In 2023, 61% of US advertisers are shifting to contextual advertising, and 24% of advertisers have planned to increase their ad spending on contextual advertising in the following year.
But why?
“Contextual Advertising” this term has been buzzing in advertisers’ ears for a while because it is an alternative for brands to strive in a cookieless future.
Advertisers and consumers have a delicate yet complex relationship where users want to receive personalized ads. The news about data selling has created distrust among users due to which GDPR and CCPA had to create and implement data privacy regulations. This advertising approach is different from traditional targeting and abides by these regulations which benefits advertisers while also maintaining user privacy
How is Contextual Advertising Different from Traditional Targeting?
Contextual advertising deploys ads based on content-based keywords to reach the desired audience. Unlike behavioral targeting, it doesn’t rely on cookies, search history, web pages visited by the user, clicks, and interactions of the user.
When a user is targeted with an ad that is relevant to the content being consumed by them at the moment and not based on their search history, they feel inclined to engage with it. A study revealed that 80% of users are open to seeing content-relevant ads.
Undoubtedly, traditional targeting helped advertisers in deploying personalized ads but left the user with a feeling that they were being followed at every step. Contextual targeting is helping advertisers in overcoming this distrust among users.
How Contextual Targeting is Helping Advertisers?
- Build deeper connection: When users are connected based on the content, they are more likely to engage more with the brand. According to a study, 65% of users are more inclined to engage with a brand’s ads which is relevant to the content they are consuming.
For example, a viewer is reading about the difference between spherical and cylindrical numbers of eyesight, and the ad for a contact lens brand shows up
The chances of users clicking on the ad are relatively high because they are already engaged with similar content. This will also give users a personalized experience while abiding by privacy law.
- Cost-effective: Advertisers desire higher ROIs from their campaigns through this approach of targeting. With this, advertisers can achieve higher KPIs which results in higher ROI.
- Brand Safety and Suitability: A brand’s reputation must be maintained at every cost. Contextual targeting offers higher brand safety because the AI-powered technology understands the context of words like a human being’s brain. This enhances ad placement opportunities which were not possible through the keyword blocklisting approach.
How Brands can Benefit Themselves With Contextual Ad Boom?
Brands can make the most out of the contextual advertising boom by intelligently integrating them into marketing strategies. Here are a few ways for advertisers to benefit:
- Location-based ads: A few years ago no one would have thought of using the advanced technology available to us today. The location of almost all devices is trackable today. Brands can utilize this information to deploy their ads in a specific region.
For example, in October, a clothing brand targeted saree advertisements in West Bengal and ghagra choli advertisements in Gujrat.
The reason behind targeting two different clothing styles in the same month is that Durga Puja is an auspicious festival in West Bengal and Dandiya nights during Navratri are prestigious in Gujarat.
Targeting specific clothing styles to locations will give a personalized experience to users and will connect with them on a deeper level.
- Leverage the power of social media: Social media is the best platform to reach your audience. Advertisers can significantly benefit themselves through Facebook.
For example, take a situation where a tech company wants to target their ad to men between the ages of 18-40 for the launch of their new product.
By integrating contextual targeting in video and content advertising the brand can achieve its target easily. In content, the contextual targeting will detect the relevant keywords whereas, in the video, it will detect logos, faces, actions, and objects to deploy ads on the relevant pages. Through this approach, there will be no ad wastage and it will reach the relevant audience.
- Make use of display banner ads: The oldest form of display contextual advertising. The perfect example of this is the ads of fashion brands in the Lifestyle section of Sunday Brunch magazine by Hindustan Times. This form of advertising is mostly utilized in newspapers, television, and websites.
Final Words
Advertisers and brands need result-driven advertising strategies because, in the near future, the cookies will not be of use. Apple and Firefox have already banned the use of cookies considering the privacy concerns of the user. For now, Google has postponed the phase-out but it is continuously working on alternatives for a cookieless future.
This boon of contextual advertising is a golden opportunity for advertisers as it will help them achieve better results and will also connect with the audience at a deeper level.
