Contextual advertising: Then, now and in the future

Abstract

Context has always been important to advertising, but in the age of third-party cookies and device IDs, it has been an afterthought. Now that privacy regulations are coming into effect and personal IDs are on the run, contextual advertising is back in favour. And it has come back with a vengeance. The tools available today are far ahead of what was available earlier. These innovations are creating new opportunities for media buyers as well as sellers — not the least of which is a reset of the buyerseller power relationship, a much-needed development if we hold any hope of seeing a more mature, responsible and effective advertising ecosystem in the future. This paper provides an overview of relevant background research from a modern practitioner’s point of view, an introduction to standards efforts and some early evidence of the adoption and effectiveness of contextual advertising. Contextual advertising holds much promise, but fulfilling that promise requires a thorough understanding of how we got here in the first place and a good grasp of where contextual tools are to fit in today’s complex and still evolving advertising ecosystem.