Finding privacy-first solutions that will stand the test of time took top priority this year, and there is one solution that continues to rise above the rest.
As Google’s 2024 third-party cookie deprecation deadline inches closer, 2023 has been a pivotal year for the industry to analyze, test, and refine its post-cookie strategies. Finding privacy-first solutions that will stand the test of time took top priority this year, and there is one solution that continues to rise above the rest. Connatix recently polled more than 1,000 U.S. consumers aged 18+ on their sentiments on video and video advertising, and how contextual alignment can impact engagement. 82% of consumers said they notice when an ad is related to the content of the video they were watching, and 83% said they prefer to see ads related to their personal interests. As consumer appetite for privacy-first solutions like contextual targeting grows, how can publishers and advertisers keep up?
The end of the year is the perfect time for reflection, so let's rewind and explore our tech-tacular Year in Context. We’re looking back at 2023 proprietary contextual insights from our contextual targeting solution Deep Contextual, and exploring how publishers and advertisers can better their strategies using these insights heading into 2024.
From the Super Bowl to the Women’s World Cup, and let us not forget Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s budding romance, all eyes were on sports teams this year as sports accounted for 18% of our advertisers’ spend on contextual categories throughout 2023. Arts and Entertainment comes in second highest for advertiser spend with Deep Contextual categories – which comes as no surprise as our recent research report found that 63% of respondents prefer entertainment content from publishers, including television shows, movies, music, podcasts, and more. Advertisers who leverage Deep Contextual are maximizing their campaign reach by aligning with consumers' real-time interests. Deep Contextual can deliver granular contextual insights by leveraging deep learning, advanced computer vision, natural language processing, and other proprietary technologies to analyze not only the page content but the video content too, providing advertisers with contextual categories for smarter and more effective targeting to reach their key audiences.
Our recent report found that 75% of respondents reported making at least one purchase after watching a video ad within the last year, and to reassure advertisers that their contextual targeting strategies are valued by consumers, 47% of respondents reported that contextual targeting is preferred, with 39% reporting that it makes them more likely to take action. With big sports moments like the 2024 Super Bowl around the corner and as advertisers strategize how to best reach their audiences in the upcoming year, it’s important to keep these categories in mind and remember that video ads remain effective at influencing consumers to take action.
When analyzing our top contextual insights from publisher's page and video content, we identified over 35,000 famous individuals. Not only did Taylor Swift make the 2023 Spotify Wrapped charts as the most streamed artist this year, she also made Connatix’s Year in Context charts as the third most extensively covered famous individual this year. The only celebrity worthy enough to top Taylor is the Commander in Chief, who we also discovered is the commander in contextual insights – that’s right, President Biden took the number one spot for the top famous individual this year. Trailing behind President Biden taking second place is former President Donald Trump. Based on our publisher’s contextual insights we can see that politicians like Trump and President Biden have captured viewer’s attention, and publishers should keep this in mind, especially as we approach an election year.
We know that leveraging Deep Contextual can be an effective way for brands to reach their key consumers, but for publishers, contextual targeting can help extend the time that viewers stay on-site interacting with their content, improving the overall user experience and ad recall. Publishers have the opportunity to capitalize on the 2024 election to create a more personal, engaging, and meaningful viewer experience through video, and brands will find value in this as they look to find those who can help them break through the election noise and tell their stories while consumers are paying attention.
Now that you’ve tuned into the groove of contextual insights with our Year in Context, we hope you’ll consider how you’re going to face the ‘cookie-pocalypse’ in 2024. Our advertisers crumbled the competition without the cookie this year with an extra 39% in contextual ad spend in comparison to 2022, and we expect to see an upward trajectory as the appetite for privacy-first solutions continues to grow.
To learn more about how you can beat the cookie-pocalypse visit connatix.com/deep-contextual.