AI-powered contextual Ad targeting

Summary

MarTech Podcast ™ // Marketing + Technology = Business Growth Episode: AI-powered Contextual Ad Targeting Release Date: July 21, 2025

---

Introduction

In the July 21, 2025 episode of the MarTech Podcast ™, hosted by Benjamin Shapiro of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network, the focus centers on the resurgence and evolution of contextual advertising in the digital marketing landscape. Shapiro engages in a deep conversation with Karel Cooper, Chief Marketing Officer at GumGum, a company specializing in privacy-conscious advertising solutions. The episode delves into how AI-powered contextual targeting is transforming advertising strategies amidst the decline of traditional cookie-based tracking and increasing privacy concerns.

---

The Resurgence of Contextual Advertising

Historical Context and Evolution

Karel Cooper provides a comprehensive overview of the history and evolution of contextual advertising. He reflects on his 25-year tenure in the ad tech and martech space, highlighting the early 2000s approach where contextual advertising primarily involved basic targeting based on URLs and keywords. For instance, targeting the auto sector by associating ads with car-related URLs.

Karel Cooper [02:19]: "I remember... contextual advertising being all about targeting based on the URL, maybe doing some targeting based on keywords."

Fast forward to the present, Cooper explains that GumGum has advanced beyond these rudimentary methods by leveraging AI to understand and interpret the full context of textual, audio, and visual content. This allows for more nuanced ad placements that align with the consumer's current mindset and emotional state.

Karel Cooper [03:04]: "We have the ability to understand and read all of the text on a page... and derive what is the mindset of that particular consumer."

---

Transition from Persona-Based to Contextual Targeting

Shifting Away from Personal Data

Benjamin Shapiro contrasts the traditional persona-based targeting, which relies on personal data and cookies to track and follow consumers across various platforms, with the modern approach of contextual targeting. He questions the efficacy and privacy implications of the old methods compared to the content-centric focus of contextual advertising.

Benjamin Shapiro [04:13]: "I still struggle with what's better... understanding the content of the page... versus understanding who the consumer is."

Karel Cooper responds by emphasizing that contextual advertising complements rather than replaces other targeting strategies. With 72% of marketers increasing their use of contextual targeting, it's clear that this method is becoming a critical component of the media mix.

Karel Cooper [05:44]: "Marketers get it. And that's one of the trends we're seeing where contextual is a part of the media mix and should be a key part of the media mix."

---

The Role of AI in Enhancing Contextual Targeting

Advanced Understanding Through AI

AI sits at the core of GumGum's approach to contextual advertising. Cooper elaborates on how AI analyzes the full spectrum of content—text, audio, and video frames—to comprehend the consumer's mindset and emotional state. This intricate understanding allows for delivering highly relevant and meaningful ads.

Karel Cooper [09:46]: "AI is at the heart of what we do... we help deliver not only the right brand, but the right brand with the right message, when we think that that particular consumer is in a position to engage with that ad."

Optimizing Campaigns with AI

The use of AI also facilitates continuous optimization of ad campaigns. Cooper acknowledges that while contextual targeting isn't a perfect science, their technology consistently improves accuracy over time, ensuring that ads remain relevant and effectively engage the target audience.

Karel Cooper [12:43]: "We know through the different tools that we use that we are right more than we are wrong."

---

Case Study: Mars Pet Care

Expanding Reach and Relevance

Cooper shares a case study involving Mars Pet Care, a company aiming to expand its reach in the UK and France. By utilizing GumGum's mindset graph, which analyzes historical data on contextual and creative factors, Mars was able to identify additional audience segments beyond their initial categories like heavy dog food buyers and new puppy parents. This strategic expansion led to an 89% higher view-through rate compared to their standard activities.

Karel Cooper [07:00]: "...we help them expand their reach... and they were able to achieve... an 89% higher view through rate compared to their standard activities."

