Driving Performance with Next-Gen Contextual Targeting

In recent years, TV has undergone a remarkable evolution. Transitioning from a traditional advertising medium to a performance-driven, omnichannel activation opportunity, there is now a heightened focus on precision targeting and closed-loop measurement. Despite these advancements, advertisers continue to face challenges such as the indefinite postponement of cookie deprecation and vertical-specific laws and regulations. In turn, contextual targeting presents a compliant and cookieless strategy to tailor messages precisely to the content and context of viewership. As performance TV grows, contextual targeting empowers brands to connect with audiences more effectively, driving engagement and conversion seamlessly across multiple channels.  

In this blog post, we will explore the top contextual targeting strategies, the importance of a holistic identity solution, and how to implement “next-gen” contextual targeting for your omnichannel advertising.  

Using Content as a Proxy for Audiences 

Contextual targeting is a pivotal programmatic strategy for omnichannel advertisers, providing a relevant brand experience across CTV and digital platforms. Rather than relying solely on demographics or behavioral insights, contextual targeting delivers ads based on the context of the content being consumed by viewers. In Performance TV campaigns, targeting the right inventory holds immense significance, aligning context and content with brand values to enhance campaign effectiveness and create a meaningful ad experience with audiences. 

Leveraging natural language processing (NLP), ML and AI further refine content-based targeting, improving ad relevancy and engagement without needing PII. Brand safety measures, anti-targeting capabilities, transparency, and control mechanisms are integral components of this strategy, ensuring campaigns align with evolving digital advertising norms and safeguard advertisers’ reputations in our ever-changing media landscape. 

Examples of effective contextual advertising: 

• Event-Based Targeting: A sports apparel brand inserts ads within sporting events streamed on CTV. By leveraging contextual targeting based on the category and genre, these brands can effectively reach audiences with a high affinity for sports-related products.  
  
• Relevant Product Placement: On a cooking recipe website, a kitchen appliance brand strategically places ads for its products leveraging keywords. This contextual advertising ensures that viewers are exposed to relevant ads that align with the content they are viewing.  

The Next-Gen of Contextual Strategy 

While contextual targeting is an important component of programmatic campaigns, the next generation of contextual targeting layers on audience targeting to turbocharge Performance TV campaigns. Advertisers can create relevant brand associations by implementing a contextual strategy across omnichannel campaigns – a viable standalone tactic. And with precise audience targeting, we know that advertisers can achieve better business outcomes. So, optimizing ad spend to contextually relevant inventory that reaches qualified audiences allows advertisers to improve campaign performance because they are engaging with the consumers who are most likely to convert. 

To better serve our customers, Cadent has developed a solution that gives advertisers the best of both worlds. Leveraging Aperture Platform to upload first-party data and enhancing it with third-party data from Aperture data marketplace, advertisers can identify high-value audiences across all verticals in a privacy-safe manner. Audiences are matched with Aperture Platform’s AI-powered Viewer Graph which connects them to households, and those households to precise devices and viewing behaviors. 

Advertisers can then take this audience and contextually target them across CTV, OTT, and digital platforms based on categories, genres, keywords, URLs, mobile apps, and more, to place ads in content as their target audience engages with it in real time.  

The value of blending this type of audience precision with contextual alignment benefits advertisers by reaching audiences that are more likely to convert. Why? The content draws audiences to maximize concentration and contextual identification – taking the guesswork out of what targeting combinations drive results. Advertisers will also reduce ad waste by maximizing spend towards impressions that target the right audiences and the right content, meaning the combined impact of these strategies is a match made in digital heaven. 

Examples of turbocharged contextual advertising: 

• Sports Apparel brand: An advertiser activating across CTV creates their target audience [Women 25-54 and Athleisure Shoppers and Roku device users] and contextually targets them across [OTT: Cable TV-Channel: Sports] to maximize concentration of audiences and increase brand affinity across contextually relevant programs and sites.  
  
• Airline: An airline company activating across OLV, and display builds their target audience [Frequent Travelers, HH income > $100k, Travel Channel fan] contextually targeting them across keywords such as “vacation” “resorts” and “travel blog” to amplify impact with audience precision and contextual ad placement to maximize relevance and engagement.  

Next Steps 

To successfully implement a next-gen contextual targeting strategy, advertisers must work with a partner who can execute multiple activations in a single activation. Key capabilities include advanced audience analysis, comprehensive contextual targeting, in-flight optimization, and the tracking of performance metrics. Fortunately, Cadent can deliver.  

Download a snapshot of how Cadent can support next-gen contextual targeting for your next campaign.