The popularity of native advertising formats in digital media has grown significantly in the past decade, as they can counter banner blindness and evade ad blockers. Native ads can do this primarily due to the format’s look and feel, which mimics the content it surrounds. Researchers have used various perspectives to examine native ads, and many high-quality studies have been published. However, the domain lacks a comprehensive and systematic review. This gap is sought to be filled with a bibliometric review of past works in native advertising to structure, synthesise and make sense of the topic as well as lay out a research agenda for future projects.
About 198 articles were analysed with VOSviewer and Biblioshiny software packages using various techniques, including citation analysis, keyword analysis, cluster analysis, three-field plot and bibliographic coupling. The study also suggests avenues for future research by adopting the theory, context, characteristics and methods (TCCM) framework.
Seven domain-specific clusters were identified in this study. These include “Search engine results”, “Recognisability of persuasive intent”, “User-linked processing of native ads”, “Native ads and journalism”, “Challenges of covert ad formats”, “Content in native ads” and “Native ads for publishers and brands”.
The study attempts to present a state-of-the-art review of native advertising using bibliometric and TCCM-based approaches.
