Taboola, known for its native advertising network, has launched Realize, a new platform aimed at performance advertisers looking beyond search and social media. This marks a shift in Taboola’s strategy, moving beyond its traditional ‘bottom of article’ ad placements to a broader digital advertising space.

Expanding the performance advertising market

Realize is designed to help advertisers achieve better results by leveraging Taboola’s AI-driven data and ad inventory across publishers, apps, and OEMs such as NBC News, Yahoo, Xiaomi, and Samsung. The platform allows brands to tap into display ads and high-visibility placements beyond Taboola’s native ad network, improving performance marketing outcomes.

Taboola estimates that $55 billion is spent annually on performance advertising, but much of it suffers from diminishing returns. With $30 billion reportedly underperforming on social media due to audience saturation and rising costs, Taboola aims to provide an alternative that offers better ROI.

How Realize works

The platform relies on AI-powered ad optimisation and Taboola’s first-party publisher data, enabling advertisers to run performance-based campaigns across trusted publishers. Realize also allows advertisers to use the same creative assets from social media and display ads, making it easier to scale campaigns.

Key features include:

New ad placements beyond native ads, expanding reach on publisher sites, apps, and OEM devices.

AI-driven optimisation using data from publisher integrations to improve ad performance.

Creative flexibility, allowing advertisers to repurpose existing social and display ad assets.

Industry adoption

Brands such as Babbel and eToro have already begun using Realize. Julie Hansen, CRO & US CEO at Babbel, stated that the platform enhances advertising reach and ROI by offering more ways to engage customers. Nir Szmulewicz, CMO of eToro, highlighted Taboola’s long-standing role in customer acquisition and sees Realize as a way to drive even better results.

Advertising executives from agencies like Quigley-Simpson and Eversana also expressed optimism, emphasising the platform’s ability to combine AI, audience engagement, and large-scale ad placements.

Taboola’s vision

Adam Singolda, CEO of Taboola, compared this launch to Amazon’s early expansion from books to e-commerce, calling it an “Amazon moment” for Taboola. “Advertisers have relied on search and social media because there were no alternatives,” he said. “Realize is changing that.”

With this move, Taboola is positioning itself as a comprehensive performance advertising solution, helping advertisers go beyond traditional platforms to achieve better outcomes.