---

Emerging Trends in Contextual Advertising

Live Event Targeting

One of the prominent trends discussed is the integration of contextual advertising with live event targeting. Cooper illustrates this with the example of the Super Bowl, where different ads can be tailored to the varying mindsets of fans supporting opposing teams. This nuanced approach ensures that advertisements resonate more deeply with the audience based on real-time sentiments.

Karel Cooper [14:08]: "If you can now say... you understand who the Chiefs fans are... you can deliver the same brand, but maybe the winning team is getting a message for champagne, and the losing team is getting a message for whiskey."

Match Propensity to Buy with Mindset

Another trend is the alignment of a consumer's propensity to buy with their current mindset, ensuring that ads are not just contextually relevant but also timed perfectly to maximize engagement and conversion.

---

Navigating Uncertainty with Contextual Advertising

Adapting to Privacy Changes and AI Evolution

Shapiro and Cooper discuss how the increasing emphasis on privacy and the phasing out of cookies have accelerated the adoption of contextual advertising. This shift not only serves as a hedge against uncertainties in data privacy but also proves to be more effective in building meaningful consumer relationships.

Benjamin Shapiro [15:48]: "Are marketers starting to lean more on contextual advertising as a hedge... or is this more effective?"

Karel Cooper [17:56]: "Marketers are always looking for how to reach their consumers more efficiently, more effectively, and contextual definitely gives you a way of doing that."

---

Conclusion

The episode underscores the pivotal role of AI-powered contextual targeting in modern digital advertising. By focusing on the context in which consumers engage with content, marketers can deliver more relevant and emotionally resonant ads without infringing on personal privacy. As the advertising landscape continues to evolve, contextual advertising emerges as both a strategic and necessary approach to achieving sustained business growth and fostering deeper consumer connections.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Karel Cooper [05:44]: "Marketers get it. And that's one of the trends we're seeing where contextual is a part of the media mix and should be a key part of the media mix."

• Karel Cooper [09:46]: "AI is at the heart of what we do... we help deliver not only the right brand, but the right brand with the right message..."

• Benjamin Shapiro [15:48]: "Are marketers starting to lean more on contextual advertising as a hedge... or is this more effective?"

---

Further Resources:

• Karel Cooper's LinkedIn Profile: [Link in Show Notes]
• GumGum Website: gumgum.com
• Karel Cooper's Podcast: The Minority Report

---

Subscribe and Stay Updated:

To receive a daily stream of marketing and technology insights, subscribe to the MarTech Podcast on your preferred podcast platform or follow us on YouTube. Stay tuned for more expert discussions that drive business growth through innovative marketing technologies.

Transcript

[Benjamin Shapiro]

The Martech Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit iheareverything.com.

From advertising to software as a service to data across all of our programs and clients, we've seen a 55 to 65% open rate.

[Karel Cooper]

Getting brands authentically integrated into content performs better than TV advertising.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Typical lifespan of an article is about 24 to 36 hours. If we're reaching out to the right person with the right message and a clear call to action, then it's just a matter of timing.

Welcome to the Martech Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. In this podcast, you'll hear the stories of world class marketers that you technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's a host of the Martech podcast. Benjamin Shapiro.

72% of advertisers have increased their use of contextual targeting in the past year, according to IAB's State of Data Report. Privacy is dying, cookies are crumbling, AI is changing everything, and marketers are rapidly shifting away from personal data to in favor of contextual targeting. So how can you deliver relevant ads without invading privacy? I'm Benjamin Shapiro and joining me today is Karel Cooper, who's the Chief Marketing Officer at Gumgum, which helps deliver advertising without using personal data. And today Karel is going to explain how AI powered contextual targeting can transform your advertising strategy. Karel, welcome to the Martech Podcast.

[Karel Cooper]

Thanks for having me. Ben. Excited for this conversation.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Excited to have you here. Excited to talk about some of the changes in the advertising landscape. It seems like what is old is new again. So let's do a little history lesson here. Can you explain to me the history of contextual targeting and why is it making such a big comeback in today's digital advertising landscape?

