It is surprising to me how little people seem to know about native/ content amplification ads.
Here is a brief primer:
First, as far as quality goes, there are different networks with different quality policies. In general, Outbrain is very strict, Taboola is also, but less so, and RevContent, Content.ad, and the 50 or so other native networks (including mantis targeting marijuana publishers and jewish content network targeting orthodox jewish publishers), Like all channels, there are good actors and bad actors.
Native ads - defined as ,turning the atomic consumption unit into an ad unit, work really well because they dont require switching context. (i.e. adwords, Facebook newsfeed ads, indeed job postings, etc...)
These ads work really well when done properly. (High contrast images, compelling but very descriptive headline that qualifies the visitor, and constant freshness in both images and headlines... pointing to a high quality advertorial that presells a product or service, with links to purchase within the content and as banners on the side of the page.)
Any new channel that is very effective will attract affiliate marketers and some bad actors, but eventually, the networks police themselves, and they become very effective ad networks for everyone (i.e. Facebook newsfeed ads are basically as main stream now as Adwords is, but 5 years ago, it was full of shady affiliates. It still is, but much less so.)
In general, There are five types of native advertisers.
1. Advertising arbitrage sites - These are the the celebrity articles, etc... the folks who do this right are making bank, but for every person who succeeds at this, hundreds try and fail. It is a real skill. It also requires a large bankroll since you get paid net 30-45 for the ads you place.
2. Affiliate marketers primarily promoting info products and digital products - These are the health ads (i.e. secret fruit loses belly fat or nail fungus home remedy ads) and the software security ads. One thing you can be sure of... when it comes to rampant affiliate marketers, if it wasn't driving sales, they would move on to another channel.
3. Direct advertisers (most notably LendingClub & bankrate - I think)Don't be surprised to start seeing Proctor and Gamble to be running detergent native ads and typical Ecommerce sites running ads to their content.
4. Publishers growing their audience. - This is the most natural usage of native ads, but lends itself to arbitrage like the first type of advertiser. I worked with a few very large publishers buying ads on Taboola and Facebook news feed and arbitraging it by serving up Taboola native ads successfully.
5. Remarketing - These networks let you remarket you visitors and I think criteo (for sure some do) run remarketing through taboola, etc... You can also do it natively in the network by using their remarketing pixel.
If you do go this route, expect CPCs in the US on solid publishers to run you over $1.00 and smaller publishers in the $0.30-$0.60 range.
You can still get the junk traffic for about $0.10 a click, but not much cheaper.
All in All, I think native ads will find their place and be a net positive for the internet...but clearly we aren't there yet.
One thing is for sure. Affiliate marketers who are spending $10-$20k/day on Native ads, are not losing money. It works and it works well... and not just for arbitrage or info products.
I've run successful Ecommerce product ads via native successfully.
Edit: Spelling