobile devices.
Traffic purchase options: CPM.
Targeting options: GEO, devices, axes, gender.
Restrictions: the site must comply with the internal rules of the site.
Difficulty: medium.
Buying Traffic with Native Ads
Affiliate networks offer different ways to purchase traffic.
CPA (Cost Per Action) withdraws money for the target action performed by the user.
CPC (Cost Per Click). Affiliates receive payment for each ad click.
CPI (Cost Per Install). This payment model is designed for mobile applications: money is charged for each user who installs the app.
CPL (Cost Per Lead). Affiliates receive payment for each potential buyer showing interest in the product by filling out a contact form, leaving a request, or signing up for a free webinar.
CPS (Cost Per Sale). This is a variation of the CPA model where payment happens if the user has purchased a product or service.
CPV (Cost Per View). The model implies paying for ad views. CPM, a modernized form of the same model, is a more often occasion: here, the price is indicated for 1000 views at once.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Native Advertising
Speaking of campaign efficacy, we usually mention three criteria.
Quantitative Metrics
Impressions. The number of times users have seen the ad. Every time it appears in front of the user on the screen, the impression is counted. The CPM and CPV models are based on this metric.
Unique display. A variation of the previous metric, demonstrating how many times the ad has been shown for the first time.
Click. The number of clicks on an ad; the basic unit for advertising calculation. Used in the CPC model.
CTR (Click-Through-Rate). The click-through rate of an advertising banner, or the number of clicks on it in relation to the number of impressions.
Qualitative Metrics
Scroll depth. Percentage of all users who scrolled the page to the end. Do not confuse it with reading: if a person quickly scrolls the page to the end, this is a scroll depth. If they did this at a moderate speed, this is an additional reading.
Engagement. The degree of user interest in the offer. The user clicks on the link and closes it immediately? Low engagement. They scrutinize every page, reading the article for a long time? High engagement. Simple.
Medium scroll. Page depth. But this time we define how far, on average, users scroll through a particular offer.
Efficiency Metrics
Expenses. In affiliate marketing, this concept implies money spent on a specific action, for example, when you decide to sell a product or attract a new subscriber.
Prime costs. The cost of 1000 impressions and 1 click are the main metrics of any advertising account. The calculation of CPM is based on the publication price and the number of viewers. Their number can be predicted. CPC is calculated from the cost of placement and the number of clicks made.
Final Recommendations and Best Practices
Native advertising is a long-running type of content, so shocking, flashy, and catchy creatives are certainly out of place, and experiments with banners are strictly prohibited. Still, beginners are welcome to disguise their ads as informational content.
The click-through rate is not too high in native advertising: this phenomenon can be explained by its similarity to ordinary informational posts. If this thought pushes you to the CPC model (cost-per-click), you're on the right way.
Native advertising normally requires a pre-lander to warm up the audience. Driving traffic directly to the offer is a mistake you want to avoid: in this case, people will be scared away by the pressure they feel, and they won't accomplish the target action.
