One in Three Millennials Buy Products Featured in Sponsored and Influencer Content

Results from a survey conducted by Collective Bias has shown that one third of millennials would purchase a product following exposure to a sponsored post or influencer marketing.

This is great news for advertisers that are investing in native advertising formats, validating both the value of these channels and the investments many are making in them.

Sponsored content containing useful and relevant information will not only be more successful in terms of sales, but will allow more meaningful interactions and connections to be made with customers. Unlike materials that are generic or purely promotional, 34% of the participants in the survey reported that they do not mind if a post is sponsored as long as it contains key and useful information. If the posts are of a high quality 37% felt less likely that they are being ‘sold to’.

Another finding from this survey shows that sponsored content does not elicit an adverse response, with only 9% of the participants saying they would immediately ignore content if sponsored. Additionally, approximately a mere 2% have said that they feel annoyed or irritated by sponsored content.

As a platform, native advertising also helps to deter one of the threats to advertising; ad-blocking. Native adverts utilise the look and tone of content around them, bypasses ad-blockers and allows targeting of millennials, the generation that are most likely to use them, in unobtrusive and interesting ways.

It is predicted that by 2021, native advertising will make up 74% of the total advertising revenue in the USA, significantly more than the 56% seen in 2016. This predicted increase in native advertising’s share in the total revenue can be attributed to social media services such as Facebook and Twitter; both pioneers of native advertising and sponsored content. The advent of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and programmatic processes also makes native advertising campaigns much more accessible for advertisers. Read more about the importance of clearly defined content strategy from Zest Media here.

If you need further help or information regarding sponsored content and native advertising, please do get in touch.