[Karel Cooper]

I agree with you. What's old is definitely new again. And we seem to kind of go through these cycles in adtech and Martech every once in a while. I've been in the ad tech and martech space now for over 25 years. I originally started my career on the publisher side running ad operations teams back in the early 2000s and I remember at that point in time contextual advertising being all about targeting based on the URL, maybe doing some targeting based on keywords, right? So for example, if you [e-mail] autos we were targeting you in the auto section and you became an auto intender something to that effect.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Super scientific.

[Karel Cooper]

Super scientific, exactly. I think that's really the birthplace of contextual advertising. Contextual targeting in the digital world. Fast forward to where we are today. Much more advanced than that. At GUM gum we have the ability to understand and read all of the text on a page, understand all of the words within an audio file that a consumer may be listening to or, or understand frame by frame, the play of a video that someone may be watching, and then to be able to use that information to put the content in its proper context, if you will, and from there derive what is the mindset of that particular consumer as they're consuming that content to then deliver the best ad and message and so leveraging AI to do a lot of that. And what's interesting about that is gum. Gum has been doing that since 2009. So for us it's not really a new thing, but for the industry it is.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

It's been a minute. When I think about contextual advertising, I don't mean this to be pejorative or insulting. Targeting for dummies. It's like, okay, I'm targeting sports related content. I'm going to go to ESPN and try to drive traffic from that site. Well, it's. Well, no duh. The domain has autos in it that must be about cars. Cool. And it's sort of the most basic version of targeting. Effective or not. It's logical and we moved away from it for something that we think is more sophisticated. This notion of the cookie based targeting. The I know who you are and what your interests are. So I'm going to follow you around no matter what content you're consuming. I understand that now contextual targeting is different because you're not just looking at basic signals like what is the domain or what's the URL string. You're actually getting more into the content of the page. But I still struggle with what's better. Understanding the content of the page and assuming that that's a match for the advertising vehicle or understanding who the consumer is, Finding the right consumers and then following around. No matter where the content is, why are they different and why is one better than the other?

[Karel Cooper]

They are different. And I'm not going to say that one is better than the other. Just like I'm not going to say that everyone should stop doing all the targeting and dump their entire marketing strategy and just use contextual advertising. I'm not going to say that. What I am going to say is, and I think in the opening you mentioned a very high percentage I think it was 72% of marketers say they're using contextual advertising.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Yeah.

[Karel Cooper]

So marketers get it. And that's one of the trends we're seeing where contextual is a part of the media mix and should be a key part of the media mix. What I will also say, just to answer your question a little bit further, further, when you can understand the context of what someone is reading, listening to or watching, you can get into a place of, okay, what is their emotional state while they're consuming that content? You can get to a place of, okay, if this individual consistently consumes a certain type of content, then you can make some assumptions about that individual in terms of what other types of content they may like. I'll give you an example. So we just released a case study for a company called Mars, which is a pet care company. They came to us because they wanted to expand their reach and relevance of their sort of pedigree product in the UK and in France. So this is a European case study based off of the information that they gave us about who their core sort of audience segments are, which are things like heavy dog food buyers, conscious dog food buyers, new puppy slash dog parents. We were able to take that information, run it through what we call the mindset graph, which is our tool that helps do better planning, activation and reporting based on all the historical data we have about contextual, creative, so on and so forth. And we were able to come back to the client and say, these categories are great, but we also know that people who are in these particular categories are also in categories like home and garden, food and drink, entertainment, travel, so on and so forth. So we help them expand their reach through our video product. And they were able to achieve in working with us, an 89% higher view through rate compared to sort of like their standard activities that they do. So when we go back to your original question of is one better than the other, help me understand where contextual advertising is now. You're right, it's not necessarily always about, okay, we're going to target the auto section. These are auto intenders. But how do we help brands expand their reach? How do we help them reach consumers when we think they are in the right mindset and to engage with their ads? So that's how we've used contextual advertising to further what we thought of contextual advertising as of 20 years ago.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Yeah, it's funny and I again didn't mean to poo poo contextual advertising, but since it was so early in digital advertising as the way that we thought about targeting, it seems obvious.

