• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 20, 2013

Time Inc. is planning to “dramatically expand its native ad business,” according to a request for proposals circulated to a number of companies specializing in native advertising earlier this month. The RFP seeks to enlist a partner for the design, development and launch of a new native ad platform for Time Inc.’s brands; People and Entertainment Weekly will be among the first brands to use the new system.
 
As noted in the RFP, some Time Inc. brands are already running native ad campaigns, including People and EW, with an average five native ad programs running on these sites per month. However, each Time Inc. brand is currently using a different native ad platform, as well as several different analytics providers -- making cross-brand native ad deployments cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming.
 
In order to scale up its native ad platform, Time Inc. is looking for a native ad partner to help centralize and streamline many of these functions while still supporting the different native ad formats demanded by different brands. The proposed system will adjust formats to optimize display on different devices. On the measurement side, an analytics dashboard will differentiate between paid and earned media, including social sharing.
 
Potential formats for native advertising described in the RFP include stories, video and video carousels, photo galleries, lists, infographics, recipes, shoppable boutiques, games, trivia, quizzes, polls, content hubs and aggregators, and “custom interactive products” or tools.
 
The native ad platform won’t just be limited to Time Inc. properties, according to the RFP. It will allow advertisers to extend their audience buys through external networks and reputable sites and social platforms, including FBX.
 
In the crucial areas of presentation and appearance, the RFP states: “While denoted as ‘Sponsored Content’, the native experience should practically mirror the look and feel of what users interact with when viewing any piece of standard content.” They will also provide users with the same social media options, including commenting and sharing, offered by ordinary editorial content .