Analysis for 'taboola'

  • Small Screens, Big Profits: How to Achieve Success in Mobile Video [VIDEO]

    At our recent VideoNuze Online Video Ad Summit, we had a great session focused on succeeding with mobile video which included Chris Carey (Head of Sales, Strategy and Business Development, Verizon Digital Media Services), Amy Mbagwu (Head of Branding Sales, Taboola), Jeremy Sigel (Global SVP of Content and Innovation, Essence), with Keith Grossman (Global Chief Revenue Officer, Bloomberg Media, moderating.

    The session explored user behavior in mobile, why scale and premium content matter most to ad buyers, the role of brand safety, how mobile contrasts with OTT delivery, cross-device IDs, the impact of social media / walled gardens, how to use data effectively in mobile and much more.

    Watch the session video now!

     
  • LAST CHANCE to Register for Tomorrow's Video Ad Summit

    Tomorrow is the 8th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit in NYC. So if you've been on the fence about whether to attend, this is your last chance!

    The Video Ad Summit program includes over 40 speakers from Bloomberg Media, Bonnier, Dentsu Aegis, Disney ABC Digital, Ellation, ESPN, Essence, FOX, Group Nine Media, Havas, Hulu, IAB, Initiative, Meredith, Microsoft, NBCUniversal, Newsy, Pluto TV, Publicis, Roku, Vevo and many others to network with and learn from.

    Our keynote guest is CBS’s EVP, Digital Sales and Sales Strategy David Lawenda, who will be interviewed by Mike Shields, Advertising Editor at Business Insider on how CBS is creating new brand value and revenue streams through its numerous digital initiatives.

    Reminder that as a bonus, all paid registrants are included in the drawing to win a 55-inch 4K Roku TV.

    Many thanks to our 11 sponsors, including Premier partners Extreme Reach and Verizon Digital Media Services; Headline partners 4C, AppNexus, Beachfront Media, Operative and Taboola; and Branding partners Brightcove, Cedato, Gamut Media and Roku.

    Join us by registering now!

     
  • Network With and Learn from Industry Colleagues at Video Ad Summit on June 12th

    Our 8th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit is fast approaching on Tuesday, June 12th in NYC. The Video Ad Summit program includes over 40 speakers from Bloomberg Media, Bonnier, Dentsu Aegis, Disney ABC Digital, Ellation, ESPN, Essence, FOX, Group Nine Media, Havas, Hulu, IAB, Initiative, Meredith, Microsoft, NBCUniversal, Newsy, Pluto TV, Publicis, Roku, Vevo and many others to network with and learn from.

    Our keynote guest is CBS’s EVP, Digital Sales and Sales Strategy David Lawenda, who will be interviewed by Mike Shields, Advertising Editor at Business Insider on how CBS is creating new brand value and revenue streams through its numerous digital initiatives. For more info about other sessions, see the In Focus series of posts here, here, here and here.

    Reminder that as a bonus, all paid registrants are included in the drawing to win a 55-inch 4K Roku TV.

    Many thanks to our 11 sponsors, including Premier partners Extreme Reach and Verizon Digital Media Services; Headline partners 4C, AppNexus, Beachfront Media, Operative and Taboola; and Branding partners Brightcove, Cedato, Gamut Media and Roku. 

    Learn more and register now!
     

     
  • LAST DAY to Save $100 on Video Ad Summit and Double Your Chances of Winning a 55-inch 4K Roku TV

    Today is the LAST day to save $100 on registration for the 8th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit on Tuesday, June 12th in NYC. Reminder that as a bonus, all early bird registrants double their chances of winning a 55-inch 4K Roku TV.*

    The Video Ad Summit program includes over 40 speakers from Bloomberg Media, Bonnier, Dentsu Aegis, Disney ABC Digital, Ellation, ESPN, Essence, FOX, Group Nine Media, Havas, Hulu, IAB, Initiative, Meredith, Microsoft, NBCUniversal, Newsy, Pluto TV, Publicis, Roku, Vevo and many others.

    Our keynote guest is CBS’s EVP, Digital Sales and Sales Strategy David Lawenda, who will be interviewed by Mike Shields, Advertising Editor at Business Insider on how CBS is creating new brand value and revenue streams through its numerous digital initiatives.

