In-image programmatic:

The internet is a visually driven medium, which makes it somewhat surprising that a large proportion of contextual advertising still relies on the written words. Ads are generally placed in accordance with what the words say rather than with what the images suggest.

One organisation that’s looking to change this is Gumgum. Founded in 2008 by Ophir Tanz, the company has invested heavily in artificial intelligence technology that allows for the placement of ads alongside contextually relevant imagery.

The tech behind Gumgum scans billions of images across the net to determine when the right time, right creative and right placement are to deliver ads on top of those images.

Through this, an image of a woman running can, for instance, be accompanied by the latest pair of Adidas Kicks. And this is only the start, with Gumgum also extending its tech into the sports broadcasting.

“We have already developed a new application of the solution by using the technology to capture the true value of sports sponsorships across broadcast, streaming and social and by calculating how much they are actually worth in real-time,” a Gumgum spokesperson says. “We see this type of technology making further headways in other industries too as AI is applied more and more to business operations and in marketing.”

On the publisher side, this tech presents the opportunity for monetising another section of their offering, while advertisers get to tap into the visual aspect of the digital experience (Acquire Online is already taking advantage of this in the local market).

As with all programmatic advertising, there is a risk of brand safety in terms of ads appearing on questionable images or sites.

However, in several interviews, Tanz has assured advertisers that the company only works with a verified whitelist of advertisers that meet specific guidelines.

The wait is now on to see which local publishers dip into the opportunity offered by this evolving form of advertising.