Native advertising is still on the rise, with marketers continuing to shift media buys into the sponsored content arena as a means of addressing issues such as ad fraud, viewability, and ad blocking – which are primarily issues for traditional display advertising. By way of context, native advertising spending rose from $4.7 billion in 2013 to $7.9 billion in 2014 and is projected to rocket beyond $20 billion by 2018, according to data reported by Business Insider.
The FTC has expressly taken the position that long-standing consumer protection principles apply to native advertising, and that native advertising disclosures are required and subject to enforcement under Section 5 of the FTC Act.