Business Breakdowns
Episode 27 Taboola: The Open Web’s Suggestion Engine
Business Breakdowns

Episode 27: Taboola: The Open Web’s Suggestion Engine

Business Breakdowns

Episode 27

Taboola: The Open Web’s Suggestion Engine

Adam Singolda is the founder and CEO of Taboola. We cover the ways in which Taboola’s value proposition for advertisers differs from that of Facebook and Google, unpack the reasons publishers choose to partner with Taboola, and dive into Adam’s vision for Taboola to recommend anything, anywhere.

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[00:02:48] - [First question] - What is Taboola? 

[00:03:35] - The scale of the business, revenue, impressions, and payouts to date

[00:05:18] - What problem Taboola solves for advertisers and their user experience

[00:07:22] - Comparing the advertising differences between Taboola and Facebook

[00:09:15] - Why a publisher would choose Taboola and what they solve for them

[00:11:06] - Reasons why advertising through Taboola is desirable

[00:14:41] - The founding insight and early struggles of building Taboola

[00:18:42] - Important metrics when evaluating their business and what generates revenue

[00:20:32] - What they offer to both sides of the marketplace to grow their business

[00:22:26] - Defining yield and how they position their rates

[00:25:38] - Things they do to improve the value proposition for clients

[00:29:29] - What allows Taboola to grow and remain competitive 

[00:30:37] - Prioritizing sales and marketing spend to ensure their long term success

[00:32:24] - Positive and negative factors in relation to scaling a business like this

[00:34:11] - Reasons why they wanted to merge with Outbrain

[00:35:16] - Their latest deal with Connexity and his thoughts on M&A for the future

[00:37:50] - The top things that would maximize their success over the next decade

[00:40:05] - Cookies, privacy, and the role they might play in years to come

[00:42:09] - The biggest threats and risks for the future of Taboola

[00:44:14] - The competitive landscape of advertising and content placement

[00:46:09] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Taboola’s story  

[00:47:47] - Where to go if you want to learn more about Taboola

Taboola: The Open Web’s Suggestion Engine

Introduction

Jesse
Today, we are breaking down Taboola, a company you may not know, but one you've definitely seen. When you read articles on CNBC, Bloomberg or The Independent, Taboola powers the sidebar and banner recommendations for what you should read next. The company works with publishers and advertisers to help readers discover what's new and interesting. Founded in 2007, Taboola recently went public and is now the leading recommendation engine for the open web. It serves over 500 million users a day. To break down Taboola, I'm joined by its founder and CEO, Adam Singolda. During our conversation, we cover the ways in which Taboola's value prop differs from Facebook and Google, unpack the advertising concepts of Yield and Tack, and dive into Adam's vision for Taboola, recommending anything anywhere. Please enjoy this business breakdown of Taboola.

Taboola's Size and Scale

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