Advertisers wanting to connect with consumers are no longer basing their targeting on parenting choices. That's the word from new Lotame data which found that parenting status is no longer in the top 5 for targeting options. Instead, marketers and brands are going for "Advanced Demographics" as their top targeting choice. This category now accounts for 23% of targeted advertising, and allows brands to key in on specific interests including pets, spoken language, and education level.

In a specific case - the Spanish language segment - advertisers increased their spend by about 98%.

"According to the U.S. Census, people of Hispanic origin are the largest ethnic or racial minority in the U.S.," said Evgeny Popov, Global Vice President, Data Solutions, Lotame. "This data demonstrates that marketers are looking to the future and starting to prioritize data to foster long-term relationships with a relevant, growing demographic of consumers."

Another big targeting area? B2B and even age, which saw an increase in spending of 11% YoY; breaking the Age category down, marketers increased their targeting of Millennials by 32% and 'young Gen X' by 29%.

"The purchasing power among Millennial audiences, in particular, is growing substantially," said Popov. "Many are aging into a new phase of adulthood and beginning to grow families. In fact, more than a million Millennials are becoming parents each year. We are seeing marketers target accordingly."

Other targeting areas that saw large increases in budget include "Animal Lovers" (451% increase in targeting) and certain auto models. Sports and foreign car targeting each increased their targeted spend more than 60%, but compact and mid-size auto targeted decreased their spend by at least 60%.

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