Privacy policies, brand safety initiatives and more accessible data have fundamentally changed the ad tech landscape, clearing a path for contextual advertising to make a comeback.
For many advertisers, adopting new targeting strategies feels risky – especially when their behavioral strategy seems to be working and cookie deprecation feels far-off.
This is why we’ve created “The Connatix Guide to Contextual Targeting,” to help advertisers understand why contextual targeting should be adopted not as a begrudging response to cookie deprecation, but rather as a modern, innovative, and effective targeting strategy that performs.
Here is a preview of what you’ll learn!
Put simply, contextual targeting matches an ad to the content being consumed on a webpage based on aligning factors like topic, category, and keywords (i.e. an article about the FIFA World Cup is paired with an ad for soccer cleats).
Early contextual targeting strategies were manual, resource-intensive, and unable to deliver scale. Contextual soon took a back-seat with the discovery of the third-party cookie, and though it provided advertisers with massive data and scale, it came at the price of user privacy.
By the mid 2010’s, governments and major browser companies began enacting privacy and transparency regulations, many of which severely limit or fully eliminate the use of third-party cookies, paving the way for renewed contextual innovation.
Because contextual targeting does not rely on obtaining a consumer’s personal details to serve ads, it's an attractive option as advertisers prepare for a post-cookie world.
Today’s contextual targeting is much more sophisticated, leveraging AI and machine learning technology to give advertisers the ability to scale their campaigns.
Consumer Internet video traffic is now 81% of global consumer Internet traffic, making advanced technologies vital in order to provide advertisers with a thorough understanding of context across all media formats.
The more the system understands the true context of the content, the better the ad matching. This is crucial because relevancy is key for consumers and has a direct correlation to increased brand awareness. In fact, 74% of consumers are likely to remember an ad if its message relates to the content around it.
Whether you’re already committed to contextual or simply trying to offset the impact of third-party cookie depreciation, implementing a smart contextual strategy benefits advertisers and adds value to the consumer journey. Within the guide, you’ll find 7 strategies to boost your next contextual targeting campaign!