    As always, the Video Ad Summit will be a premier day of learning and networking for industry professionals.

    Many thanks to our 10 sponsors, including Premier partners Extreme Reach and Verizon Digital Media Services; Headline partners 4C, AppNexus, Beachfront Media, Operative and Taboola; and Branding partners Brightcove, Cedato and Roku. 

    Don’t miss out - learn more and register now!

    (*Early bird registrants get 2 entries for the Roku TV drawing.)


     

     
  • Save $100 on 8th Annual VideoNuze Online Video Ad Summit and Win a 55-Inch Roku TV

    You can save $100 now on registration for the 8th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit on Tuesday, June 12th at the Westin Times Square in NYC. On top of saving $100, you also double your chances* of winning a 55-inch Roku TV, generously provided by Roku.

    The Video Ad Summit is the premier event of the year for anyone in the industry seeking insights and data about online video advertising and how it’s converging with traditional TV advertising, mobile and connected TV advertising and the broader digital landscape. The program includes a compelling mix of keynotes, panel discussions and research presentations covering the hottest topics in the industry. Detailed program info will be posted soon.



    Last year's Video Ad Summit drew over 400 attendees and 50+ executive speakers. The 2018 Video Ad Summit will once again be a must-attend event.

    I'm grateful to the 10 industry-leading companies on board as initial sponsors, including Premier Partners Extreme Reach and Verizon Digital Media Services; Headline Partners 4C, AppNexus, Beachfront Media, Operative and Taboola and Branding Partners Brightcove, Cedato and Roku.

    If you'd like to learn more about speaking and sponsorship opportunities, please contact me.

    Learn more and register now!

    (*Early bird registrants get 2 entries for the Roku TV drawing.)

     
  • Taboola Reimagines Publishers’ Mobile Sites as Feed Experiences Loaded With Video

    Content discovery platform Taboola is taking a page from social networks, introducing a new format called “Taboola Feed,” which is a continuous scrolling feed of content that appears at the end of publisher’s article pages. Publishers can customize the feeds using “cards” that can contain either their own or third-party content (see video demo below).

    Adam Singolda, CEO and founder of Taboola, told me that moving to the feed approach is an acknowledgement that social networks have optimized how the mobile user experience should work, and that the publishers’ current approach to loading their pages with multiple widgets is broken. With a feed that follows the end of an article, publisher create a familiar environment that in turn improves the likelihood that users will stay engaged.

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  • Taboola Acquires ConvertMedia, An Outstream Video Ad Provider, to Fuel Video Recommendations

    Taboola, a large content recommendation platform, has acquired ConvertMedia, an outstream video ad provider with $50 million in annual run rate revenue and roots in display advertising. Taboola’s thumbnail recommendations at the end of text articles are found widely on major online publishers’ sites. The company provides 14-15 billion of these recommendations on a daily basis to over 1 billion unique users per month.

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  • The True Cost of Ad Blockers for Users and Publishers

    There is a tragedy of the commons brewing in the online ecosystem. While online consumers dislike online ads enough to deploy ad blockers at an exponential rate, the vast majority of publishers rely on ads to bring content to these same users for free. If ad blocking software adoption continues to grow, what will the true cost be for each party?

    We all get it - ads can detract from the user's experience. Tivo and DVRs gave television viewers a way to circumvent advertising through "ad zapping." As consumer behaviors shift to online, ad blockers have now given internet users a similar option. They simply stop requests to specified ad servers or restrict certain page elements from loading onto sites. Unless an ad meets certain criteria or the publisher pays for their site to be "whitelisted," the ad is blocked from the end-user.  This includes pre-roll, mid-rolls, interstitials and any ads that are deemed non-static.

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  • Taboola is On a $100 Million Run Rate, Expanding Beyond Video Recommendations Roots

    Content recommendation provider Taboola, which I've been tracking since its early days, is now on a $100 million annual revenue run rate, according to co-founder and CEO Adam Singolda, whom I spoke to yesterday. It's the first time Taboola has revealed its revenue profile, and Adam also said the company has also been cash flow positive for several months.

