After offering its contextual targeting tool for advertisers, DV rolled out a separate contextual targeting solution marketed toward publishers in 2021, with a press release touting the solution’s potential to raise CPMs, decrease data costs and increase scale. IAS has said on its earnings calls that its Context Control product results in higher CPMs.

Larger publishers who have invested in developing and selling contextual targeting units have more to lose if buyers begin to favor the scale inherent in these firms’ contextual solutions.

A media buyer source said that direct deals with large publishers are always the first choice, but solutions like those offered by IAS and DV have a place for buying context at scale across the open web.

Smaller publishers, by contrast, might benefit from working with a third-party ad-tech firm for their contextual targeting, Spears said, but the parameters of the relationship need to be contractually regulated.

Whether ad-tech-led contextual targeting is a net positive for small publishers, some may feel they don’t have the knowledge or choice to take a stand against it.

“Am I going to lose money because the advertiser on the other end [say]s we only spend money on the Integrated Ad Sciences’ [tool]?” said Brian Warner, founder of site CelebrityNetWorth.com.