Outbrain vs. Taboola:
What’s best for your marketing needs?

In the fast-paced and ever-evolving world of digital marketing, native advertising continues to play a crucial role in allowing brands to engage with their audiences seamlessly. It blends promotional content with the organic user experience, driving engagement without feeling intrusive. Among the top contenders in the native advertising ecosystem, Outbrain and Taboola stand out as industry leaders. Both platforms offer extensive reach and robust targeting features, but with recent developments in the digital landscape, marketers need to reassess their options to stay ahead. Let’s dive into a fresh analysis to help you choose the best platform for your marketing needs.

Understanding Outbrain and Taboola

• Outbrain: Established in 2006, Outbrain has been at the forefront of content recommendation for over a decade. It allows brands to promote content across a vast network of premium publishers such as CNN, The Guardian, and BBC. Outbrain is heavily focused on driving high-quality traffic and emphasizes delivering a non-intrusive user experience by recommending content tailored to users' preferences.
• Taboola: Founded in 2007, Taboola similarly dominates the content recommendation space. It works with major publishers like NBC, USA Today, and Bloomberg. Taboola’s unique “discovery feed” format has positioned it as a powerhouse in native advertising, offering more opportunities for advertisers to capture user attention with a broader array of content formats beyond just traditional article recommendations.

Recent Trends and Key Differences: Content Discovery Approach

The battle between Outbrain and Taboola took a significant turn in 2021 when the two companies were expected to merge. However, the deal fell through, and since then, both companies have focused on refining their individual strategies.

• Outbrain: Focuses heavily on personalized content recommendations based on user behavior and browsing history. Their AI-driven algorithms are continually improving, allowing advertisers to connect with high-intent audiences in a non-disruptive manner. In 2023, Outbrain launched advanced creative tools and automation to help advertisers scale faster, making their platform increasingly attractive for performance-focused campaigns.
• Taboola: Taboola’s discovery feed allows it to take an even more immersive approach to content discovery. Instead of relying solely on in-article recommendations, their feed presents content to users as they scroll through articles, offering a broader array of interactive elements like video and carousel ads. This ability to blend different content types has enhanced Taboola’s engagement rates, especially for advertisers looking to push beyond static article recommendations.

Audience Targeting Capabilities: Expanded Insights in 2024

Both platforms have made strides in enhancing their audience targeting capabilities, but subtle differences remain.

• Outbrain: In 2023, Outbrain rolled out enhanced interest targeting, enabling brands to reach users based on nuanced behavioral data, such as past searches and article consumption. With the rise of cookieless tracking, Outbrain has also invested heavily in contextual targeting, allowing marketers to zero in on intent-based segments without relying on third-party cookies. Their retargeting options have become more powerful, helping advertisers boost repeat traffic and conversions.
• Taboola: Taboola excels in lookalike audience targeting and has fine-tuned its AI-driven algorithms to push audience discovery even further. In 2024, they introduced predictive targeting, which goes beyond current behaviors by forecasting future actions, enhancing advertisers’ ability to connect with users as they move through the consideration funnel. Additionally, Taboola’s contextual targeting has been a standout feature, especially in industries where privacy compliance is critical.

Campaign Optimization Tools: What’s New in 2024?

As native advertising becomes more complex, both platforms have upgraded their campaign optimization tools.

• Outbrain: Outbrain’s Amplify dashboard provides advertisers with comprehensive real-time metrics, making it easier to optimize campaigns on the go. Their A/B testing features allow for split testing of different creatives, headlines, and images to optimize performance. Additionally, Outbrain introduced a new Smartad optimization feature, which uses machine learning to continuously test and refine ads for improved engagement.
• Taboola: Taboola has always been known for its advanced analytics. Their 2023 updates introduced multi-variant testing, allowing marketers to test not only headlines and images but also different ad formats within the same campaign. Taboola Newsroom provides editorial teams with valuable insights on content performance, giving advertisers access to data that helps them refine their storytelling in real time. The platform’s new Bid Shading feature also allows advertisers to pay slightly below the maximum bid, helping them maintain competitive advantage while controlling costs.

Publisher Network and Reach: Expanded Global Access

• Outbrain: In 2024, Outbrain continues to expand its network, solidifying partnerships with high-traffic publishers across the globe. Their recent collaborations in Europe and Southeast Asia have extended their reach into new and lucrative markets, making Outbrain a global powerhouse for brands seeking diverse audiences across premium content sites.
• Taboola: Taboola’s publisher network remains vast and continues to grow, with a significant focus on video-based content and emerging markets. With a global push toward short-form and interactive video, Taboola’s partnerships with leading publishers in North America, Europe, and APAC regions position it as a strong choice for brands looking to reach consumers across various content formats.

Making the Choice: Outbrain or Taboola?

At Stringo Media, we recognize that choosing between Outbrain and Taboola depends on your unique marketing goals. Both platforms have evolved to offer enhanced capabilities for audience targeting, optimization, and global reach, making them indispensable tools in today’s native advertising strategies.

• When to Choose Outbrain: If your priority is generating high-quality traffic with a seamless user experience, Outbrain’s focus on premium publishers and content personalization makes it a compelling choice. Their advancements in AI-driven ad optimization can help brands scale effectively.
• When to Choose Taboola: If you want to capture users’ attention with diverse ad formats like video, carousel, and discovery feeds, Taboola’s innovative approach is hard to beat. Their predictive targeting and expansive reach across content types make them ideal for pushing user engagement and brand discovery.

At Stringo Media, we often recommend a combined approach—launching campaigns across both platforms to maximize reach and performance. Native advertising thrives on data, and by leveraging the strengths of both Outbrain and Taboola, we ensure your brand meets its marketing objectives.

Want to learn how we can tailor a native advertising strategy for your business? Fill out the form here to schedule a consultation.

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