Hasta La Creative!

Five years. That’s how long “native advertising” has been a thing. That’s when digital publishers started offering content marketing solutions to brands. It’s when BuzzFeed tripled revenue, further validating that branded content was here to stay. Publishers, new and old, from the New York Times to Vox, quickly followed suit, creating expansive content studios to support the growing demand for these services. I did the same thing during my time at Time Inc. and Business Insiderstaffing big teams, creating a ton of content, selling it to brands.

One small problem, though: We had no idea if the content was good.

Now, the concept of “good” content is somewhat subjective. At the very least, we can agree it’s difficult to discern if branded content solutions help marketers achieve their goals. But to this day, publishers, brands, and agencies have difficulty measuring the efficacy of branded content. It definitely “feels” more valuable than a set of banner ads, but why is it so difficult to prove?

Continue reading at AdAge.com