In an increasingly privacy-conscious web, contextual ad targeting is clearly having a moment.

Discussion website and self-proclaimed ‘front page of the internet’, Reddit, recently announced the acquisition of Spiketrap, an audience contextualisation company. As well as further building out Reddit’s advertising offering, the move to acquire Spiketrap highlights Reddit’s intention to capitalise on advertising that matches a user’s interests – a powerful proposition for a platform with more than 100,000 active interest-based communities.

Likewise, TikTok introduced a new contextual advertising solution in May, TikTok Pulse, that enables brands to appear next to top-performing content on the all-important ‘For You’ tab. Google’s quest to find an effective replacement for intrusive third-party cookie tracking and targeting has also led it to focus on something known as ‘Topics’, which assigns users a set of interests based on the websites they have visited, a move that has prompted comparisons to contextual targeting. However, as Erin McCallion, Chief Marketing Officer at contextual intelligence company GumGum points out,

“Google’s announcement of Topics has raised interest in contextual advertising, but it's important to remember that Google Topics isn’t contextual-first, because it ultimately relies on behavioural data. With data privacy regulations constantly evolving, Topics could well face regulatory hurdles in the future.”

So, what exactly do we mean when we talk about contextual advertising? Why is this particular type of advertising – once the predominant method of online ad targeting, which later took a back seat to behavioural targeting – experiencing a resurgence in popularity? And how can brands employ it to best effect?

This briefing covers:

• • What is contextual advertising, and why is it seeing a revival?
    • The resurgence of contextual advertising
  • How does contextual advertising work in 2022?
    • Contextual ad buying in 2022
  • What are some advantages of contextual advertising?
    • Keeping pace with the user
    • Brand suitability and safety
    • Less is more
  • Data quality is still key
    • Unlocking new possibilities for targeting