The data is on the verge of impoverishment
In an industry where demand expectations, investments, and innovations converge on user data, it is hard to imagine being able to overlook one of its founding elements. Although 3rd party cookies, one of the cornerstones of the digital advertising chain (DSP, SSP, data providers, browsers, etc.) are going through their final months, the impact on future data quality is far from being harmful. Because the use of semantics will make it possible to display in real-time an advertising message in adequacy with the content read by the user, which will generate, on the contrary, a more qualitative and more precise data.
Frequency capping is dead
Among the many concerns expressed: a growth in ad blocking against the backdrop of the disappearance of frequency capping, which would put an end to the control of marketing pressure. An unwarranted fear since contextual advertising, the most viable form of advertising in a world without 3rd party cookies, is set in a reading context. Therefore, one page = one context = one different ad. In other words, a page contains a context (the content), and to each context its advertisement. Unless the user keeps reading multiple articles on the very same topic, it’s hard to see the capping explode for the same ad. Semantic collage, on the other hand, allows the same ad to be integrated into the same content and thus multiply the user reach on an ad, on the same content. It is a principle similar to sports sponsorship. Is a sports equipment manufacturer being blamed for buying advertising space around soccer fields at the expense of (unlimited) capping during the broadcasting of the game? No! Because the brand is associated with a target affinity content and precisely seeks to be associated with a context.
Selling both Digital Ad Trust and contextual inventory is complicated
Launched nearly two years ago, the Digital Ad Trust label was created to evaluate and enhance the quality of websites committed to responsible advertising practices: guaranteeing brand safety, optimizing visibility, fighting fraud, improving the user experience, and better informing Internet users about the use of their personal data. Labeled sites have had to make significant efforts to comply with the label’s requirements, including reviewing certain inventories. For editors, it is hard to get used to the idea of changing their methods and interfaces again to integrate contextual advertising. Yet specialized solutions don’t involve time-consuming and tedious integration or adapting locations. They can be integrated into the current method of purchase, with DaaS (Data as a Service) as it is the case for Qwarry. Thus, in addition to the simplicity of use, the solution requires no installation for the buyer or the publisher.
Semantics is not enough
The common mistake is to confuse keywords (on which the so-called contextual solutions are currently based), context, and semantics. Keyword-based solutions look for the presence of keywords on a page to perform so-called contextual targeting. However, contextual targeting is actually based on a grouping of keywords that makes it possible to know the exact subject of the content. Semantics, on the other hand, is useful for contextual targeting that considers not only the meaning and understanding of the page content but also the feeling associated with that content. It can therefore in no way be considered as a simple push-back, as is the case in the context of the keyword.
Google, once again, judge and jury
Google introduced the Privacy Sandbox last summer for targeted advertising without the use of personal data. Right now, the industry does not have enough information yet about this proposal to fully grasp it, except that it will be an open-source project allowing the creation of audience segments within the browser. The giant has opened a consultation to give the ecosystem the opportunity to integrate the project. But do we have to wait for Google to also decide how to build the future of cookieless digital advertising? Or do we want to provide credible solutions? The industry must now roll up its sleeves to anticipate the challenges of the future and create its own truly cookieless solutions. One thing is certain: semantics and contextualization are the most effective and quickest solutions to date to implement within the new ecosystem.
This article was initially published on JDN.
