Data & identity · also called Contextual advertising
Contextual targeting
Contextual targeting places ads based on the content being viewed, such as the topic, keywords or sentiment of a page, video or app, rather than on data about the individual viewer.
Contextual targeting is the oldest form of targeting: put the cooking ad in the cooking magazine. Online, it means analysing the page, video or app the ad will appear on, and matching ads to that context. Someone reading a review of hiking boots sees an outdoor gear ad, regardless of who they are.
Modern contextual tools go far beyond keywords. They use natural-language processing, computer vision and audio analysis to understand topics, sentiment and nuance, classify content using the IAB Tech Lab Content Taxonomy, and combine targeting with brand safety and brand suitability checks.
Contextual has enjoyed a revival because it does not rely on tracking individuals, so it is less affected by third-party cookie restrictions, App Tracking Transparency and privacy laws, although collecting data from the viewer's device may still require consent. It works well for relevance, but less well for goals like frequency capping or retargeting, which need some identity. Compare behavioral targeting.
Think of it like this
Contextual targeting is like putting umbrella ads at a bus stop when it is raining: you target the moment, not the person.
An example
A pet-food brand in Germany targets articles and videos about dog training and puppy care, reaching readers with no personal data and achieving a CTR 40% higher than its run-of-network buys.
Related terms
Behavioral targeting
Behavioral targeting shows ads to people based on their past online behaviour, such as sites visited, searches, purchases or app use, collected over time and often across different services.
Brand suitability
Brand suitability is choosing which content is appropriate for a specific brand's ads, based on its own values and risk tolerance, above the universal floor set by brand safety.
Cookieless advertising
Cookieless advertising means targeting and measuring ads without third-party cookies, using approaches like first-party data, contextual targeting, alternative IDs, clean rooms and modelled measurement.
Signal loss
Signal loss is the reduction in data available to target, measure and optimise advertising, caused by browser cookie blocking, mobile ID restrictions, privacy laws, consent choices and ad blocking.
Targeting
Targeting is choosing which people, contexts, places, devices or times should see an ad, so that the budget is spent on the audiences most likely to respond.
Sources: IAB Tech Lab Content Taxonomy