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Native Advertising Policy

MediaNama’s Native Advertising policy (V 1.2 / 2nd March 2017)

Native Advertising is sponsored content produced for or by advertisers, that is shown along-with or along-side editorial content, in a way that it may appear similar to, or blend in, with editorial content.

1. At present, we do (or will do) two kinds of sponsorsed posts:

  • Content produced by an associate of MediaNama: A MediaNama associate works with the brand to create the sponsored content.
  • Content produced by the brand: The brand has to provide us the content to be published

2. Broad norms:

  • Sponsored content will not be allowed to masquerade as editorial content.
  • MediaNama’s editorial staff will not create sponsored content, under any circumstances. It will have to be created by a content team which does not work on editorial content. Our efforts will be to ensure the creation of sponsored content by an external vendor.

3. Native content and Text-Ads: Each sponsored content published on MediaNama will carry clear and easily understandable disclosures so our readers are not misled. Our norms:

3.1 All native ads posts will be tagged “Sponsored”, and the tag will appear above the post. Additional tags may be used. Internal Ads will be tagged as “InternalAds”.
3.2. Headlines of such posts will mention that it is sponsored, using the words “Sponsored”, “#Sponsored”, “Ad” or “#Ad”, and any push on Social Media will also incorporate this disclosure.
3.3 MediaNama will disclose the post’s commercial nature if it gets pushed to social media, with the inclusion of the hashtag #ad.
3.5 Branded content will be tagged with the brands page on Facebook, in line with its branded content guidelines.
3.4 Every sponsored post will carry a declaration at the bottom stating the content is either produced by the brand or by MediaNama associate on behalf of the brand.
3.5 Disclosures provided by us will have to remain if our sponsored posts are re-published on any other website.
3.6 MediaNama will not publish more than 5 native posts a week.
3.7 MediaNama will maintain a list of published Native Ads, for reference for readers, updated with reasonable frequency. This page will be linked to from the homepage and the Advertising page.
3.8 MediaNama will maintain a disclosures page(s) listing all native ads that have appeared. This may be the page where it lists advertisers, or the Native Advertising policy page.
3.9 Each Native advertising post shall carry a link to these guidelines.
3.10 The user for Native Content will either be identified with the brand name, or as ‘Advertiser’.
3.11 These guidelines will be applicable to content promoting MediaNama services as well.

4. “Brought to you by” sponsorship: From time to time, MediaNama might cover editorial topics that may be sponsored by an advertiser. Samples: this and this. In these circumstances:

4.1 Editorial teams will not base coverage on the directions of the advertiser. The mandate and coverage will be independent of advertising.
4.2 Content, since it is produced by editorial, will not carry the tag ‘Sponsored’ or any disclosures within the post.
4.3 The content may carry a ‘Brought to you by’ or a line with similar content at any part of the post, though it needs to be highlighted as distinct from editorial content. This may be no more than 40 words, and may include a small logo. An image to similar effect may also be used.
4.4. The footer may carry text or an image related to the sponsor. This text, no more than 100 words, will not be created by the editorial team, and will be distinct from the editorial content.

5. Sponsored posts guidelines for advertisers

5.1 A clear disclosure should be placed on an infographic produced by the brand for the sponsored post. It should be noticeable and easily understood by the reader. In case a disclosure is not incorporated into the image, MediaNama will provide a text disclosure below the image or the infographic.
5.2 A disclosure has to be delivered to the readers in the beginning in case of videos or any interactive content. The message should be easily noticeable, and should be displayed/played long enough so viewers can understand. In case a disclosure is not incorporated into the image, MediaNama will provide a text disclosure below the image or the infographic.
5.3 All links in the post will carry the no-follow tag, and if excluded by the advertiser, will be added by MediaNama.

We reserve the right

  • To reject any sponsored content that does not conform to our guidelines or if the disclosures are ambiguous or are not easily noticeable or understandable.
  • To reject any sponsored content even if it conforms to our guidelines. No reasons may be given for the rejection.
  • To delete the sponsored content at any given time. In case it is deleted within 30 days of publishing, money will be returned to the advertiser, or other inventory given in lieu.

Liability

  • MediaNama (Mixed Bag Media Pvt. Ltd.) cannot take responsibility or liability if our sponsored posts are re-published on other websites without adequate disclosures.

Note: Changes in policy will not be applicable retrospectively, unless necessary

Changes from 1.0 to 1.1

3.1: removed “, and not by the editorial staff”. That is evident if it is mentioned that the content is created by the brand or a partner.
3.2: Added: ‘, using the words “Sponsored”, “#Sponsored”, “Ad” or “#Ad”‘
3.7: Removed: “on a separate page”. We’ll list them on the Native Advertising policy page. Changed 50 to 20. 20 is adequate disclosure.
3.8: Added “, or the Native Advertising policy page.”

Changes from 1.1 to 1.2

3.1: Allowed using additional tags. These are ads are marked as sponsored, so inclusion in other tag pages increases visibility for sponsor without it being mistaken for editorial content. Separated Internal ads from Sponsored ads since we’re including greater visibility for sponsored ads using the left sidebar. Internal ads will be marked as Internal Ads
3.7: Removed manual listing for Native Ads on this page. Listing Native ads on this page is too cumbersome, manual, and can sometime be missed. Tag pages suffice.
3.8: Removed manual listing of brands on a separate page. Instead of listing brands, we’re linking to the Sponsored tag page, since that is maintained automatically. Too cumbersome to update pages manually every time we do sponsored posts. The tags page suffices.

Native ads on MediaNama:

  • Please check the Sponsored and InternalAds tags. Historically, we’ve used MixedBag as a tag, but that won’t be evident to users as promotional content.

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