Overview
Standard Contextual Cohorts are ready-made contextual audience segments based on standardized content taxonomies like the IAB Content Taxonomy 2.0. Unlike custom Contextual Cohorts which publishers must build themselves, Standard Contextual Cohorts are automatically generated based on your enabled content classification provider (such as IBM Watson). Standard Contextual Cohorts provide a consistent, standardized set of contextual categories across all publishers, making it easier for advertisers to target similar contextual segments across multiple publisher properties. These cohorts operate entirely on page-level data without processing user information, requiring no user consent.Why Use Standard Contextual Cohorts?
Reduce operational overhead — Standard Contextual Cohorts eliminate the need to manually build and maintain hundreds of contextual segments. Once you enable a classification provider, you automatically receive a suite of ready-made cohorts aligned to industry-standard taxonomies that are automatically maintained and updated. Enable advertiser demand through standardization — By using industry-standard taxonomies like IAB Content 2.0, Standard Contextual Cohorts make it easier for advertisers to target consistent contextual categories across multiple publishers. This standardization is essential for programmatic demand and features like Google Publisher Provided Signals (PPS). Integrate with Google PPS — Standard Contextual Cohorts can be mapped to Google Publisher Provided Signals (PPS), enabling publishers to expose first-party contextual signals to demand platforms via Google AdX. This allows buyers to bid more intelligently on contextually-enriched inventory in the open auction.Concepts
Definitions
- IAB Content Taxonomy: A standardized classification system developed by the Interactive Advertising Bureau for categorizing web content. The IAB Content Taxonomy 2.0 contains approximately 1,500 categories. Permutive uses version 2.0 because it aligns with the output from IBM Watson Natural Language Understanding.
- Content Classification Provider: An NLP (Natural Language Processing) service like IBM Watson that analyzes page content and categorizes it according to a standardized taxonomy. The classification provider must be enabled in your workspace for Standard Contextual Cohorts to be generated.
- Publisher Provided Signals (PPS): A Google Ad Manager feature that allows publishers to pass first-party contextual signals into the Ad Exchange auction. Standard Contextual Cohorts can be mapped to PPS to enable programmatic buyers to target these standardized contextual categories.
Workflows
Enabling Standard Contextual Cohorts
Standard Contextual Cohorts are automatically generated when you enable a content classification provider in your workspace. The cohorts are created based on the taxonomy used by your classification provider (typically IAB Content Taxonomy 2.0 for IBM Watson).Viewing and Managing Standard Contextual Cohorts
All Standard Contextual Cohorts appear in the Contextual section of the Permutive Dashboard alongside your custom Contextual Cohorts. They are automatically labeled or identified as standard cohorts. The cohort list shows the cohort name, corresponding taxonomy category, and activation status.Mapping to Google Publisher Provided Signals (PPS)
To use Standard Contextual Cohorts with Google PPS, Permutive generates a CSV mapping file that connects your cohort codes to the Google PPS taxonomy. This file is then uploaded to Google Ad Manager to enable PPS targeting.Guides
Step-by-step instructions for working with Standard Contextual Cohorts.Enabling Standard Contextual Cohorts
Enable a content classification provider to generate Standard Contextual Cohorts
Activating Standard Contextual Cohorts
Activate Standard Contextual Cohorts to ad servers and SSPs
Setting Up Google PPS
Generate PPS mapping files and upload to Google Ad Manager
Troubleshooting
No Standard Contextual Cohorts appearing
No Standard Contextual Cohorts appearing
Cause: You don’t have a content classification provider enabled, or the provider hasn’t classified enough content yet.Solution:
- Navigate to Contextual > Catalog and enable a classification provider (e.g., IBM Watson)
- Ensure the provider has API credentials configured
- Allow time for content to be classified (typically a few hours after enabling)
- Contact your Customer Success Manager if Standard Contextual Cohorts don’t appear after 24 hours
PPS mapping file generation fails
PPS mapping file generation fails
Cause: The mapping tool may not be able to access your Google Ad Manager key-value targeting or there’s a mismatch between activated cohorts and GAM configuration.Solution:
- Ensure Standard Contextual Cohorts are activated to Google Ad Manager
