When it comes to standards for native advertising, M. Scott Havens, president of The Atlantic, speaking on a publisher panel at OMMA Native, said sponsored content on Atlantic.com should be as good
as the editorial content. If so, people will read or watch it, and share it. Advertisers work on ad content only with marketing staff at The Atlantic.
He noted the company has a
fast-track committee to review each native ad, which he and other stakeholders serves on, to look at legal, compliance and any other issues that might keep it from running. Typically, the ads are
approved without much of a problem. He didn’t say whether that committee was set up before or after its much-publicized debacle running a sponsored post from the Church of
Scientology.