Privacy & Tech

How does contextual advertising differ from behavioural advertising?

Contextual advertising selects ads based on the content someone is currently viewing. Behavioural advertising selects ads using information about their observed or inferred interests, characteristics and activities.

Aspect	Contextual advertising	Behavioural advertising
Selection basis	The subject of the current page or content.	Information about the person’s behaviour or interests.
Example	A hiking-equipment ad beside a walking-route guide.	A hiking-equipment ad based on previous browsing activity.
Visitor profiles	Does not inherently require an individual profile.	Typically relies on profiling.
Cross-site activity	Not necessary for contextual selection.	May use cross-site tracking to build or enrich profiles.

Contextual advertising can reduce reliance on personal information, but ad delivery and measurement may still involve tracking pixels or other identifiers. The targeting method and the supporting technologies should therefore be assessed separately.

The ICO’s guidance on online advertising explains that using storage or access technologies for advertising requires consent under UK PECR, including when the ads are contextual.

A website’s cookie consent controls should reflect the technologies actually deployed. Choosing contextual ads alone does not establish that associated tracking can run without permission.