Remember how great projections were made for every industry in January 2020? Well, to say that a lot has changed for most sectors since then, including the ad tech ecosystem, would be a massive understatement. While ad spends initially saw a steep decline, they now seem to be slowly recovering. And with people consuming more content online, new digital advertising opportunities are opening up. However, brands have become extra-cautious and are now willing to spend substantially only on ads that bring certain ROI and remain privacy-compliant.
With third-party cookies crumbling and soon phasing out, a technology that has re-emerged as the mainstay of targeting and good returns for both advertisers and publishers is contextual advertising.
What Does 'Contextual Advertising' Even Mean?
Contextual Advertising involves showing ads that are hyper-relevant to a high-intent audience. Simply put, it places ads in context of the website/page content. And since their chances of getting clicked on are higher, it means greater ad revenues for publishers. But obviously this technology has advanced to a great degree now. A lot goes on behind the scenes - machine learning, artificial intelligence, manual inputs etc. to uncover accurate context so that only the most relevant ads are displayed - without using any audience behavior data (which is pretty much where the industry is headed).
Which Is The Best Ad Platform That Offers Contextual Advertising?
There are a few ad platforms that are known for their contextual ads and one of them that I recommend highly is Media.net. They are legit and have been around for quite a while - not big on publicity but they’ve earned great word-of-mouth cred.
It's the second-largest ad tech company after Google that serves contextual ads (among its other offerings), and one of the biggest advantages of partnering with Media.net is their exclusive partnership with the Yahoo! Bing network with unique search advertising budgets worth $6 billion. This is super important because no one else in the industry has access to these dollars and that means you’re definitely going to see a jump in your ad revenue if you add this demand source for your inventory.
These guys have a solid foundation of their own proprietary contextual technology that they’ve been using and improving since a decade - so it’s highly sophisticated and places them well ahead of the competition. Their algorithm can conduct a keyword and page-level analysis of the content on your website to decide the kind of ads that are most relevant to your audience and likely to attract high engagement.
Apart from their contextual advertising tech, here are a few other reasons why you should give Media.net a shot:
1. Ad Formats That Are Customizable
If your audience finds ads that are relevant but not visually appealing, chances are they will pass on them. Media.net ensures their contextual ads blend in with your website’s design and layout. As these ads are non-intrusive and do not disrupt a user’s experience, chances of clicks and conversions are much higher. Media.net ads are customizable, ensuring they match your website’s aesthetics, and there are many ad formats you can choose from including desktop interstitial ads, in-content ads, mobile docked ads, and below-the-article ads. Ads can be placed on your website with a single line of code and are responsive across platforms and devices.
2. An Easy Signup And Quick Approval Process
Media.net has a simple signup process; as simple as it gets. Post signup, you can create ad units instantly. They generally get back to you with approval in less than 48 hours, provided your website meets their publisher guidelines. P.S. - It's best to wait for at least 15 days before you assess whether a contextual platform is suitable for your content and audience; let their optimization specialists and contextual tech analyze your website thoroughly in order to implement the best combinations of keywords, formats, and placements.
3. Detailed Analysis With Visual Reports
For any publisher, tracking performance periodically is super-critical. Media.net has a publisher dashboard called the PubConsole, that provides meaningful insights into your ad revenue earnings. The dashboard lets you create your own ad units and take them live, manage your ads.txt and monitor the progress of your campaigns by optimizing the most significant metrics, all from within the dashboard. With visual analysis of performance metrics, you can make strategic changes and take timely business decisions to maximize revenue from your ad inventory.
4. An Ad Platform That Is Compatible With Other Ad Platforms
Ad network compatibility is often a make-or-break criteria for me to consider. As it turns out, Media.net is completely compatible with other ad platforms. Their ads can be displayed alongside ads by any other ad network, including AdSense. This is great for publishers who're already working with other ad platforms and still want to partner with Media.net to give their earnings a lift.
The Final Word
In an ecosystem where third-party cookies are on the brink, contextual advertising is a smart way forward. Hence, it makes sense for publishers to safeguard future earnings by bringing a contextual ad platform like Media.net onboard. With the right combination of content and optimization, you can expect a considerable boost to your ad revenues.
