• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 7, 2014

As widely predicted, the native advertising train is picking up speed in 2014. In the latest development one of the nation’s largest newspaper publishers, Hearst Newspapers is preparing to implement native advertising across its properties through a new partnership with Nativo, which provides native ad technology and services.

With the addition of Hearst Newspapers, Nativo will have access to a total of 1,700 newspaper Web sites and associated digital platforms across the U.S.

Karen Brophy, Hearst’s vice president of digital product, stated that the Nativo partnership would provide Hearst with “tools to quickly build, execute and deliver a compelling native offering to our local markets.” Nativo helps publishers scale native advertising by automating the process of formatting and distributing native ads across various devices.
 
Nativo CEO Justin Choi said Hearst will first deploy Nativo across a small number of its newspaper Web sites, with plans for a company-wide deployment not long after.  
 
Hearst joins a number of other newspaper publishers already using Nativo’s platform, including McClatchy Co., Lee Enterprises, Gatehouse Media, and USA Today Sports Media Group.

Among magazine publishers, Nativo has partnerships with Entrepreneur Media and Reader’s Digest, and Choi hinted more magazine deals are on the way. Overall, the company has enjoyed 2,000% growth in page views with native ad placements over the last year, according to Choi, who added they expect to serve over 1 billion native ad placements in the first quarter of 2014 alone.
 
Noting that the native ad trend is “just getting started,” Choi asserted: “Native has gone from being a question mark among publishers to now, where it’s just a matter of time, and timing.&rdquo ;