Native advertising on mobile applications: using eye tracking to investigate the effects of advertising format, user motivation, and advertising disclosure on advertising effects

Abstract

Although native advertising has become the primary advertising type in the mobile application context, few studies have focused on its influential factors. This study uses eye-tracking technology to examine the impacts of ad format, user motivation, and ad disclosure on advertising effects in the Chinese context. Respondents (N = 422) were recruited to participate in a 2 (ad format: statics vs. dynamics) × 2 (user motivation: information-seeking vs. entertainment-seeking) × 2 (ad disclosure: non-disclosed vs. disclosed) between-subjects experiment. The results showed that users with an entertainment-seeking motivation paid greater attention and showed less attitudinal responses to dynamic (vs. static) ads. While no differences were observed in attention duration and attitudinal responses to disclosed dynamic and static ads for users with an information-seeking motivation, these users perceived undisclosed dynamic (vs. static) ads as more intrusive. These findings extend the literature on native advertising to the Chinese mobile media context and offer practical implications for native advertising designs.

Keywords:

• Native advertising
• advertising format
• user motivation
• advertising disclosure
• eye tracking

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interests were reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Xiamen University [Grant number: 20720231026], Social Science Project of Fujian Province [Grant number: FJ2023BF070 and FJ2023C032].

Notes on contributors

Guoquan Ye

Guoquan Ye is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Xiamen University, China. His research interests focus on brand placement, influencer marketing, and media multitasking. He has published many papers in a range of journals, including Journal of Advertising, Frontiers in Psychology and Journal of Consumer Behaviour.

Xin Guan

Xin Guan is an assistant professor at the School of Business Administration at Jimei University, China. Her research focus is on persuasive communication, project risk management, and consumer behavior. She has published scientific articles in Annals of Operations Research, Computers & Industrial Engineering, Journal of Management in Engineering, etc.

Liselot Hudders

Liselot Hudders is an associate professor in marketing communication and consumer behavior at Ghent University. She is an associate editor for International Journal of Advertising. Her work has been published in a diverse range of SSCI-ranked journals, such as Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, and Computers in Human Behavior.