If you are in the advertising world, you know that third-party cookies are being phased out, new privacy regulations are being put in place, and brand safety concerns are on the rise. Some ad agencies and ad tech companies are having to undergo major transformation in order to cut ties with behavior targeting methods and create confidence in new targeting methods.
The most promising alternative to cookies is contextual targeting. Put simply, contextual targeting is when you target your ad to play before a specific video based on that video’s content. Contextual advertising uses the information already present within the video to match a brand’s ad to the content the viewer is consuming.
Unlike cookies and behavior targeting, contextual targeting is future-proof, privacy forward, and does not use any behavior data to reach customers. These factors combined make it an appealing strategy for marketers, especially in a cookie-less world. Another factor that makes contextual targeting an obvious choice, is that context is everywhere! It’s just a matter of harnessing the power of that context through perfectly aligned ads in order to create meaningful results for the brand.
One of the key benefits of contextual targeting is privacy. Contextual engines do not collect user data or track data, therefore brands do not face any privacy concerns that can come from other forms of digital advertising. Both consumers and regulatory services are giving pushback on privacy issues and are demanding marketers find new strategies.
While contextual targeting may seem like the clear choice, some marketers are unfamiliar with this strategy and don’t feel comfortable moving forward until they know more. A Brand Innovators survey found that only 27% of marketers were “very familiar” with contextual targeting, and 41% said they were somewhere in the middle of familiar and unfamiliar. That leaves 32% of marketers having no familiarity with the concept of contextual advertising at all. The key to getting more marketers to see the value in contextual targeting seems to be education.
Many brand marketers do not have a clear picture of how contextual targeting can be used or how their brands can benefit from this strategy.
VuePlanner is happy to walk anyone who is new to contextual targeting through the process and explain the targeting strategy and results. We believe that once you understand the concept and see the incredible results, you will become a big fan of contextual targeting. You can reach out to our team any time if you are ready to learn a bit more.