What is contextual advertising?

Contextual advertising (also called contextual targeting) is a form of advertising that targets users and serves ads based on the content they’re currently interacting with.

Ads are served automatically to match the context of the website or app the person is using, therefore the ads are showing in-context to what the user is doing. 

Here are some examples of contextual advertising: 

• An ad for running shoes while the user is engaging with their fitness app to log a run
• An ad for meal kits while a user is browsing a recipes app 
• An ad for a travel app while a user is browsing an article on the top 10 places to visit in Europe

To determine context as accurately as possible, contextual advertising goes beyond just the app or website topic, and also leverages signals like Wi-Fi data, app metadata, location, and device specifics. 

Contextual advertising is completely privacy-compliant, so it gained additional popularity amidst the introduction of ATT and other privacy changes.