Vericast Launches Contextual Advertising Solution

Vericast Launches Contextual Advertising Solution

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The marketing technology firm Vericast is changing its approach to contextual advertising by launching a privacy-centric solution meant to help brands reach relevant consumers in the moments when they’re most likely to be receptive. 

The proprietary solution bolsters Vericast’s in-house targeting capabilities. It matches ads to the content from consumers’ view or search, and it’s built on a continually-evolving algorithm that uses keyword matching and advanced categorization. The company’s algorithm dynamically crawls and scores websites within hours of publication, and optimizes campaigns real-time, so brands can feel confident their ads are appearing next to content that’s fresh, relevant, and brand-safe. As an example, Vericast says its new solution would ensure ads for a soccer brand were never appearing on a baseball website or a website devoted to NASCAR.

Vericast’s vice president of product management, Hans Fischmann, says the release of the new solution is particularly timely, given the current push for federal privacy legislation throughout the U.S. 

Since the European Union ratified its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), roughly half of America’s state legislatures have either adopted or are proposing some form of privacy legislation. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which gives consumers more control over the personal information that businesses collect about them, and the California Privacy Rights Act have had a profound impact on the privacy and data security landscape, and they’re each changing the way companies do business. 

“Vericast has historically led the industry with marketing solutions that put consumer privacy at the center … We are focused on helping our clients navigate industry challenges to prevent business disruptions,” Fischmann says. “With all the fast-moving legislative activity, time is of the essence.”

The contextual approach now being put forward by Vericast is different from cookies or identity graphs, Fischmann says, because those approaches are based on backward-looking signals tracking websites, and the apps a consumer previously used. 

“With contextual advertising, Vericast can help brands target audiences as they’re viewing content relevant to their target,” he says. “It’s a more dynamic approach to delivering marketing.”

The launch of Vericast’s new solution also comes as digital ad spend is on the rise. Recent figures show spending on digital advertising reached more than $248 billion in the U.S. last year, up 12.5% since 2021. 

“The digital advertising industry undergoes rapid change at the hands of regulatory, technological and industry shifts, [so] we reinvented contextual advertising to protect consumer data while helping our clients reach the right people at the right time,” Fischmann says.

In conjunction with Vericast’s product launch, the company also released the results of a new consumer survey. That survey found that 71% of consumers say they’re in favor of data privacy regulation. It also shows that millennials are more likely to purchase a product or service in response to a digital ad than members of Gen Z or Gen X.

“At Vericast, we see the pre-eminent challenge as helping clients bridge the gap between privacy and personalization to deliver timely and contextually relevant advertising,” Fischmann says. “Contextual is the first step in letting consumers self-identify their intent and begin to directly build brand trust, converting the unknown web viewer into a known customer.

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Stephanie Miles is a journalist who covers personal finance, technology, and real estate. As Street Fight’s senior editor, she is particularly interested in how local merchants and national brands are utilizing hyperlocal technology to reach consumers. She has written for FHM, the Daily News, Working World, Gawker, Cityfile, and Recessionwire.