Statistically, you’re more likely to survive a plane crash than to click on a banner ad. Perhaps this is why native ads are increasing in popularity for online advertisers.

A native ad is a content-based advertisement that is integrated alongside regular articles within an editorial feed. Banner ads, in contrast, are standardly 300x250 and are placed in the upper right hand corner of a webpage.

To see just how effective native ads are, Sharethrough partnered with IPG Media Lab this year to complete a native ad effectiveness study based on eye-tracking and surveys. The study of 4970 consumers, measured the difference of visual attention and “brand lift” between native ads and traditional display ads from major brands.

The survey found that:

• Consumers look at native ads 52% more frequently than banner ads
• 25% more consumers look at in-feed native ads rather than standard banners
• Native ads create an 18% higher brand lift for purchase intent responses than banner ads

As native ads are designed to be consumed the same way as people view editorial content, this survey found that people actually looked at regular content for a similar amount of time as native ads. 

Check out the infographic below to see more of their findings. Click on the graphic for a larger image.