Usage of Context in Online Advertising

Last week’s Economist has an interesting article about call center software.

One trick, which can shave seconds off each call, is to take into account “context data”—such as the caller’s location, the local weather, the time of day and records of their recent transactions—when routing a call […] Context data may also include information gleaned from news reports. Storms, sporting events and transport strikes, for example, can affect callers’ moods and purchasing dispositions

I haven’t seen any good, successful examples of usage of “offline” semantic context data in online ads. Can the tone and manner of messaging be adjusted based on the weather? Should different sets of ads run depending on what’s on TV in that geographic location at that particular moment? I can imagine the combination of daypart targeting with deeper semantic data making a big difference in some situations.

Interesting to see the call center industry go through the same optimization hell as the online ad industry.