[Karel Cooper]

You're right, it does seem obvious.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

That doesn't mean it's bad. Right? Like, right, it's obvious you should target people that if you're selling auto parts on sites related to auto parts. And to me, the most interesting thing that you said is the reason why contextual advertising is different than your cookie based, Persona based targeting is that mindset is I am on a domain or consuming content that is a passive browsing experience or an educational experience that is very topic specific as opposed to I'm a first time pet buyer and I'm trying to sell dog food. Well, if you catch somebody when they're on their like, you know, stock portfolio site, they're busy thinking about their wallet, not about how to improve their dog food. So maybe that's not the right time to place the ad. I want to talk a little bit more about the technology and some of the sort of level of sophistication that's improved in contextual targeting. I'd be remiss if we didn't talk about AI in every single podcast. So talk to me about the benefits of AI. And you mentioned you could understand the context of the page and talk to me a little bit about how contextual advertising tools have become more sophisticated over time.

[Karel Cooper]

Well, you're right. I mean, AI is at the heart of what we do. It's at the heart of our technology. It's at the heart of helping us understand, like I said earlier, a consumer's mindset or what emotional state are they in and how do we help deliver the best ad. And for us, our vision at our company is to shape meaningful connections in a digital world for everyone everywhere. Right. And in order to do that, if you think about how bold that vision statement is, we have to use sophisticated tools to get there to help brands and marketers accomplish what they need to accomplish. And so going back to what I was saying earlier before, using AI to understand the entire content and text of an article, using AI to understand the entire context of an audio file or video frame by frame, and then to be able to use that information again to help deliver not only the right brand, but the right brand with the right message, when we think that that particular consumer is in a position or in the mindset to engage with that ad. You can deliver ads anywhere, you can buy impressions anywhere, but that doesn't mean that they're meaningful. And as we think about what marketers are focused on these days, more and more just coming back from can hear over and over again from marketers about building relationships with consumers, making an emot connection with consumers, reaching them at the right time when they will engage best with our ad. I mean to me contextual advertising checks the box on all of those things. And the way we use AI again to help plan, to help activate and report on at the end is at the heart of everything that we do.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

I'll use a dating metaphor here and run the risk of embarrassing myself because it's. I've been married for, I think it's been 11 years, more than 10. Right person, right place, right time, that was always the goal. And when you're young might be the right person but you're just not ready yet or your life circumstances are different. I'll stop with the dating stuff, but it's the same thing with advertising, which is why I'm going down this path.

[Karel Cooper]

It's the same thing. You're absolutely right.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Yeah, but you're talking about understanding the context of what's on the page. And so how do you understand that right time quotient? Like how do you know if using your first time pet owner targeting and getting them on food and wine blogs because you know that there's some correlation and propensity to have that be relevant. How do you know that they're in the mindset that they're not thinking about their travel, they're thinking about dog nutrition?

[Karel Cooper]

I'm not going to sit here and say it's a perfect science. Right. I don't think anything in ad tech right now is a perfect science. But we know through our technology, we know through the different tools that we use that we are right more than we are wrong. And what's great about our technology is the ability to optimize throughout the life of the campaign.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

I'm going to fight you for a second. You're not more right than you are wrong. You might be more right than the other options. Like more right than Wrong is a 50% conversion rate. And if that's the case, you're not talking to me.

[Karel Cooper]

You're on an island somewhere, I'll give you that. But yes, our business has been around for 15 plus years. So as an independent ad tech company that have been around that long, I don't know too many others, do you? Ben?

[Benjamin Shapiro]

You're more right than other people are, right?

[Karel Cooper]

There you go. Sorry.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Tell me about some of the trends in contextual advertising that marketers should be aware of. Matching propensity to buy and mindset.