- Verify GAM integration credentials are valid and have appropriate permissions
- Check that the
prmtvctxkey exists in your GAM key-value targeting - Contact Technical Services for assistance with mapping generation
Some categories rejected by Google PPS
Some categories rejected by Google PPS
Cause: Google filters out certain sensitive categories that are not permitted in Publisher Provided Signals, including topics like war/conflicts, medical health, religion, and politics.Solution:
- This is expected behavior—Google automatically excludes sensitive categories from PPS
- The mapping tool should automatically filter these categories
- Refer to Google’s PPS documentation for the complete list of restricted categories
Environment Compatibility
Standard Contextual Cohorts functionality is supported on the following platforms:| Functionality | Web | iOS | Android | CTV | API Direct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cohort generation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Varies | No |
| Content classification | Yes | Yes | Yes | Varies | No |
| Cohort activation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Varies | No |
Dependencies
Standard Contextual Cohorts rely on the following products and features:| Dependency | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Content Classification | ✓ | A content classification provider (e.g., IBM Watson) must be enabled in your workspace. Standard Contextual Cohorts are generated from the provider’s taxonomy output. |
| Contextual API | ~ | Standard Contextual Cohorts can work through the Permutive SDK without direct API implementation, just like regular Contextual Cohorts. |
| Contextual Cohorts Add-on | ✓ | Your contract must include the Contextual Cohorts add-on, which enables both custom and standard contextual cohorts. |
| Google Ad Manager | ~ | Required only if using Publisher Provided Signals (PPS). You must have GAM with AdX enabled and appropriate API access configured. |
Limits
| Feature | Limit |
|---|---|
| Standard cohorts per taxonomy | ~1,500 (IAB Content 2.0) |
| Active classification providers | 1 primary provider |
FAQ
What's the difference between Standard Contextual Cohorts and Standard Cohorts?
What's the difference between Standard Contextual Cohorts and Standard Cohorts?
Standard Cohorts are behavioral audience segments that track user engagement over time (e.g., “users who viewed 3+ sports articles in the past 30 days”). They require user consent because they process user-level data.Standard Contextual Cohorts are page-level segments that classify content based on standardized taxonomies without tracking users. They require no consent and target content rather than users (e.g., “this page is about sports”).
What's the difference between Standard Contextual Cohorts and custom Contextual Cohorts?
What's the difference between Standard Contextual Cohorts and custom Contextual Cohorts?
Custom Contextual Cohorts are publisher-defined segments that you build manually using the Contextual Cohort builder, selecting specific categories, keywords, or affinity thresholds.Standard Contextual Cohorts are automatically generated for every category in your classification provider’s taxonomy (e.g., all ~1,500 IAB Content 2.0 categories). You don’t build them—they’re created automatically when you enable a classification provider.
Do I need to activate each Standard Contextual Cohort individually?
Do I need to activate each Standard Contextual Cohort individually?
Yes. Standard Contextual Cohorts are activated individually, just like other cohorts. Navigate into the cohort and enable the relevant activation destinations.
How do I measure the impact of PPS?
How do I measure the impact of PPS?
In Google Ad Manager, you can run PPS lift reports that compare PPS-tagged inventory against an open AdX baseline. Calculate the eCPM delta between these two groups to measure incremental value.
What taxonomy does Permutive use for Standard Contextual Cohorts?
What taxonomy does Permutive use for Standard Contextual Cohorts?
Permutive uses the IAB Content Taxonomy 2.0 for Standard Contextual Cohorts when IBM Watson is the classification provider. Version 2.0 is used because it aligns with Watson’s native output, eliminating the need for additional taxonomy translation.
Do Standard Contextual Cohorts count toward my cohort limit?
Do Standard Contextual Cohorts count toward my cohort limit?
This depends on your contract. In some cases, Standard Contextual Cohorts may be excluded from cohort count limits because they are auto-generated. Contact your Customer Success Manager for details.
Changelog
2025
May 2025- Standard Contextual Cohorts released to general availability
- Integration with Google Publisher Provided Signals (PPS)
For detailed changelog information, visit our
Changelog.