GumGum, a contextual-first, global digital advertising platform, announced a new, industry-wide Contextual Advertising Certification. The certification is intended to educate media planners and buyers on contextual advertising and GumGum offerings, as the leader in contextual intelligence. The announcement follows the company’s pilot certification program launched in the Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH) regions last year.

GumGum’s contextual certification program is a free, flexible, self-paced training and assessment that will empower individuals to navigate the complex contextual advertising landscape. The program is 30 minutes-long and covers the history of contextual advertising, contextual strategy, a look behind the lens on the technology that makes contextual intelligence possible and information on the Media Rating Council who manage measurement accreditation for the advertising industry.

“At GumGum, we don’t need to know who you are to serve a relevant, impactful ad because we know that the context of a digital environment alone serves as a proxy for intent,” said Erin McCallion, GumGum’s Global Chief Marketing Officer. “We’ve been iterating on our mindset-first contextual solution for over a decade. We’re really excited to continue to help educate the industry on what we’ve known for a long time: contextual is the ultimate targeting method for the future of digital advertising.”

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A recent report by Research and Markets projects that the contextual advertising market will reach $376.2 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 13.3%. Contextual intelligence is future proof because it does not rely on third-party cookies or personally identifiable information (PII). Google Chrome’s phase out of third-party cookies and ongoing global data privacy regulations will continue to grow the contextual intelligence industry. Contextual is compliant and accurate, and can be done at scale with advanced contextual intelligence that goes beyond metadata or keyword analysis.

An executive at Immediate Media Co who took the certification course stated, “Very insightful and shows how GumGum have pioneered the way for contextual. It’s an extremely powerful way for clients to utilize the benefits of strong content. Thanks for putting together an informative and compelling story of how the contextual landscape was formed and how it’s evolved over time.” Other leaders from agencies and brands such as Medicom, Matterkind and OMD have taken the course to inform advertising strategies and expand industry knowledge.

GumGum plans to offer additional digital advertising certification programs in the future through GumGum University, a free, on-demand learning resource designed to help anyone navigate the industry. Potential topics for future certification programs include CTV and in-game advertising. The certification is available in English at this time.

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