Yahoo is jumping into the native advertising widget game by launching their own content recommendation widget.

The widget – similar to the well known Taboola and Outbrain content recommendation widgets – recommends stories the reader might be interested in along with sponsored ads.  The widget is appearing at the bottom of news stories on sites such as SBNation, Gamespot and TV Guide.

The ad on the right side of the ad unit is clearly labeled as sponsored.  It is also geotargeted, as I am seeing a sponsored ad for a teacher’s strike here.

The sponsored ad is being delivered through Yahoo’s Gemini program. The content recommendation widget appears on both mobile and desktop.

The other three stories are also seemingly paid ads, although delivered in the form of recommended content.   The ads redirect through a link named syndication.streamads.yahoo.com.  It also includes a “learn more” link that leads to:

Yahoo is soliciting publishers who would like to have Yahoo’s “content personalization technology” appear on their own sites by emailing yrecommends-learnmore@yahoo-inc.com.  They are run on a revenue share basis, where the publisher earns a share of the ad click.

For advertisers wishing to have their content in these content recommendation units, Yahoo is directing potential advertisers to Yahoo Ad Manager.

Widgets like Taboola and Outbrain have been receiving negative feedback lately as they are often not clearly marked as being sponsored.   Outbrain was subject to an ASA ruling (full judgment here) regarding how their suggested content was labeled.