Yahoo, Wharton seek to create industry framework for native advertising

Yahoo Asia Pacific is collaborating with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Future of Advertising Program (WFoA) to jointly develop an industry framework for native advertising, a rapidly emerging form of digital advertising.

The framework will act as a guideline for maximising effectiveness of native advertising, informed an official statement.

The collaboration will see selective crowd-sourcing of ideas and innovations for native advertising, both online and through roundtable discussions with practitioners, thought leaders and social scientists globally.

"We're proud to be leading the discussion on the future of native advertising amongst advertisers, publishers and agencies to develop an industry framework around this emerging trend. Working together with Wharton, we will create a reference point on how native advertising is defined and measured in the marketplace," said Yvonne Chang, managing director, Yahoo India-South East Asia and head of advertising solutions, Asia Pacific.

Jerry Wind, professor of marketing, Wharton, and academic director, Wharton Future of Advertising Program, said, "At Wharton we have a deep and committed interest in the future of digital advertising and how it will evolve over the years to come. Our collaboration with the Yahoo team will strengthen the output of a native advertising framework by matching professional experience with our academic rigour."

In August, Wharton and Yahoo co-hosted a round table for practitioners and researchers in Singapore and discussed future trends and likely direction of native advertising. Through the partnership, Yahoo will also tap into the WFoA global advisory board comprising over 80 thought leaders from advertising agencies, technology companies and research institutes.

Quoting e-marketer, the statement said native advertising is the fastest growing segment of online advertising, with estimated spend in 2012 of $1.63 billion, expected to rise to $2.85 billion by 2014.