• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 5, 2013

The Associated Press is bringing native advertising to its Web site, mobile site and mobile app in partnership with Polar, which operates a native advertising platform for digital publishers called MediaVoice.

The deal allows the AP to deliver native ads to the Web site and mobile using their existing content management system and ad-serving infrastructure, while streamlining many of the logistical obstacles associated with native ad placement, thus enabling faster scale-up.
 
MediaVoice, launched by Toronto-based Polar in July, offers native ad options, including sponsored stories, sponsored videos, sponsored photo galleries and sponsored outbound links, along with a plugin that automatically formats ad content to match the look and feel of the host site.

The list of publications already using MediaVoice includes three leading Canadian newspapers -- The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Financial Post.
 
A number of American newspapers are experimenting with native advertising using other providers. In September, The Dallas Morning News introduced native ads for its digital channels through Speakeasy, a social content marketing company formed as a joint venture between the newspaper and Slingshot LLC.
 
Currently, the main AP Web site features standard display advertising in banner format as well as some content-style advertising from providers like Adblade, but no truly “native” ads in the sense of ad content with an editorial sensibility.
 
Ken Detlet, AP’s vice president for digital advertising strategy and sales, stated: “MediaVoice brings us the flexibility to run native ads across desktop and mobile, including our native iOS and Androids apps, all while using our existing ad server.”

Polar senior vice-president Sean Erjavec noted: “Publishers are seeing improved workflows by eliminating existing manual steps to run a native ad, consolidated reporting on engagement and social activity, and the ability to scale the native ad campaigns across desktop and mobile.&rdquo ;