The advertising industry has gradually taken over the internet. On average, a person breathes 11,000 litres of air and sees up to 10,000 advertisements a day. Yes, 10,000 ads a day is nonetheless like breathing the air from the internet itself.

Thankfully users today have become habituated and have developed an acceptance of ads in the online browsing environment. It is now time to provide them with the quality and experience they prefer rather than making the advertising experience intrusive for users. Adtech platforms need to meticulously focus on developing an ad environment that gels with the user experience to provide quality for advertisers and publishers. Features such as Adgebra’s regional ads and creative customization are facets of such inclusive advertising.

Contextual Advertising Is Advertiser, Publisher, And User Friendly

Thanks to the poorly placed internet ads, intrusive content feeding, and depreciating UX value, Ads have a bandit image. The rising ire in the marketplace over irritating ad experiences is real. According to a recent HubSpot and Adblock Plus titled “Why People Block Ads.” study, the popular vote is,

  • 91% of people think online ads are more intrusive than 2-3 years ago.
  • 84% think obnoxious or intrusive ads give a poor impression of the brand.
  • 85% think obnoxious or intrusive ads give a poor impression of the publisher.

The facts prove that it is a downward spiral if the adtech industry does not make the experience enriching for all three parties- the user, the advertiser, and the publisher.

The bottom line is we need to take ad creatives and targeting more seriously!

Contextual Advertising is, therefore, the old gold of ad optimization strategies. Contextual targeting establishes a semantic and linguistic correlation between the content of the ad and the context of the publishing webpage. Automated systems match content and display relevant ads based on the linguistic elements of the display page. Publishers are the biggest winners here. With contextual ad targeting, they can enhance the User experience without disturbing their purpose on the webpage since the content displayed on the page is chosen by the user by choice and is not fed to them.

Contextual advertising and regional language ads complement each other

Regional language advertising is based on the user’s content consumption data not the user’s data and so is the basis of contextual advertising. The ad targeting is carefully chosen, it shall be displayed to a user only if they are currently consuming related content. Similarly, on the Adgebra platform ads are translated into the language the user is currently consuming. Regional language and contextual targeting determine the user’s web location and context of the content consumed then target ads at the time when the audience is more receptive to similar content.

Adgebra has been outspoken about how Regional content is bringing radical change in advertising patterns in India and how publishers can leverage regional language advertising to enhance relevance. Shashikant Anpat, the VP of Products at Adgebra, in conversation with Business Standard mentioned that he believes internet users can no longer stay engaged if they encounter intrusive ads on digital platforms. Advertisers and Publishers must maintain decorum to create relevancy for their audience.

Benefits of contextual advertising

  • Be Relevant Not a Creep:

Have you ever experienced the feeling of ‘somebody’s watching sometimes? Does it not freak you out? Similarly, internet ads and suggestions feed do creep users out when an ad is stalking them around the web. Such advertising(Behaviour targeting or Remarketing techniques) is often deemed intrusive and makes users insecure!  Contextual targeting follows the users while making sure it is always relevant to avoid being intrusive. Any user is less offended to see an ad that is relevant to the content they are currently consuming albeit an ad that is following their internet traces directly. While it is hard to argue with results, it’s safe to say, if you can provide relevance without creeping your audience out, it’s certainly worth implementing. Even if the ad is following the user around, it’s much less evident when it fits contextually.

  • Brand Reputation

An ad by a reputed brand on a webpage with deceitful or sensitive content is sure to do substantial damage to its reputation. At times the sense of being behaviour-tracked also annoys the user to conclude the brand has been unsolicitedly tracking me. With contextual advertising, it is safe to say that ad placements can be controlled and placed only in relevant environments. The safety of the brand and its reputation can be maintained.

  • Easy & Affordable:

Contextual targeting is based on the software of the ad delivery system with minute data requirements. It majorly works with keywords, topics, subtopics, and linguistic analysis – which is easy to run. Contextual advertising can offer an alternative to data-driven advertising techniques that require a higher skill set and more time. Contextual targeting is easy and affordable though it may not be as personalized as behavioural advertising, its reach will be broader in most cases, providing a valuable way to get visitors to your website. Contextual advertising is a star performer when it comes to branding campaigns.

  • No privacy or data breach complexities:

Stringent laws and online security concerns have made it even more difficult for companies to collect user data and use it for targeted advertising. The promotion of a cookie-less environment and consent to use data for advertising does make the process even more difficult. Many countries have various laws to protect users against this surveillance from data collectors online. Contextual targeting does not require any intimate user data. It is safer for users, advertisers, and publishers. As per a Digiday report, a significant rise in ROI was observed when publishers moved from behavioural to contextual advertising.

Web 3.0 Promotes Contextual Advertising And User Privacy

The introduction of Web 3.0 solves concerns about privacy and contextual preferences. Web 3.0 refers to a new evolution of the Web that includes specific user-centric innovations and practices for the world wide web. Semantic web and AI are the main features that help us define Web 3.0 for advertising.

Redefining the abilities of the web to understand the meaning of words rather than just keywords or figures, the semantic web feature of web 3.0 improves the ability of the internet to read content’s contextual information. With a combination of semantic capabilities and NLPs, operating systems understand information on a human-like level to provide enhanced and highly relevant results. The web, while doing so, becomes more intelligent to the needs of its users.

Though we have not been able to understand the features of web 3.0 in its entirety, with the addition of semantics and machine learning, Web 3.0 is an evolution in which computers can understand the meaning behind information. It can learn what you are interested in, help you find what you want faster, and understand the relationship between things. The advertising industry essentially gains with these features providing an improved quality experience for advertisers, marketers, and users. 

“In the longer run, brands have a lot to gain from contextual advertising, it may not show immediate results but as per my experience in adtech ad ops, it benefits the brands more than short-term campaigns. Brands reap long-lasting results, advertisers can leverage more inventories for ad display for a much cheaper price with lower CPC and impression rate. Contextual advertising is a huge gain for branding campaigns.”

Richa Uniyal, Team Lead – Adops, @Adgebra by Inuxu Digital Media Technologies.

Contextual advertising has gained importance again!

With the Privacy of internet users becoming a prime concern, behavioural tracking of users is now losing value. Contextual targeting at such times can be a beacon for ad performance.

The aforementioned Hubspot study also states: that 68% of people do not mind watching ads if they are not annoying. 

Establishing relevancy has therefore been a principal task for advertisers and leading adtech platforms.

“As an adtech company that pours strategic data-backed efforts into the quality of ads and ad delivery system, we have prioritized creating high-performing ad solutions that work for the user experience rather than disturbing it.”

Rohit Bagad, Founder, Inuxu Digital Media Technologies pvt ltd.

Globally, contextual advertising is projected to reach over USD 376 billion by 2027.

Adgebra has developed a unique combination of regional language ads and contextual advertising. There exist many high-volume keywords in the regional languages for a product/service than just in English. With Adgebra, you can choose your keywords in regional languages and precisely target the most relevant audience for your advertisements.
Connect with us to know more about our ad platform features to achieve your advertising goals today!