    Taboola got its start helping content providers generate more video views on their sites by analyzing their own videos and the sites' users' behaviors and then adding a strip of recommended videos to help recirculate traffic. It then expanded by providing those recommendations to an ever-growing publisher network. In December, 2011, it applied the same underlying predictive technology to article recommendations and also began distributing these through its network. Adam said there are now over 1 million articles and videos, which are recommended 3 billion times/day.

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  • Taboola Choice Allows Users to Filter Unwanted Video Recommendations

    Taboola, which now serves 3 billion video and article recommendations per day across a wide network of publisher sites, is unveiling "Taboola Choice" this morning. Taboola Choice allows users to proactively filter out unwanted video and article recommendations, so that these will not be seen on any publisher sites which are subsequently visited. By adding this feedback loop, Taboola's recommendations become more precise over time, resulting in a better user experience and more efficiency for both content providers and publishers.

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  • Poll Shows Strong Interest in Building Video Audiences Through Paid Recommendations

    Taboola and Kaltura have released the results of a poll taken during a recent webinar they conducted, in which attendees (content publishers and advertisers) were asked about their interest in using paid recommendations/native advertising to build their video viewership. The poll found that while 27% currently use paid recommendations/native advertising, 95% said they would "consider switching from  marketing their videos using traditional advertising to paid recommendations/native advertising in the next few years."

    (Note a couple of caveats here: the sample size was just 34 respondents, so the results are more directional than statistically significant. Also the webinar itself was focused on content recommendations, so presumably those attending were already interested in the topic.)

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  • IRIS.TV Intros SmartStreaming to Drive Higher Video Views

    IRIS.TV is officially launching its SmartStreaming product to help content providers drive more video views per viewer. SmartStreaming plugs into online video platforms so they can offer their content customers thumbs up/down and skip buttons in their video players, giving viewers more control over their video experiences. As they engage with these buttons, SmartStreaming learns their preferences and presents subsequent recommended videos.

    The first OVPs that have integrated SmartStreaming are Brightcove, Kaltura and Unicorn Media. Field Garthwaite, CEO told me in a briefing that SmartStreaming is also compatible with thePlatform and JW Player from LongTail Video.

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  • Taboola Raises $15 Million Series D Round

    Taboola has raised another $15 million, led by Pitango VC, bringing its total to date to $40 million. The Series D financing comes just 9 months after raising its last round of $10 million. Taboola will use the new funds for continued international expansion and product development. CEO and founder Adam Singolda told me the company has 70 employees currently and plans to double in size by the end of 2013.

    Taboola's roots are in providing recommendations for content providers to better promote their own video within their sites and also for third-party video to gain wider, targeted distribution. Over the past year Taboola has also leveraged its underlying EngageRank recommendations technology to quietly begin distributing article recommendations as well (I noticed these last month on WSJ.com).

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  • Taboola Raises $10 Million Series C Round, Doubles Monthly Users

    Video recommendations provider Taboola has announced a $10 million Series C financing this morning led by Marker LLC. With the new round, total capital raised to date is $24 million. Proceeds will be used for international expansion and product development.

    Taboola's EngageRank now delivers 500 million recommendations per day to 130 million monthly users for publishers such as WSJ, NY Times, CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, USA Today and others. Monthly users have doubled since last November, when Taboola had 64 million users in the U.S. User growth likely reflects increased penetration with U.S. publishers, and also international growth in countries such as Germany (where Taboola recently announced a deal with OMS, a consortium of 30 newspapers), England, Israel, Brazil, France and Poland.

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  • Taboola's Video Recommendation Widget Reaching Over 64 Million U.S. Unique Users Per Month

    Taboola's video recommendation widget is now placed on pages of content publisher web sites reaching over 64 million U.S. unique users per month, according to Quantcast data. Adam Singolda, Taboola's CEO explained that the 64 million amount means Taboola's exposure is ahead of the uniques at popular sites like Bing, Pandora and CNET, and just behind Twitter, Wikipedia and Amazon, again, according to Quantcast data (see chart below).

