Dive Brief: 

• About.com — one of the top 20 sites according to comScore— has been slowly rolling out a sleeker, more modern site design over the past few weeks. 
• As part of that redesign, the publisher is experimenting with native ads, and already more than half the ad deals signed for the fourth quarter include a native component. 
• The sleeker design is already improving engagement by 10% to 15% for the sections that have transitioned. 

Dive Insight: 

Visitors that come across sponsored content on About.com will be already looking for a particular brand or topic, a clear advantage to advertisers. The majority of About.com's site traffic is search driven so readers that come across a sponsored post will, in theory, be more open to receiving that information even if is a native ad.