AWIN ThinkTank recap: Discussing native advertising in affiliate

At the AWIN ThinkTank 2025 in Villamoura, Pawel Mazurek, CEO of Takeads, delivered a compelling session titled “Native Advertising in Affiliate – Sustainable Business or Just a Buzzword?” With almost two decades of experience in digital marketing, Pawel made the case that native advertising represents both a necessary evolution and a genuine opportunity for publishers and advertisers alike. 

His message was simple: More ads don’t mean more revenue, especially when half of your audience never sees them.

The problem with traditional ads

Pawel traced banner fatigue back to a phenomenon known as “banner blindness,” our brain’s evolved defense mechanism against visual clutter. He reminded the audience that, despite encountering thousands of ad impressions every day, most users can’t recall a single brand they saw online.And the cost? For publishers, it’s brutal. Around 51 percent of your audience won’t see a thing –  and in Europe alone, that’s roughly $10 billion in lost revenue this year.

Native ads: Not a buzzword, but a century-old practice

Native advertising dates back more than a hundred years to print advertorials, Pawel explained, sharing examples from product placements in classic cinema to Coca-Cola–style brand features in modern editorial. “If an ad plays well within its surrounding content,” he said, “it doesn’t interrupt or irritate – so it isn’t blocked”.

Paweł shared some advantages of native formats:

• Higher engagement: Once noticed, native ads achieve greater dwell times and click-through rates than standard banners.
• Improved brand perception: Users are more receptive to ads that don’t interrupt or obscure the content they came to enjoy.
• Ad-block resilience: Since native ads live within the content stream, they typically bypass ad-blocking filters altogether.
• Trust among younger audiences: Social-media generations, accustomed to influencer and in-feed formats, view native content as more credible than traditional banners.

Engagement, trust, and the next generation

Data from the Content Marketing Institute shows that once noticed, native units deliver significantly higher dwell times and click-through rates than standard banners. Younger, social-media-savvy audiences trust native formats and influencer posts far more than traditional display ads. This credibility isn’t just a vanity metric, it translates into real purchase intent when ads feel “authentic and relevant” rather than obtrusive.

Best practices: context, curation and AI tools

To harness the power of native, Pawel recommended that publishers:

• Audit existing placements: Identify and remove low-performing or misaligned banners and replacing up to 40 percent of placements with thoughtfully curated native formats.
• Assess content fit: Ensure any sponsored element aligns with the site’s subject matter, for example travel deals on a travel blog, automotive offers on a car forum.
• Balance automation with human oversight: While contextual AI tools can streamline ad deployment, human curation remains essential for nuanced categories and bespoke brand partnerships.
• Verify true “native”: Beware of “native banners” that look and behave like standard display ads; true native ads must integrate seamlessly with editorial style and user experience.

Takeads steps in

In closing, Pawel outlined how Takeads bridges technology and demand. Its lightweight script analyzes page content in real time, injecting contextually relevant affiliate links without disrupting the layout. Takeads taps into over 80 affiliate networks and 30,000 active campaigns, ensuring high fill rates and robust revenue for publishers aware of ad-block fallout. 

 We work everywhere on the planet, in every language – so you don’t have to juggle multiple partners.

By the end of the session, it was clear: native advertising is far more than industry buzz. When done right, it offers a sustainable, user-friendly path to monetization that respects the browsing experience, restores trust in brands, and counters the growing ad-block arms race. It’s time to stop bombarding users with ever-bigger banners and start delivering the right message, in the right place, at the right time.