GumGum

Overview

GumGum is a contextual advertising technology company specializing in in-image, in-screen, and in-article ad placements. Unlike behavioral advertising platforms, GumGum's core differentiator is computer vision-based contextual targeting: its technology analyzes the images and text on a page to infer contextual relevance, then serves ads that match the page content rather than the user's browsing history. GumGum primarily serves publishers seeking to monetize ad inventory and is a member of the IAB and a registered vendor on the IAB TCF Vendor List.

What This Script Does

Contextual Analysis

• Scans page text and image content using GumGum's contextual intelligence engine (Verity) to classify the page topic and sentiment
• Determines contextual targeting segments (e.g., "sports", "technology", "finance") without building individual user behavioral profiles
• Content analysis requests are made to GumGum's classification endpoints

Ad Unit Rendering

• Renders in-image ad overlays on editorial photographs on the page
• Renders in-screen (viewable) ad units that appear as visitors scroll
• Renders in-article ad placements between paragraphs in long-form content
• Ad creative assets loaded from GumGum CDN at g2.gumgum.com and participating DSP delivery URLs

Script Files and CDN Domains

• Primary tag: https://js.gumgum.com/gumgum.js
• Ad serving: g2.gumgum.com, sac.gumgum.com
• Impression and click tracking: beacon.gumgum.com

Cookies Set

• gg_tk — GumGum's user token for frequency capping and basic ad delivery; first-party context or third-party depending on integration; persistent, ~1 year
• gg_session — session-scoped ad delivery identifier
• DSP sync pixels: GumGum may fire cookie sync pixels to participating demand-side platforms, creating cross-domain identifier mappings even in a contextual-only campaign context
• IAB TCF purposes: Purpose 1 (Store and/or access information on a device), Purpose 2 (Basic ads), Purpose 7 (Measure ad performance)

Impression and Conversion Tracking

• Fires impression beacons to beacon.gumgum.com when ad units enter the viewport
• Records click events and click-through destinations
• Sends viewability metrics (time in view, % visible) to GumGum's reporting infrastructure

Consent & Compliance

Consent category: Marketing

Despite GumGum's emphasis on contextual rather than behavioral targeting, its ad delivery infrastructure still sets cookies for frequency capping, fires impression tracking pixels, and may execute cookie sync operations with third-party DSPs. Under the ePrivacy Directive, any storage of or access to information on a user's device for advertising purposes requires prior consent — the contextual nature of the targeting does not exempt the cookie storage. GumGum participates in the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF v2.x) as a registered vendor, reflecting the consensus that consent is required. Under GDPR Article 6 and the ePrivacy Directive, GumGum must obtain TCF consent for Purposes 1, 2, and 7 before loading.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Yes. GumGum scripts serve advertisements and set cookies for ad delivery, frequency capping, and measurement. Even with contextual targeting, the ad-serving infrastructure requires ePrivacy consent. Block until the visitor grants consent for advertising/marketing cookies (IAB TCF Purpose 1 at minimum).