• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, October 30, 2024

Over the last few years, marketers have been bracing for the impending cookie-apocalypse, which is apparently no longer happening.  Or maybe it is; nobody is sure anymore.

In the process of preparing for the change, a funny thing happened.  Marketers are looking more and more at contextual placements and relying less and less on pure audience targeting.  It brings to mind the old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

You don’t have to take my word for it.  I spent a few days at a recent MediaPost Insider Summit with 80 marketers who were almost unanimous in their feelings that context is once again extremely important.  The concern about audience data availability opened the door, and everybody stepped through, realizing context is valuable -- and premium content that’s contextually relevant is an excellent way to tap into an audience.

Don’t overreact.  I’m not suggesting that marketers will no longer use data for targeting.  I am saying that an old, tried-and-true method of reaching an audience is simply making a comeback because, simply put, it works. 

The question now is whether context and premium content creates more opportunity for the big walled gardens -- or does it create new growth for the open web once again? 

The nature of walled gardens has changed.  The behemoths of the internet are no longer sites like Yahoo and AOL.  They are Google, YouTube, Amazon and Netflix, among others. The web is about custom-delivered content and video as well as search, but search is being disrupted quickly by generative AI.  Google is not a content site, although YouTube certainly is.  Amazon is a commerce site.  Netflix is a video platform. 

The broader open web consists of millions of content sites, and if content is once again becoming more and more valuable, it would seem to follow that the open web will resurge in importance and traffic.  Even more, if generative AI search results are about answering questions and reducing broader traffic to answer those questions, then content sites now have an opportunity to increase their value, becoming a more important pillar of a good media mix.

A strong media mix is created by aggregating together digital channels that keep the attention of the audience.  You want attention.  You want loyalty.  You want repeat visitors because that creates frequency of exposure, which creates awareness.  These are all the reasons why content and context are important.  What’s more, these sites can leverage their first-party data for your benefit, and they can even offer clean rooms where you merge your first-party data together with theirs and create better engagement opportunities.  This is how you develop a more effective digital media strategy.  This is how you drive attention, awareness, engagement and actions that benefit your business. 

You can quickly see an updated digital media strategy that consists of search, some elements of audience targeting, video advertising, and a stronger selection of contextual placements that generate a better balance in your campaign strategy.  You can even tailor creative to that content and once again you end up with a better, more effective GTM. 

This is more like the plans of the early aughts, and it is likely we are heading back to that model, albeit with more understanding of audience behavior.  With age and experience comes wisdom, and contextual wisdom is truly valuable.