In the future, we will have to completely forgo third-party cookies. Contextual targeting offers a good and proven approach to reach users in appropriate thematic contexts. The current advertising campaign for Cash.ch also demonstrates that contextual targeting works.

It does not always make sense to limit the reach of advertising through targeting. When marketing everyday items such as toothpaste, narrowing down the target group would be rather counter-productive – almost everyone brushes their teeth regularly and toothpaste advertising must aim to reach the masses. It’s a little different if a specific interest group is to be targeted instead. In our case, the advertising campaign for Cash.ch aimed to reach those interested in online trading.

Since 2020, we have run an annual trading campaign for Cash.ch. Part of the advertising campaign involves no targeting, whereas another part uses contextual targeting. Using customer-specific keywords provided by Cash.ch, the advertising was provided in the appropriate context. This year, the campaign ran from April to June 2022. A/B testing showed that the click-through rate (CTR) for advertising delivered with contextual targeting was twice as high (CTR of 0.171%) as when advertising was delivered without contextual targeting (CTR of 0.068%).

«We’re delighted with the campaign results. Once again, contextual advertising has proven to be a good alternative when third-party cookies cannot be used to target the right customers. We’re also happy with how long people who were reached using contextual targeting stayed on the linked website, averaging 5-7 minutes. The bounce rate was around 49%. That is also a good figure.»
Silvan Franchetto, Senior Brand & Project Manager / Vice President bei Cash

«We were able to reach the intended users with the campaign for Cash.ch and generate high-quality traffic to the Cash.ch website. When focusing on very specific topics such as online trading, using contextual targeting results in a successful campaign. It is also exciting: despite a lower number of ad impressions, we still achieved more clicks and a better click-through rate.»
Julia Imboden, Product Manager Digital bei Ringier Advertising

Study shows: contextual advertising is more accepted by users

A trend study* conducted by the industry association Online-Vermarkterkreis shows that advertising campaigns with contextual targeting are better received by users. This is particularly true for publishing websites.

Compared to advertising in a contextual environment, personalised advertising – based on first-party data for example – leads to users paying slightly more attention. However, advertising that is placed in a thematically appropriate environment offers a crucial advantage: greater user acceptance of the advertising shown. They perceive the advertising to be a meaningful addition to the website content and not an annoying secondary element that does not fit thematically with the rest of the content. 

*Source: OVK (January 2022). Online-Vertrauens-Kompass (Online Confidence Compass). Trend study – «Acceptance and perception of advertising on the internet».