Article or advertisement? How legacy and new media are blurring lines and creating new hybrid content through native advertising

Katherine Fernandez-Blance

doi:10.32920/ryerson.14655342.v1

Abstract

This Master of Professional Communication Major Research Paper (MRP), a pilot study, examines how native advertising is used by new and legacy media publications in an effort to determine whether the lines between advertisement and editorial content have been blurred. The literature reviewed outlines the creation of added-value content through framing, recognition of persuasion attempts and the creation of synergy through contextual similarity. Within this MRP, a qualitative content analysis was conducted on 5 samples of native advertising from legacy publication The New York Times and 5 samples from new media publication BuzzFeed within the 2015 calendar year. The results of the content analysis have indicated that through framing, persuasion and contextual similarity, the lines between advertisement and editorial content in both publications appear to have softened.

Highlights

Native advertisements–advertisements that have been formulated to appear as editorial content–have become increasingly popular in the past three years (Ponikvar, 2015, p. 1187)
Usage of Framing This section discusses how the findings of the content analysis answer RQ1: How do infeed native advertisements in BuzzFeed and The New York Times comparatively utilize attribute and goal framing as a method of persuasion? The findings indicate that advertisers in both publications opted to frame product or event attributes within native advertisements
Through a qualitative content analysis of native advertisements in The New York Times and BuzzFeed, this Major Research Paper (MRP) has found that legacy media has made an effort to distinguish the formats – with proper usage of disclosure labels and a high degree of persuasion

Summary

Introduction

Native advertisements–advertisements that have been formulated to appear as editorial content–have become increasingly popular in the past three years (Ponikvar, 2015, p. 1187). In-feed advertisements, the focus of this MRP, are one of the most common forms of native advertisements They are produced by or in partnership with the publisher and appear side-by-side editorial content (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 2013). Increased integration of multimedia elements within a native advertisement has been found to enhance a reader’s experience with the advertisement (Mitra, Raymond & Hopkins, 2008). As these authors recommend, advertisers should incorporate multimedia elements into these formats, especially for consumers who may not have heard of or used the product being advertised

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion