Clickbait and Influencers: How peripheral cues affect the reach of native ads

Native advertising refers to a paid advertisement that mimics editorial content, aiming to prompt a profitable action. Authors of native ads employ various tactics to attract attention and raise awareness of a brand, product, or service, ultimately seeking to drive the reader toward conversion. These tactics may include selecting headlines that guide the reader’s interpretation of the message, choosing credible sources of information, and incorporating (graphic) design elements. This paper investigates how peripheral cues – specifically clickbait headlines, sources of information, and visual components – affect the reach of native advertisements, framed within the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). According to the ELM, when audiences lack sufficient motivation or cognitive resources for in-depth analysis, they predominantly rely on the peripheral route of information processing. Consequently, the use of attention-grabbing yet often superficial elements is essential for capturing initial attention and maximizing overall reach. A study based on a sample of 543 native ads from the most widely read Croatian internet portals found that headlines emphasizing uncertainty or using vague pronouns consistently achieved the highest reach among various clickbait techniques. Additionally, uncertainty emerged as the most prevalent strategy used. Even though such headlines can spark curiosity, non-clickbait headlines often match or outperform them, especially when they rely on ambiguous language, uncertainty cues, or numeric indicators. Moreover, the findings indicate that ads featuring influencers as sources of information achieve significantly greater reach than those relying on other types of sources. These results underscore the crucial role of peripheral cues in the creation of effective native advertisements and open avenues for future research that might explore the depth of processing and attitude change among consumers.