City AM’s move is certainly daring: many have regarded native advertising with suspicion, doubting it would gradually undermine the editorial/commercial division that traditionally defines newspapers’ operations. But City AM is probably the first newspaper to embrace native advertising as an integral part of its content production.

“The changes we will go through could fundamentally change the UK publishing culture,” Charles Yardley, COO of City AM, said to the Drum. “There’s no longer this church versus state.”

For a fee, brands will have their own section on the site, on which they can choose and filter the content that is included. Their pieces will be treated like any editoral content on the site, so if they generate enough pageviews, they’ll be included in the “most popular” lists.

“[T]his content that these brands are producing is an integral part of the organic news flow of content that goes through our site,” Yardley says. The City AM CEO Jens Thorpe compared the move to department stores giving instore space to brands.

Roy Greenslade notes that the move may end up undermining City AM’s credibility. He also points out that it may have been motivated by its financial situation: the paper has posted losses since 2013.

What remains to be seen is whether City AM’s move is a one-off, or whether other news publishers follow suit.