{"id":20163,"date":"2020-01-29T13:17:01","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T13:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/branded-content"},"modified":"2026-09-18T18:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T18:50:09","slug":"branded-content","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/branded-content","title":{"rendered":"Branded Content"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad alignright wp-image-13988 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/brandend_content.jpg\" alt=\"Branded Content\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/brandend_content.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/brandend_content-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Branded content<\/strong> is content created, commissioned or funded by a brand to provide an informative, educational or entertainment experience connected with its identity and values. Its primary purpose is to develop associations and relationships with an audience rather than merely present an offer through a direct advertising message.<\/p>\n<p>It can take the form of articles, videos, podcasts, events, games, documentaries or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/infographic\">infographics<\/a>. The brand may be explicitly present, but the content needs to provide an independent source of interest for the audience. <strong>Avoiding a direct sales message does not mean that a piece has no commercial or communications objective.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><code><\/code><\/p>\n<h2>Branded content characteristics<\/h2>\n<p>Branded content is not defined by format alone. It can be identified through the relationship between the brand, the piece and the audience experience:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Brand participation:<\/strong> the organisation initiates or funds the content and connects it with its identity, purpose, communications territory or value proposition.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Audience value:<\/strong> the information, utility or entertainment needs to sustain interest beyond an immediate call to buy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Narrative development:<\/strong> it may use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/storytelling\">storytelling<\/a>, characters, experiences or specialist knowledge, although not every piece needs to tell a complete story.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Multichannel distribution:<\/strong> it can appear in owned media, social platforms, events, audiovisual services or third-party spaces, with adaptation to each channel&#8217;s context.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Authorship or the commercial relationship needs to be clearly identified when the format, publisher or collaboration could lead audiences to mistake the piece for independent editorial content.<\/p>\n<h2>Evolution of branded content<\/h2>\n<p>Brand-funded content predates the internet. During the twentieth century, companies sponsored radio and television programmes and participated in producing entertainment connected with their audiences. These practices showed that a brand could become part of a media experience without reducing all communication to a conventional advertisement.<\/p>\n<p>The internet expanded the available formats, distribution channels and opportunities for interaction. Brands began publishing directly, collaborating with publishers and creators and distributing work through digital platforms and social media. <strong>The digital environment did not create branded content, but it made its production, targeting, distribution and measurement easier.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Branded content evaluation<\/h2>\n<p>Objectives and metrics need to reflect the specific role of the piece within the strategy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Awareness:<\/strong> reach, valid views, brand recall or recognition among the defined audience.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Brand associations:<\/strong> changes in attributes, consideration, preference or understanding of a proposition, measured through suitable research.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Interaction:<\/strong> consumption time, completion, participation, comments or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/engagement\">engagement<\/a>, interpreted according to the channel and format.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Subsequent response:<\/strong> visits, registrations, brand searches or conversions when a measurable relationship exists, without automatically attributing every outcome to the content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Virality, affinity and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/customer-loyalty\">customer loyalty<\/a> are possible outcomes, not guaranteed properties. A piece may reach a large audience without changing its perception of the brand, and high interaction does not by itself demonstrate commercial impact.<\/p>\n<h2>Scope of branded content<\/h2>\n<p>Branded content differs from an advertisement such as a banner, which normally concentrates its message and call to action in an advertising unit. It also differs from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/product-placement\">product placement<\/a>: in product placement, a product or brand is integrated into someone else&#8217;s work, whereas branded content is created or initiated by the brand as a communications piece.<\/p>\n<p>Native advertising primarily describes a paid distribution method that adapts its appearance to an editorial environment. It can distribute branded content, but the concepts are not equivalent. Content marketing covers an ongoing creation and distribution strategy; a branded content initiative may form part of it without representing the whole strategy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Being less direct does not automatically make content relevant or prevent advertising resistance.<\/strong> If the brand overwhelms the piece, the commercial relationship is unclear or the content provides little value, audiences may perceive it as disguised promotion. Production, rights, distribution and measurement can also require substantial resources and coordination among several participants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition: Branded content is content created, commissioned or funded by a brand to provide an informative, educational or entertainment experience connected with its identity and values. Its primary purpose is to develop associations and relationships with an audience rather than merely present an offer through a direct advertising message. It can take the form of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":80081,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[330],"class_list":["post-20163","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-content-marketing-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/20163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=20163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}