Recommendation platform, Taboola, has launched a new AI-powered technology designed to assist publishers in navigating the changes impacting their referral traffic from search and social media.

The new technology, 'Taboola for Audience', combines AI-driven personalisation capabilities into a unified audience development platform, aiming to help publishers adapt to the evolving digital landscape.

The platform includes exclusive acquisition channels, reader experience personalisation, and actionable audience insights. It has reportedly driven nearly 10% more traffic to select publisher sites, positioning it as a top referral source after social media and search. Around 18,000 advertisers use Taboola to reach nearly 600 million daily active users.

CEO at Taboola, Adam Singolda, said: "Publishers are facing a new era in which sudden decisions by big tech and changes in consumer behaviour are making it harder to survive. Industry giants like Google are changing rules for search, making it harder for publishers to surface content through organic rankings while adding another barrier for site traffic, in the form of Generative AI search. Social platforms like Meta have closed dedicated ‘news’ portals from their apps. Today, publishers need the right technologies to adapt to these changes and to find, grow, and keep audiences. Taboola for Audience gives publishers a single solution, with AI built from years of our successful publisher relationships to thrive in this new era."

Taboola has long-term partnerships with some of the world's top digital properties, including Yahoo, CNBC, BBC, NBC News, Business Insider, The Independent, and El Mundo. These partnerships have been instrumental in driving audience engagement and growth.

Senior Managing VP, Chief Digital Officer at Gray Media, Mike Braun, said: "Delivering more personalised and relevant experiences across all of our sites is critical. With Taboola, we have been able to take a truly reader-first approach to personalise our sites, delivering more of what resonates with readers and thereby increasing engagement. Taboola’s audience technologies are allowing us to connect with readers in a more meaningful way."

CEO, The Independent, Christian Broughton, said: "Taboola has been a true strategic partner in helping us grow. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to audience engagement, and Taboola’s ability to power key areas of our homepage, recirculation from within articles, 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."