A new artificial intelligence (AI) technology from Taboola aims to help news sites provide personalized content for visitors on their home pages as part of a strategic move by the company to help news and content sites compete with social media.
Taboola tested the new AI technology on five leading content sites, with the participating sites seeing a 30% to 50% spike in clicks on the sections of the homepage containing personalized content and increase page views generated by the home page by an average of about 10%.
News and content sites that work to produce reliable journalism are in constant competition with social media networks when it comes to the attention of internet users. Social media collects and uses the data of larger and larger audiences and uses this to provide incredibly personalized content to each user.
A report in September by the Pew Research Center found that just under half (48%) of US adults “often” or “sometimes” get news from social media, while 66% often or sometimes get news from news websites or apps.
Homepage For You, Taboola’s new technology, gives editors of news and content sites the tools they need to manage and strengthen the homepages of their sites.
Homepage For You allows editors to maintain strict control of their pages and matches the design of publishers’ pages with a flexible and dynamic integration. Any homepage placement can still be manually curated depending on the decision of the publisher, with the goal of finding the right balance between what publishers want to promote and what users want to see.
“With more than 89% of digital businesses investing in personalization, and social media platforms like TikTok using AI to engage younger audiences to discover videos, it’s clear that people love experiences made just for them,” said Adam Singolda, CEO of Taboola.
“If you open up a social media app, you are greeted with content you really want to see. For publishers, the most loyal readers are those who visit a homepage directly and look for editors to tell them what’s important for them to know,” added Singolda.
“Taboola should bring AI to every homepage in the world, and help drive reader loyalty. With our proven recommendation platform and AI, coupled with the rest of our publisher offerings, we are taking a truly holistic approach to drive faster and bigger growth to the open web, and our publisher partners.”
The new technology complements Taboola’s existing capabilities that include customization of other sections of the site. Such technologies include Taboola Newsroom, an AI-based tool that helps news sites streamline their editing decisions, increase readership and attract new subscribers by using insights gathered from the data of 500 million daily active users around the world.
“As more people rely on our network of properties for news, we want to ensure all readers get the best experience, relevant for them,” said Kristin Roberts, senior vice president of McClatchy’s news division, in a Taboola press release. “Coupling the vast expertise of our newsroom with a data-driven approach to personalizing our homepages, using Taboola’s advanced AI technology is going to be a game-changer for us.”
“Taboola has been a true strategic partner in helping us grow,” said Christian Broughton, managing director of The Independent. “There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to audience engagement, and Taboola’s ability to power key areas of our homepage and other sections of our site, their huge amounts of readership data that provide actionable insights and their valued partnership in working side-by-side with our own editorial team are the unique building blocks in our shared success.”
In a promotional video about the new technology, Broughton said that The Independent worked with Taboola’s team in Tel Aviv on implementing the AI system.
“When readers visit our homepage, they expect news that is interesting and catered to their interests,” said Mayara Souza, head of Product and Marketing at Estado de Minas. “Historically, we have used our editorial processes to decide this, but as we have grown, we have turned to Taboola’s technology as a key component to personalize the experience. By doing this, we’ve promoted increased readership and a better overall experience.”