Initially, publishers were wary of FTC native enforcement. But in March 2016, the FTC settled the first native advertising case against retailer Lord & Taylor for not disclosing a native article in Nylon and sponsored posts by Instagram influencers for a Lord & Taylor dress which quickly sold out. For each FTC native violation, the penalty is up to $16,000. 

Publishers realized they needed to modify ad formats to reflect the new guidelines. In October 2016, MediaRadar found that 61% of the sites reviewed are now native compliant. This represents an increase of 119% from December of 2015. Although that still leaves a significant gap of sites that aren’t labeling sponsored content.

Using the words “sponsored” or “sponsor” remains the most popular way to label native advertising at a whopping 74%, compared to other common terms such as “promoted,” “presented by” or “partner content.” And placement for disclosure is now above fold and prominent with 68% of native ads labeled above the ad or article. 

Interestingly, 14% of the websites reviewed, label native in more than one way throughout the site. And more surprisingly, five percent of websites reviewed still do not identify native content at all.