Taboola launches Predictive Audiences to boost ad targeting

Taboola has introduced Predictive Audiences, an enhancement to its Realize performance marketing platform, aimed at helping advertisers connect with more high-converting customers.

Predictive Audiences is designed to assist advertisers in discovering users with a higher propensity to take actions such as making purchases or signing up for services. According to Taboola, the new feature uses advertisers' first-party conversion data in combination with its proprietary datasets to generate AI-powered audience segments. These segments are then targeted across Taboola's publisher network to improve the efficiency of customer acquisition campaigns.

Since its introduction in limited availability in February, Taboola reports that weekly spending attributed to Predictive Audiences has tripled. Advertisers including The Motley Fool, QuinStreet, and NerdWallet are cited as benefiting from adopting the feature, noting conversion rate improvements of up to 270%, while some increased their spend on Taboola's Realize platform by nearly 40% year-on-year. These results, according to the company, have been achieved with minimal change to advertisers' cost per acquisition (CPA).

Realize, Taboola's performance-driven advertising platform, is described as the only independent service that extends beyond search and social channels to provide outcomes at scale. The addition of Predictive Audiences expands advertisers' access to display opportunities and other inventory across Taboola's network of publishers, mobile applications, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The platform's optimisation engine is powered by AI and leverages data from code-on-page integrations with partner publishers, providing distinct signals not available to other open web platforms for the purpose of ad placement and campaign optimisation.

Predictive Audiences categorises users into segments based on desired actions such as generating leads or completing purchases. Taboola's AI uses these segments to identify similar users throughout its network, aiming to scale targeting to those most likely to convert. The tool is intended to offer efficient targeting in a manner that is mindful of privacy, blending advertisers' own data with Taboola's internal datasets to refine marketing effectiveness.

Advertisers have the flexibility to adjust audience size in line with their campaign objectives. For example, they can opt to concentrate on the top-performing percentile of users for potentially higher conversion rates but with a more limited reach, or they can extend targeting more broadly to enhance reach even if it results in a lower conversion rate. This approach is presented as a means to strike an optimal balance between scale and campaign efficiency.

Ajay Bhatia, Marketing Manager for The Motley Fool, commented on the adoption of Predictive Audiences, stating: "By leveraging Predictive Audiences, we've unlocked a whole new audience while maintaining a strong CPA, driving meaningful improvements to our overall margin. Predictive Audiences have proven instrumental in refining our targeting strategy and maximizing our marketing efficiency. It's a must-have for any team looking to elevate their campaign performance."

The marketing team at QuinStreet highlighted the practical aspects of implementation, noting: "The ease of implementation and rapid scalability allowed us to see results almost immediately. Taboola has become a key partner in helping us reach the right users at the right time, all while maximizing efficiency and growth."

Sammy Linares, Performance Marketing Manager at NerdWallet, also remarked on the impact of Predictive Audiences: "Predictive Audiences have played a key role in improving our campaign efficiency and optimizing spend. By leveraging data-driven audience selection, Predictive Audiences have helped increase ROAS and CVRs, allowing for more precise targeting and better budget allocation. This approach has also supported scaling efforts, ultimately driving higher-quality leads and improved performance across our campaigns."

Commenting on the broader capabilities of Realize and the new Predictive Audiences feature, Adam Singolda, Chief Executive Officer at Taboola, said: "Realize leverages Taboola's core strengths — proprietary technology, unique data we have that others don't, and massive reach across the internet. With the addition of Predictive Audiences, we are giving advertisers yet another way to connect with consumers, those likely to take action, based on our unique AI and understanding of what drives action across our vast network."