Yahoo releases new mobile native advertising products, Android version of News Digest

Yahoo has announced the release of its new content-integrated mobile native ad products, alongside international and Android versions of its News Digest app.

In a statement, Yahoo senior vice president of the Americas Ned Brody says the larger images used in the rollout are designed to boost engagement, and that Netflix has already signed on as an advertiser with the new ad format.

“While clearly marked as sponsored, the ads will look and act just like the content around them, and will appear within users’ personalised content streams, article pages and image galleries across Yahoo mobile and desktop products,” Brody says.

“When people tap on the ads, they can visit the brand’s site directly or view a full-screen visual for even greater interactivity and impact.”

The new product rollout comes after Yahoo purchased mobile advertising startup Sparq in January of this year, and less than a month after Facebook unveiled its new mobile ad network during its f8 developer conference.

Gartner figures reported by SmartCompanyforecast the mobile advertising market to reach $US18 billion globally this year and grow to $US41.9 billion by 2017, with display advertising making up most of the increase.

Meanwhile, Yahoo has also announced the release of an international version of its News Digest app for both iOS and Android.

The app was initially launched in January by Australian-born Yahoo product manager Nick D’Aloisio, who was just 17-years-old when he sold the app News Digiest is based on to the online media giant.

It provides users with a morning and evening digest of the day’s news that has been created both through a mix of algorithms and editorial curation.

The Android version of the app comes with a home screen widget that displays the most recent unread daily digest.