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Cookies are gone from Safari and Firefox, and on their way out in Chrome. This leaves many advertisers searching for alternative ways to effectively target high-value prospects. One of the most promising solutions is contextual audience targeting, and leading that charge is Seedtag, an advertising platform using AI to match ads with relevant content. Recently, I spoke with Brian Danzis, CEO of Seedtag North America, to discuss how the company’s contextual targeting works, its recent acquisition of Beachfront, and how they are bringing these capabilities to the growing Connected TV (CTV) space.
Here’s a summary of our conversation—watch the full video on YouTube.
Contents
Contextual Advertising: A Privacy-Friendly Alternative
As third-party cookies disappear, advertisers are losing a key tool for tracking and targeting consumers. According to Danzis, while cookie deprecation is a major factor driving the shift to contextual advertising, it’s not the only one. “There’s been a lot of talk, of course, of Google further delaying, or at least making some changes to their policy around cookie deprecation,” Danzis said. “But signal loss will continue as people choose browsers that don’t already have cookies built into them… as well as consumers taking more control over their privacy.”
Beyond privacy concerns, advertisers are seeking a more nuanced approach to audience targeting. “No longer can we put consumers into these broad buckets, which often rely on stereotypes,” Danzis explained. “Brands want to align with their values and their ethics and key cultural moments… truly what [the audience is] interested in in that moment.”
The Beachfront Acquisition: Expanding into CTV
Seedtag’s recent acquisition of Beachfront, a company with direct connections to dozens of premium publishers, marks a major expansion into CTV, one of the fastest-growing ad markets. “We’re really excited about Beachfront. It’s been about four months now that they’ve been part of the Seedtag family,” Danzis said. “CTV, of course, is one of the fastest-growing ad channels, not only in the U.S. but around the world.” Beachfront’s strong publisher relationships provide Seedtag with access to premium video inventory, allowing Seedtag to bring its precision-based targeting to CTV audiences.
How Seedtag’s Contextual Targeting Works
Seedtag’s approach to contextual targeting is built on AI that processes vast amounts of data in real time. “We use AI to create custom segments… Our AI is reading 60,000 articles a minute and finding all those URLs, all those categories, and delivering premium media,” Danzis shared. By leveraging natural language processing techniques, Seedtag’s AI can differentiate subtle nuances in topics and sentiments, allowing for highly precise ad placements.
For example, if a brand wants to target environmentally conscious consumers, the AI can “go find the content out there that precisely captures the meaning behind the words,” eliminating the waste associated with broader targeting methods, by minimizing ineffective ad placements.
Bringing Contextual Targeting to CTV
Applying contextual targeting to video presents unique challenges, especially in CTV environments where content isn’t as easily “read” as text. While Seedtag’s AI can perform visual analysis on the open web—classifying content based on frame-level data and object recognition—CTV requires different signals. “For CTV, we’re taking signals that we get from the publisher in the bid stream. We’re also getting ACR data from the manufacturers,” Danzis said (note: ACR is Automatic Content Recognition).
He illustrated this by discussing a popular show like The Bear, where each episode differs significantly in theme and tone. “You’re not necessarily gonna get that information in the bid stream or even the content description,” Danzis said. Instead, Seedtag’s AI analyzes online discussions around each episode, tagging relevant themes and storylines to provide more detailed targeting options for advertisers.
Measuring Success: Real-World Results
According to Danzis, Seedtag’s contextual advertising has already proven its effectiveness. In one case, they partnered with Omnicom Media Group in Saudi Arabia and ran a brand lift study using Lumen, which measured attention and brand recall. “We found a 3.5x increase in brand lift in that region,” Danzis shared (note: brand lift is similar to brand awareness).
Closer to home, Seedtag worked with a brand in the sustainability and innovation space to optimize ad placements and creatives. “We saw a 16% increase in attention and a 21% increase in viewer engagement,” Danzis said, adding that these results demonstrate the impact of precise contextual targeting.
Dynamic Advertising and Seedtag’s Approach
Seedtag incorporates dynamic creative optimization (DCO) into its contextual advertising strategy to deliver ads that match the environment and context of the content. Briefly, dynamic advertising refers to the ability to tailor ad content in real time based on various contextual or behavioral signals from the viewer. Instead of serving a static ad to all viewers, dynamic advertising adapts the creative elements—such as text, images, or even the entire message—based on the viewer’s preferences, behavior, or the content they are currently consuming. This approach increases relevance and engagement, providing a more personalized experience for the audience.
For example, Seedtag’s AI can adjust the background of a car advertisement to match the tone of the content being viewed. “If it’s family content, you might see a family-friendly setting in the background, like a neighborhood park,” Danzis explained. “But if the content is more adventure or action-oriented, the same car ad might feature a mountain or an off-road setting.” By modifying these creative elements dynamically, Seedtag ensures that ads are visually and contextually aligned with the viewer’s interests, making them more engaging.
By customizing ads to match content in real-time, Seedtag has seen marked improvements in attention and engagement. The ability to tailor creatives to the viewer’s environment, whether it’s through visuals or messaging, ensures that the ads resonate more deeply, leading to better results for advertisers and a more seamless experience for users.
Seedtag isn’t stopping with static CTV ads. Danzis shared that they are testing interactive and shoppable ads in a closed environment, with plans to roll them out soon. “We’re very bullish on the future of shoppable ads, interactive ads, ones that are engaging but not interruptive to the CTV experience,” he said.
Conclusion
As advertisers adapt to a world without third-party cookies, Seedtag is positioning itself as a leader in contextual advertising. Their AI-driven approach, combined with Beachfront’s premium CTV inventory, offers a powerful alternative to traditional targeting methods for video ads delivered on the web, mobile, and CTV. With strong early results and exciting new developments on the horizon, Seedtag’s solutions are becoming increasingly important for streaming media professionals looking to deliver relevant ads without compromising user experience or privacy.
For more insights, check out the full interview with Brian Danzis on YouTube, below.
