Apple to accept native ads on News platform that display inline with regular articles

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Apple yesterday shared new information regarding upcoming ad formats on News, its iOS 9 app and content-aggregating platform.

A developer document, titled “Ad Specifications for iAd” (PDF download), highlights several new ad formats that content creators and publishers can deploy in the News format, including so-called native ads which are basically sponsored posts that resemble normal articles and appear directly in users’ feeds inline with regular articles.

“Native ads display directly in the content feeds, inline with News articles,” Apple writes. Native ads are set in the default font used in the News app.

A native ad resembles a regular article and includes a title, text excerpt and a small image. These sponsored posts area distinguished by a “Sponsored” with an optional sponsored advertiser name.

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Advertisers can elect to omit their name, in which case the reader will see “Sponsored” in the banner. Apple notes that if the ad title wraps to four lines, the excerpt may not be displayed on iPhones and iPods.

Native ads can also link directly to an article in News.

“One set of assets is needed for all iPhone/iPod touch devices, and another set for iPad,” said Apple. The News app will automatically optimize that single set of assets for use across all device versions. Assets can be JPEG, GIF or PNG files optimized for Retina and Retina HD devices.

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Animated banners can loop only three times, and the total animation cannot exceed 15 seconds. “Repetitive or rapid flashing, blinking in excess, or visually stressful animations are not allowed,“ notes Apple.

Other ad formats on News, powered by Apple’s iAd platform, include Standard Banner, Medium Rectangular Banner, Double Banner, Large Banner, Interstitial Banner, Pre-Roll Video and the aforementioned Native Banner.

Post-tap actions for News ads include linking to a website, purchasing iTunes and App Store content or a rich media expanded ad unit.

These ads will show in News content on any iOS device that runs iOS 9. On iOS 9.3 or later, ads will render in landscape orientation on iPhones.

All ads created for the iAd platform must adhere to the iAd Content Guidelines and iAd Certification Guidelines and can be created with iAd Producer.

Source: Apple