Contextual Advertising: How to Drive Brand Safety and Suitability in Media Environments

In this episode of Not Just ADZ, I am joined by Mario Diez, CEO of Peer39, a leading contextual intelligence platform. 

We take a closer look at the shifting dynamics of contextual advertising, brand safety, and brand suitability—and how these shifts are impacting both advertisers and media owners. 

We discuss why legacy brand safety approaches no longer work and shouldn’t apply to quality media brands and why page-level precision is becoming essential.

We get into the real challenges and opportunities facing the industry today:

• The often-overlooked distinction between brand safety and brand suitability—and why it’s more than just semantics.
• How contextual signals are evolving not only to address advertiser concerns, but also to strategically plan their campaigns across contexts that fit their brands’ goals.
• The unintended consequences of keyword blocking and how these outdated practices are undermining publishers.
• What media owners can do to stay competitive, work with advertisers and media agencies to overcome the keyword-blocking issues and avoid being labeled MFA (Made For Advertising) by aligning with advertiser priorities.

This discussion moves beyond theory to provide actionable insights. We explore how advertisers and quality media owners can collaborate to develop sophisticated, context-driven strategies that benefit both parties and leave behind blunt brand safety approaches. 

The video of the whole conversation is accessible to all free subscribers.