Many years ago I met Grant Whitmore, who then was the executive vice president of digital for the New York Daily News. Grant is now executive vice president and general manager, northeast region at Tribune Publishing, which acquired NYDN, as well as a dear friend.
A lot has changed for both of us, but one thing is always consistent: our mutual commitment to making our partnership first and foremost focused on product and innovation, something I always appreciate when it comes to working with Grant and his team.
NYDN was actually the first publisher to test and implement Taboola Feed when we came up with the concept of transforming the open web from “widgets” to a consistent UX that brings various experiences and formats in a personalized, non-intrusive way for consumers.
Taboola Feed serves sponsored content, video, and organic recirculation in a continuous feed of ‘cards’ that appear below articles, similar to social feeds, providing engaging and brand-safe experiences.
Now I’m excited to announce that Tribune will launch Taboola Feed exclusively across all of their digital properties, including incredible brands such as the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, and the Orlando Sentinel.
Grant explained to me their decision to implement the Taboola Feed:
“Balancing sustainable revenue streams with high-quality user experiences is the cornerstone of today’s digital media industry.
The Taboola Feed achieved significant results for New York Daily News, and we are looking forward to bringing similar success across all of our properties. We appreciate the innovation that Taboola has brought to our audiences and look forward to continuing this partnership together.”
Investing in user experience is key for publisher and advertiser success.
Taboola Feed is already approximately 30 percent of our business at Taboola and growing faster than anything we’ve ever done. In the end—I believe this touches a fundamental challenge and opportunity on the open web, which is how can we make the open web feel relevant and beautiful for consumers, something people want to stick around on and not “click back” to go to whatever they did before.
I think there is an incredible “moment of next” that happens when people finish reading an article, and that moment is where as a company we focus, enabling users to discover things they may like and never knew existed, exploring more content and video at that special moment.
I believe strongly in our efforts to support local and national journalism, which continues to play such a crucial role in our daily lives.
By leveraging discovery and personalization technology, we can boost the value of every user’s visit and encourage users to stay on publishers’ websites and discover more content that they may be interested in consuming next.