Native Ad Economics

Call it custom content, sponsored stories, native ads—publishers from Wired to BuzzFeed are chasing gold in ads that look and read like edit to rid themselves of dependence on the hated banner. But with their high production costs and lack of scalability, can native ads become more than a craft business? As three case studies show, publishers can be successful if they produce the creative on the backs of existing staff, cut agencies out of the picture and maybe use some sleight of hand where the reader is concerned.