Creating Contextual Cohorts

Overview

This guide walks you through creating a Contextual Cohort in the Permutive Dashboard. Contextual Cohorts enable you to target ads based on page content without processing user data.

Prerequisites:

Access to the Permutive Dashboard with cohort creation permissions
Contextual Cohorts enabled in your account
For Affinity Cohorts: Custom Cohorts created with sufficient consented user engagement data
Contextual API implemented on your website OR Permutive SDK deployed (the SDK can segment contextual cohorts automatically without direct API implementation)

Steps

Navigate to Contextual

In the Permutive Dashboard, go to Contextual and click + Add Cohort.

Name your cohort

Give your cohort a descriptive name and optional description.

Select a predicate type

Choose from:

Content Classifications: Use NLP-generated classifications
Page Properties: Use editorial tags or custom metadata
Affinity Cohort: Target content with high engagement from a specific Custom Cohort
Keyword Explorer: Get AI-powered keyword recommendations for interest-based targeting

Configure your targeting rules

Based on the predicate type (see sections below for detailed instructions).

Add additional conditions

Use +AND or +OR to add additional conditions and build complex logic.

Preview reach

Preview the estimated pageview reach (if available).

Save

Click Save to create the cohort.

Tip: While detailed names and descriptions are optional, providing clear, descriptive names and detailed descriptions will enhance your experience when using Permutive’s AI products. AI-powered features can better understand and recommend cohorts when they have meaningful context about their purpose and targeting logic.

Predicate Types

Show Using Content Classifications

Content Classifications allow you to target based on automated NLP analysis of your content.To use Content Classifications in a cohort:

Select Content Classifications as your predicate type
Select a Dimension Type:
- Categories: Topic classifications (requires taxonomy selection)
- Concepts: Key themes
- Entities: Named entities
- Keywords: Important terms
- Sentiment: Emotional tone
- Emotion: Specific emotions
For Categories, select the Taxonomy (e.g., IAB 2.0, IAB 3.0, BVDW)
Choose an Operator (e.g., “is”, “contains”)
Enter or select your target Value

Example: Target positive soccer content:

Dimension: Sentiment
Operator: is
Value: positive
AND Category (IAB 2.0): Sports > Soccer

Show Using Page Properties

Page Properties allow you to target based on editorial metadata and custom content attributes.To use Page Properties in a cohort:

Select Page Properties as your predicate type
Choose a property from the dropdown (e.g., client.section, client.author, custom properties)
Select an operator (e.g., “is”, “contains”, “is not”)
Enter the target value

Example: Target articles in the “Finance” section with a specific tag:

Property: client.section
Operator: is
Value: Finance
AND Property: client.tags
Operator: contains
Value: investment

Available Page PropertiesThe Page Properties dropdown includes custom Pageview properties you’ve defined and standard client properties. If you are implementing the Contextual API directly, you must pass these properties to the API for them to be available for targeting. If the SDK is making the call, it will automatically attach page properties.Note that enriched properties like ISP and Geo data are not available in Page Properties for Contextual Cohorts.

Show Using Affinity Cohorts

Affinity Cohorts enable you to target content that shows high engagement from a specific Custom Cohort.To use Affinity Cohorts:

Select Affinity Cohort as your predicate type
Choose a Custom Cohort from the dropdown
Select an Operator (e.g., “is greater than”)
Set an Affinity Score threshold

Example: Target content with 2x or greater engagement from “Sports Enthusiasts”:

Custom Cohort: Sports Enthusiasts
Operator: is greater than
Value: 200

Affinity Cohort RestrictionsYou can select any Custom Cohort built from first-party behavioral data. However, you cannot select:

Modeled cohorts
Standard cohorts
Cohorts using third-party data

Recommended Starting Threshold: We generally recommend starting with an affinity score threshold greater than 200 for a good balance of relevance and scale.

Combining Multiple Conditions

Contextual Cohorts support complex logic by combining multiple predicates:

Use +AND to require all conditions to be met
Use +OR to create alternative paths for targeting

Example: Target finance content OR content with high affinity to investors:

Content Classification: Categories (IAB 2.0) is “Finance”
OR Affinity Cohort: Investor Cohort is greater than 150

Example: Target positive sports articles about soccer:

Content Classification: Categories (IAB 2.0) is “Sports > Soccer”
AND Content Classification: Sentiment is “positive”
AND Page Properties: client.section is “Sports”

Next Steps

Using Keyword Explorer

Get AI-powered keyword recommendations

Back to Contextual Cohorts

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Guides

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Steps

​Predicate Types

​Combining Multiple Conditions

​Next Steps

Using Keyword Explorer

Back to Contextual Cohorts

Overview

Steps

Predicate Types

Combining Multiple Conditions

Next Steps