[Karel Cooper]

So one trend, and you mentioned it earlier, again, 72%. We are seeing that trending where more and more marketers, again, as they think about building lasting relationships with consumers, as they think about building an emotional connection, they are realizing again that the new age of contextual advertising is a great way to do that. So that is a trend that we continue to see from a contextual advertising perspective. Another trend that I'm hearing more and more is how do we get better at live events, targeting at live events. And I think contextual also sits in that bucket as well, too. And I think you and I discussed this when we were having a prep call a few months ago about an example there. So if you think back to the super bowl, if you will, you've got Chiefs and you got the Eagles.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

God, I totally blocked out that the Chiefs and Eagles played in the super bowl because I hate both of those teams.

[Karel Cooper]

I remember it because, admittedly, it's in my notes from our original call. So that's how remember it. So Chiefs and Eagles playing in the super bowl. By the end of the fourth quarter, you've got two different sets of fan bases in two different sets of mindset. At that particular point in time, what typically happens? What typically happens is when the network goes to a commercial break or you go on one of your favorite sports sites, everyone's getting the same ad experience. And what if you can now say, okay, I understand who the Chiefs fans are, I understand who the Eagles fans are. I know what mindset that they're in. You can deliver the same brand, but maybe that brand is delivering a different message. So, for example, if it's an alcohol.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Brand, I know where you're going with this.

[Karel Cooper]

Yeah, maybe the winning team is getting a message for champagne. Maybe the losing team is getting a message for whiskey. Think about that. And the different products that you could promote to those two different fan bases. That is a similar product, but the messaging is different based on the mindset. And that is where we are going as a company.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

What I'm hearing from you is that the trend that's emerging is understanding the context not only of the content, but also of the time and place. So you're able to understand what's happening in the world of the people you are targeting and change your advertising.

[Karel Cooper]

I don't think of it as changing your advertising. I think of it as being more efficient and smarter about the message you deliver. That's how I think of it.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

I hear you in the sense of it's more context. Right. And that's the whole nature of contextual advertising. You're able to understand the things that are happening in the environment where your potential prospect is consuming the content? Yes, there's a lot of uncertainty and the world in general, I'll avoid going into political stuff. There's another Ben Shapiro that'll do that for you. But we've got economic uncertainty. There's this changing of the guard in terms of privacy and cookies and technology, and we've got artificial intelligence. Are marketers starting to lean more on contextual advertising as a hedge to move away from this more Persona based targeting? Is this a we're trying to de risk and that's why we see 72% of marketers using contextual advertising now, or is it that this is more effective? I guess, essentially. Should marketers be integrating contextual advertising tools because you never know what's going to happen or because it actually is performing better than their other options?

[Karel Cooper]

Well, first, since you started with heading into uncertain times, the first piece of advice I have is regardless of what you decide to do as a marketer, I think the worst thing that you could do is kill off budgets, pull back from marketing, so on and so forth. I mean, there's plenty of data and studies out there that show that those who maintain what they're doing, maintain their brand presence, be there for consumers during tough times, come out of the other end of it better off for it in terms of contextual and is the reason why we're seeing the growth because of these uncertain times? I don't know if that's the case, Ben, or not. I'm not 100% sure of that. What I am sure of is again, marketers are always looking for how to reach their consumers more efficiently, more effectively, and contextual definitely gives you a way of doing that.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

All right, and that wraps up this episode of the Martech podcast. Thanks to Karel Cooper, the chief marketing officer at Gumgum, for joining us. If you'd like to contact Karel, you could find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes or on martechpod.com or you can visit his website, which is gumgum.com he also has a podcast called the Minority Report. So if you're interested in hearing Carel's Dulce and tones, check out the Minority Report. And if you haven't subscribed yet and you want a daily stream of marketing and technology knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or follow us on YouTube and we'll be back in your feed next week. All right, that's it for today. But until next time. My advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.

Thanks for listening to the MarTech podcast and I hear everything. Production Looking to launch or scale a podcast like this one for your brand? Then visit iheareverything. Com.