In a digital world that’s constantly evolving, few things are permanent — so when players demonstrate long-term commitment to their products, advertisers sit up and take notice.
Such was the case at the 2023 Ad Age Small Agency Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where attendees had the opportunity to hear Taboola and Yahoo discuss their unique 30-year strategic partnership in which Taboola will be the exclusive native advertising partner for all of Yahoo’s digital properties. James Arthur, VP of Global Strategic Accounts at Taboola, and Alia Lamborghini, Senior VP and Head of US Sales and Strategy at Yahoo, spoke with Ad Age Studio 30 editor John Dioso about how the partnership opens new opportunities for small agencies, and the critical role it will play in the constantly evolving digital media space.
At the 2023 Ad Age Small Agency Conference, John Dioso, Editor of Ad Age Studio 30 speaks with Alia Lamborghini, Senior VP and Head of US Sales and Strategy at Yahoo and James Arthur, VP of Global Strategic Accounts at Taboola for the “How the Yahoo and Taboola partnership opens up new opportunities for small agencies” fireside chat
More trusted access, more valuable ads
As we move into a cookieless world, where contextual content will have more value than ever, this critical partnership will provide advertisers with much greater access to native advertising on a global scale. It also shows both Taboola and Yahoo’s dedication to delivering a massive combined native advertising offering.
“I think (it) suggests a lot of trust on both sides and a lot of intention to continue to work together for a long, long time into the future and provide that for advertisers,” Lamborghini said. “It brings together two real native powerhouses in terms of reach from both sides and opportunity for any performance advertiser, and branding advertiser for that matter, to get access to this inventory.”
Taboola has always endeavored to be more than just a monetization partner, Arthur explained. As a result, their offerings, automation, and technology empower newsrooms to curate content for homepages — not just those belonging to properties like Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, but also Disney, NBCUniversal, The Weather Channel, and others. “The exciting thing about that is we end up having exclusive long-term relationships,” he added. Fixed placements on the page are hard-coded, and the only access is through Taboola.
“You’ve got native built into trusted publisher experiences, and it creates a great, efficient ecosystem for agencies to access users across the open web.” – Taboola’s James Arthur on the value of the Taboola-Yahoo partnership
A “one-stop shop” for reaching consumers with contextual content
In the era of walled gardens, many small agencies focus their attention on search and social sites. As Arthur noted, though, about 25% of user time on the web is actually spent outside of walled gardens. The challenge? That time is fragmented, spread out across thousands of publishers and countless ad tech players.
This leads to a similarly fragmented perspective on contextual advertising. But thanks to its partnership with Yahoo and other premium publishers, Taboola has become a “one-stop shop for access to basically all of the open web from a native perspective.”
Why is that important to agencies and advertisers? Native content resonates with users. “You’ve got native built into trusted publisher experiences, and it creates a great, efficient ecosystem for agencies to access users across the open web,” Arthur said.
Yahoo thinks of itself as a “community garden,” Lamborghini said, since it can track people within the confines of appropriate tracking mechanisms while also working with Taboola to provide access. In the future, she notes, 25% of impressions will be addressable, which means, “There needs to be a massive contextual play in order to be able to continue to target the way that we’ve all grown up targeting.”
“I think (it) suggests a lot of trust on both sides and a lot of intention to continue to work together for a long, long time into the future and provide that for advertisers.” Yahoo’s Alia Lamborghini (pictured above, center) on Taboola and Yahoo’s strategic partnership
Maintaining control in an evolving ecosystem
While, as Lamborghini pointed out, we’re currently in an “existential crisis moment in digital advertising,” digital media has long been in a state of flux. Privacy, identity, and use cases for AI are all huge challenges, but the industry now has access to “amazing data and insights” into the content people are consuming on the open web.
“I think our focus is on what we can control, where we have assets, where we bring value in the overall ecosystem,” Lamborghini said.
The enterprise integration of Yahoo properties into the Taboola network is a significant task, but it’s already underway, with testing occurring in international markets and a phased roll-out beginning in the US this fall.
Interested in learning more about Taboola’s partnership with Yahoo and how it stands to benefit your advertising clients? Contact us today.