What type of advertising aims to mimic a site's content and blend into the user's experience?

Native advertising is designed to seamlessly integrate into the content of a website, creating a more organic and less disruptive user experience. This type of advertising takes on the look and feel of the surrounding content, making it less recognizable as an advertisement. By doing so, native ads encourage higher engagement rates since users are more likely to interact with content that appears relevant and valuable rather than distinctly promotional.

For instance, a native ad might be styled to match the design and format of articles on a news site, blending in with editorial content while still delivering a marketing message. This approach helps in maintaining user engagement while providing advertisers a platform to deliver their messages in a way that feels less intrusive.

In contrast, the other types of advertising mentioned, like banner ads, rich media, and display ads, usually stand out from the site's content. They often come in the form of distinct boxes or images that are instantly identifiable as advertisements, which can lead to banner blindness, where users ignore them altogether. Native ads, through their integrated design, mitigate this issue.