TV’s sportsbook ad boom, and contextual targeting gets a boost: Datacenter Weekly

Contextual targeting gets a boost from better data science

“Contextual targeting has gained momentum amid steps by Apple and Google, among others, to hinder tracking individuals based on their online behavior,” writes Ad Age’s Jack Neff. “But increasingly that momentum is also coming from better data science, and to that end, Dentsu is launching a new Contextual Intelligence tool across its U.S. media agencies.”

Essential context:  “Contextual Intelligence, built around proprietary algorithms that use natural language processing and sentiment analysis to match brand targets with content, is rolling out across the company’s Carat, Dentsu X and iProspect agencies,” Neff adds. “The tool already has been used by five clients. And for one—luxury jewelry retailer Pandora—it drove return on investment 24 times greater than any other tactic tried in a test campaign around Valentine’s Day, according to Dentsu.”

Keep reading here.

The sports betting TV ad boom

TV advertising analytics firm iSpot.tv is out with new data regarding the advertising strategies of sportsbook brands—and it’s good news for the TV industry. Even though sports betting isn’t fully legal across the U.S.—30 states currently allow it, with five more in the pipeline—sportsbook marketers have been pouring money into national TV advertising.

Some key data points iSpot shared with Datacenter Weekly:

• Estimated national TV ad spend by sportsbook brands jumped 281% on a year-over-year basis (Sept. 1, 2021-May 31, 2022 vs. the same period a year prior), while TV ad impressions jumped 48.4%.

• FanDuel leads the way in terms of the share of TV ad impressions, followed by Caesars and DraftKings.

• Nearly three-quarters (74%) of sportsbook TV ad impressions over the period measured were delivered during the NFL season.

• The top five networks by share of sportsbook TV ad impressions over the period measured:

1. CBS (22.16%)
2. Fox (19.82%)
3. NBC (13.24%)
4. TNT (9.59%)
5. TBS (5.19%)

More details are available in iSpot’s (free) report, “Betting on TV Advertising: Sportsbook Brands Expand Reach and Resonance.”

Yahoo and Salesforce team up on post-cookie strategy

“Yahoo is bringing its ad ID into Salesforce’s marketing cloud in order to expand adoption of the advertising tool that is becoming a more sought-after option as cookies wither away online,” Ad Age’s Garett Sloane reports. Yahoo just announced that it will distribute “its ConnectID through Salesforce’s AppExchange, where advertisers could use it to match their ads with audiences on publishers’ websites.”

Essential context:  “Yahoo is developing its ID system as the backbone of its ad tech platform, which operates on the demand side, working with advertisers and the publishers that place programmatic ads,” Sloane notes. “Salesforce has been developing more ways to work with first-party IDs inside its widely used customer relationship management platform.”

Keep reading here.

The U.S. ad business cut jobs in May

Ad Age’s Bradley Johnson reports that employment in advertising, public relations and related services fell by 2,400 jobs in May, per the latest monthly employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Ad Age Datacenter is Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson and Joy R. Lee.

This week’s newsletter was compiled and written by Simon Dumenco.