Magnet Media, a strategic content studio, has debuted its Native Video Content Network, formalizing a customized content distribution model that’s been selectively used for its agency and brand clients.

In a call with Magnet Media’s CEO Megan Cunningham, she stressed that the network uses native integrations of large video players by human editors, not simply 15 and 30-second ads placed in publishers’ pre-existing ad units as commonly seen in other video syndication models. A key benefit of native placements in editorial is avoiding ad-blocking.

For Magnet, the launch of the network marks its evolution from a purely creative studio. Megan sees the combination of creative plus distribution under one roof as an imperative going forward. She sees other studios making the same move and conversely media buyers now moving into production. Under Magnet’s model, clients pay for the placements and are guaranteed certain minimums. None of the content is autoplay and it is all tracked by Moat under a partnership with Magnet.  

Megan noted that clients have a range of success metrics they’re pursuing and the placements are determined accordingly. Megan mentioned KPIs like completion rate, click-through rate, subscription to a YouTube channel and others as KPIs different clients have pursued.  

As brands increasingly try to break through and avoid ad-blocking and skipping, native placements that are well-integrated with editorial content is a compelling opportunity. The downside of the approach has always been that these deals are by definition hard to create and scale given the level of human intervention. But Magnet believes it’s figured out how to do both and deliver results efficiently.