Dive Brief:

• NBC is testing a new approach to TV advertising this week by replacing traditional ads with sponsored content from American Express on some shows as reported by Ad Age.
• The campaign will include social content created by BuzzFeed.
• Viceland, the new TV channel from Vice Media, launched this week and is planning on native ads for around half of its hourly ad minutes.

Dive Insight:

NBC shows involved in the sponsored content test include “Blindspot” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” and the reasoning behind the move is that younger audiences are becoming less tolerant of 30-second commercials and are becoming used to ad-free viewing due to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

BuzzFeed’s involvement in the campaign via social content is the first example of the company working with NBC after the broadcast company’s $200 million investment in the digital news site last year.

NBC and Viceland aren’t alone looking toward sponsored content on TV. At CES in January, Turner introduced a native ad unit. "The idea is to turn Turner into a giant native ad platform," said Dan Riess, head of content partnerships at Turner.