NEW YORK—Comcast’s FreeWheel ad tech platform has launched Contextual Marketplace, a new offering that enables publishers to access precise, contextual classification insights within streaming inventory and develop targeted media buys.
As part of the launch, FreeWheel also said video analysis, performance and monetization firm KERV.ai has joined the Contextual Marketplace alongside Proximic by Comscore, a provider of audience and content targeting solutions for programmatic activation.
FreeWheel said the impetus for the Contextual Marketplace reflected the latest findings in the FreeWheel Viewer Experience Lab report, “Making the Ad Experience More Relevant.” That report, released Dec. 5., highlights the importance of contextual solutions for advertisers. It found that viewers are 2 times more engaged when ads are relevant.
“In the age of identity challenges, we believe contextual signals can be a new constant that unlocks additional value for publishers and new, premium opportunities for advertisers,” FreeWheel general manager Mark McKee said. “We’ve seen from the FreeWheel Viewer Experience Lab research that viewers are twice as engaged when ads are relevant, illustrating the power contextual has to drive increased engagement and higher ad recall that all advertisers desire.”
Highlights of the data in the “Making the Ad Experience More Relevant” report include:
- Viewers like ads twice as much, and are twice as engaged, when the ads are relevant.
- There is 2 times higher unaided recall for relevant ads.
- Relevant ads result in 5.2 times higher brand purchase intent.
To address those trends, FreeWheel said, the Contextual Marketplace enables publishers to easily automate and scale new monetization opportunities across their premium multiscreen inventory while giving advertisers a sophisticated way to reach the right audiences without identity signals in a more granular way than before. For example, an airline could deliver a commercial within holiday travel content while avoiding any news programming about travel delays.
With KERV’s advanced, scene-level metadata informing pod-level ad adjacency available via FreeWheel, along with Proximic by Comscore’s integration, and the IAB Tech Lab Content Taxonomy and publisher proprietary signaling, buyers and publishers have a direct and transparent connection to bring the benefits of contextual targeting to premium CTV inventory, FreeWheel said.
“Contextually targeted advertising has been around for decades in display and linear, but it is now an increasingly sought-after capability across streaming inventory,” said Bradford Quinn, senior vice president of partnerships, KERV. “Our integration with FreeWheel makes it easier than ever before for brands to deliver more personal and relevant ad experiences to help them drive outcomes such as increased engagement, purchase intent, and brand sentiment.”
Download the full findings from the latest Viewer Experience Lab report, “Making the Ad Experience More Relevant,” here.
