Paul Briggs, managing director EMEA at contextual intelligence platform Silverpush, takes a dive into contextual. He expands on why video is the funnel, how advertisers can navigate complex user journeys on YouTube, and how brands can use contextual solutions to regain visibility and control.

Video is increasingly viewed as a full-funnel performance driver rather than just a brand awareness tool, so how does a contextual approach effectively map and guide the customer journey from top-of-funnel discovery right down to conversion?

At Silverpush, we like to say that video is the funnel. More than 80% of internet traffic is now video. So video advertising has to be full-funnel, which means your ads have to be delivered not just where the ad is relevant but where the internet is relevant. 

Context is all about the moment – whether a customer is researching and comparing products on YouTube or about to click buy on Instagram – so your video ad has to be delivered at the moment where the audience will be most engaged. Contextual customer journeys should be designed based on the type of content being viewed, because the content reveals the intent, and contextual intelligence can identify the content of each video in real-time to match the ad with the stage of the viewer.  

YouTube remains a primary destination for video campaigns, but finding the perfect placement is crucial for relevance. How do you navigate complex user journeys within YouTube's ecosystem to ensure ads appear in the most impactful environments? 

When it comes to YouTube, we find that understanding the ecosystem is more important than understanding user data. Just because someone is watching a concert video doesn’t mean they fall into specific demographics, but it does mean they have a specific interest in music. The concert might also indicate a regional focus, other specific interests, and more. 

So to drive the best possible ad placement, it’s important to understand every different signal from the video inventory. By analyzing performance metrics, creator, channel, sentiment, comments, and other signals, contextual video advertising ensures that the ads are delivered at the best point in the user journey that will guarantee high engagement.  

Advertisers are increasingly frustrated with the lack of transparency associated with walled gardens and black-box algorithms. How can brands use contextual solutions to regain visibility and control over their video campaign placements? 

We like to say that context breaks the black boxes of walled gardens. That’s because, if you’ve built out contextual segments that are based more on content than identity, you can also get unique insights into what your audience is really watching and what gets them most engaged.  

When you have access to context-level insights from YouTube or TikTok or Meta, you can compare performance across media tactics like influencers, podcasts, video content, brand mentions, competitor mentions, and more. This is why context-level insights offer a new layer of measurement across walled gardens that can then be used to inform more efficient omni-channel planning. 

In a privacy-first landscape where tracking individuals is heavily restricted, answering "who's watching" is a major challenge. How does advanced contextual intelligence solve this to ensure campaigns reach the right demographics without relying on personal data? 

It’s our belief that context is the most effective way to reach your audience on the platform they are consuming content, especially when it comes to video. All you need is the right system to understand the context and semantics of the content itself. 

Rather than relying on limited views of demographics or identity, a context-first media plan starts with the most relevant content, not specific demographic data points. 

What are your key predictions for the industry, and for Silverpush, over the next 12 months? 

Most immediately: YouTube will be the destination for the World Cup 2026. Especially in Europe, where a lot of the games will be on very late in the evening. BBC and ITV are set to stream 5 matches in full on their YouTube channels as well as the first 10 mins of each game. We also see the rise in snackable content and expect this trend to really peak during the World Cup. 

We believe that context will become a new layer of activation and measurement across walled gardens, especially as the open web continues to transform with AI use and it becomes more difficult to connect different data points across the ecosystem. 

This means we’ll change from an audience-first understanding of ad campaigns to a content-first understanding. Because, at the end of the day, the intent of the viewer is more important than the identity of the viewer.