In Context: Rethinking the role of contextual advertising in CTV

Contextual advertising is becoming both more precise and more holistic in streaming TV – helping advertisers understand not only specific moments, but the broader environment surrounding an ad.

In the latest installment of our In Context video series, Wurl spoke with Mario Diez, CEO of Peer39, about how advertisers should rethink contextual advertising in CTV. “Contextual as a signal in CTV is really more about transparency and suitability of what the content is,” Diez said. “Is it the right mood, can it be aligned with the right creative, and is that an environment that advertising messages are good for?”

That broader perspective is becoming increasingly important as streaming TV grows more fragmented. With more publishers, channels, and programming entering the market, advertisers are looking for ways to improve transparency and find the right adjacencies for their campaigns, while publishers are using contextual and program-level signals to attract new demand. “There are a lot of new CTV publishers and a lot of new content coming out – and there’s a lot of eyeballs going there. So, finding your audience and the right adjacency is super important,” Diez explained.

For advertisers still hesitant about contextual opportunities in CTV, Diez offered one key takeaway: rethink the concept of contextual in CTV and think more broadly.

Contextual should be the other side of the coin of your audience targeting. You have your audience and you have your environment. If we had an advertiser here, I would just say: how do you think about contextual? You need to think about it a little bit more broadly as a staple to your investments.”

Mario Diez

CEO
Peer39

In Context is a Wurl original video series featuring short-form conversations with industry leaders exploring the impact of contextual targeting in CTV. Each episode dives into how emerging technologies are helping advertisers unlock smarter creative strategies, improve performance, and drive better outcomes on the biggest screen in the home.

Transcript

Tori: Mario, thank you so much for being with us today. I appreciate your time. 

Mario:  Thanks for having me. 

Tori: Let’s start with what are advertisers, in your opinion, looking to accomplish with contextual advertising and how can Peer39 help them specifically? 

Mario:  Yeah, I mean, contextual in CTV is a little bit different than what’s normal or legacy in the web and mobile. I think contextual as a signal in CTV is really more about transparency and suitability of what the content is – is it the right mood, can it be aligned with the right creative, and is that an environment that advertising messages are good for?

Tori:  What do you think is the biggest misconception that buyers have today about contextual in CTV?

Mario: I think the legacy thinking on contextual is the hyper-targeting aspect, but contextual for CTV is really more about a signal to understand the entirety of the environment. So on one side, you have a lot of the advertising market focusing on audiences and are they reaching the right audiences, and then the other side is the environment, and context can play an incredible role in that.

So I think the misconception is that they go too refined in their targeting versus thinking about contextual, about what content, what publishers, what genres, that’s a really important signal because that’s a main driver in terms of how people are seeing performance in the CTV market.

Tori:  Let’s talk a little bit about results and success stories you’re seeing. What kind of performance gains are you seeing when campaigns are contextually aligned in CTV? 

Mario: There’s a lot of advertisers that are coming into CTV right now, and that may be because they can produce CTV ads easier or buy it more efficiently. And from a publisher perspective, one of the performance signals is can my program level or my advanced signals capture some of that demand because they don’t have the normal, I would say, upfront budgets, right?

So a performance thing for a publisher is, am I getting more advertisers, and can I learn from that, and what content do they want to buy? On the other side, you have advertisers that may not have upfront budgets, but have scatter budgets, and they’re looking to increase reach and try and understand the fragmentation challenges because there are a lot of new CTV publishers and a lot of new content coming out, and there’s a lot of eyeballs going there. So finding your audience and the right adjacency is super important.

Tori:  If you had one message for advertisers who are still maybe hesitant about the opportunity for contextual on CTV, what would you tell them? 

Mario:  I would say rethink the concept of contextual in CTV, and don’t only think about it using the legacy approach of finding the exact moment. That is obviously something that’s really interesting for advertisers, but just think more broadly because contextual should be the other side of the coin of your audience targeting.

And you have your audience and you have your environment and that environment could be quality, it could be environment, it could be ad pod, it could be genre, that’s the world of context. It’s all about environment. And I think if I was sitting here and we had an advertiser here, I would just say, how do you think about contextual and you need to think about it a little bit more broadly as a staple to your investments.

Tori:  Thanks for your time, I appreciate it. 

Mario:  Thank you, I appreciate it.