A qualitative analysis of the native advertising model with reference to the conventions of journalism

Native advertising has rapidly gone from a relative unknown form of content marketing to a highly sought-after form advertising online in a few short years. With the help of ad blocking services and consumer rejection of advertisements that consumers perceive to invade their privacy, native advertising is projected to continue its rapid growth in popularity. By design, native advertising assumes the form and function of its host's own content. This study examines whether native advertising has adopted not only the aesthetic form and goals of journalism, but the conventions of journalism formed over more than the past century.