By 2029, digital channels will account for 75 per cent of total ad spending in MENA’s advertising market.
Navigating these fast-evolving platforms is getting increasingly challenging. Privacy regulations and widespread user opt-outs have resulted in a global average of 50 per cent to 60 per cent of internet users being unreachable with third-party cookies.
As we enter 2025, this number is only expected to grow, further diminishing the effectiveness of third-party-dependent strategies that our industry has long relied on. This shift underscores the importance of adopting privacy-first, sustainable targeting approaches to ensure long-term success.
The revolution in contextual AI understanding
AI has reached a point where machines can understand human language with a level of sophistication previously exclusive to humans. Embedding technology, a key AI breakthrough, has brought a revolution in computing linguistics and opened up new commercial opportunities.
Not only does advanced contextual AI pose an effective replacement for traditional cookie-based targeting, but it has also come to be more precise and relevant, reaching users in the right sentiment when they are most likely to engage with ads.
In 2025, strategic marketers will embrace sophisticated AI systems that deliver a more refined contextual analysis, focusing on the complete context of consumer interests rather than isolated data points.
From isolated data points to multi-dimensional insights
Many brands still rely on a flat targeting approach and only consider separate data points of user demographics or behaviour. But human interests are multi-dimensional. By bringing together the complete context of consumer interests, brands can analyse vast amounts of content across a multidimensional space.
Advanced contextual AI goes beyond isolated data points, integrating a nuanced understanding of consumer behaviour across channels, customising models to suit specific needs, and moving beyond traditional cookie-based targeting to deliver more relevant ads. Thanks to innovations in embedding technology, brands can get a personalised map that understands how words, ideas, and content relate to each other.
Between 2022 and 2030, global contextual ad spend is projected to grow by 13.8 per cent per year, demonstrating the rising demand for advanced AI solutions in digital advertising.
These solutions enable you to move from a flat map of targeting opportunities to a multidimensional globe—discovering unconventional audience insights previously invisible in traditional targeting that drive higher engagement.
Proven attention-grabbing powers
In 2024, Seedtag partnered with global media agency Omnicom Media Group (OMG) and attention measurement company Lumen Research for a groundbreaking, industry-first study on ad attention and recall in Arabic-speaking markets.
A key finding of the study was that Seedtag’s Arabic formats enhanced by contextual AI generated around 3.5x more attention per 1,000 rendered impressions than standard IAB Arabic formats. This highlights the attention-grabbing power of advanced contextual AI in reaching consumers in the right moment, at the right time.
How to get ahead of the prediction
Challenge your targeting assumptions: how many dimensions are you really considering? Test and measure campaigns that leverage multidimensional contextual understanding over traditional, cookie-based targeting signals.
Partner with technology companies that can leverage contextual AI to identify unconventional content affinities that resonate with your dynamic and modern consumer.
By Sherry Mansour, Managing Director at Seedtag MENA