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  • Over $236 Million Raised in Q3 '11 By Private Online/Mobile Video Companies

    Private online and mobile video companies raised at least $236.5 million in Q3 '11, the largest amount since Q2 '10 when $247 million was raised. It's also a huge rebound from Q2 '11's $84 million which was the lowest in the past 2 years. I've compiled the total from numerous sources I track and as always, it is possible that I missed some news during the quarter. If so, please let me know and I'll update the list.

    As detailed below, the $236.5 million was raised by 20 companies, with 2 additional financings undisclosed (ClipSync and Ooyala). Of the $236.5 million, 62%, or $147 million, flowed to just 5 companies, Tango ($42M), Tremor Video ($37M), Thought Equity Motion ($25M), Vidyo ($22.5M) and Zenverge ($20.5M). All of these were later stage rounds in companies that had previously raised substantial sums.

    As I always like to add in these roundups, too much shouldn't be read into one quarter's data as financings close when they do - a few days one way or the other and quarters can look very different.

    Still, the number and breadth of the financings across the online and mobile video value chain - from chips to monetization - is solid evidence that investors remain bullish on video's potential. This should continue as video usage increases, devices proliferate and advertisers accelerate their spending.

    In addition to the financings, there was also significant M&A activity and public financings in Q3, which are noted below.

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  • Investors Stay Bullish On Video As Vidyo and Visible Measures Raise New Rounds

    Investors continue to be bullish on video-related companies, with news this morning of two more significant financings: Vidyo, an HD video telepresence provider has raised a $22.5 million Series D round (for a total of $97 million since inception), and Visible Measures, a social video advertising and analytics provider, has raised a $13 million Series D round (for a total of $45 million to date). The Vidyo financing was led by QuestMark Partners and the Visible Measures round by DAG Ventures and new strategic partner Advance Publications, parent of Conde Nast and other magazines. Each company's existing investors participated their financings as well.

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  • VEVO President/CEO Rio Caraeff to Speak at ELEVATE; Early Bird Discount Expires This Friday

    I'm pleased to share that Rio Caraeff, President and CEO of VEVO, the leading online music video destination, will be speaking at ELEVATE: Online Video Advertising Summit on Tuesday, June 7th in NYC. Rio joins a morning panel titled "Content Publishers Crack the Code on Video Success" along with Kevin Krim (Global Head of Bloomberg Web Properties), Doug Knopper (Co-Founder and Co-CEO, FreeWheel), Adam Singolda (CEO and Founder, Taboola) and a moderator TBD.

    I'm especially pleased to welcome Rio to the list of all-star speakers at ELEVATE because VEVO epitomized how a strong concept for an online video destination, executed well, can generate successful results. VEVO, which was only officially launched 18 months ago, garnered over 52 million unique visitors in March, 2011 according to comScore, making it the 5th-highest rated video site. VEVO has strong relationships with major record labels from which it sources its music video library. YouTube is also a key technology and distribution partner. VEVO has apps for the iPhone and Android, and also recently announced an expansion into the U.K. market.

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  • ELEVATE Conference Gains Momentum With New Speakers, Sessions and Partners

    Our ELEVATE: Online Video Advertising Summit, coming up on Tuesday, June 7th in NYC, is continuing to gain significant momentum and I'm pleased to share new speakers, sessions and partners today.

    We've added a new morning session, "Content Publishers Crack the Code on Video Success," in which we'll hear from leading publishers and technologists about how their video initiatives are becoming increasingly sophisticated, particularly with regard to discovery, recommendations and advanced monetization. The panel includes:

    - Kevin Krim - Global Head of Bloomberg Web Properties
    - Doug Knopper - Co-Founder and Co-CEO, FreeWheel
    - Adam Singolda - CEO and Founder, Taboola
    - David Eun - Former President of AOL Media and Studios (moderator)

    We've also added an afternoon session, "Making Ad-Supported, Independently-Produced Video Profitable" in which we'll focus on how a new breed of video content producers are mastering the art of creating video specifically for the web - and making it profitable. This session includes:

    - Raj Amin - CEO and Co-Founder, HealthiNation
    - Ron Bloom - Chairman and Co-Founder, MEVIO
    - Joanne Bradford - Chief Revenue Officer, Demand Media
    (and a moderator TBD)

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  • Last Chance for Free NAB Show Pass

    Last chance to grab a free exhibits pass for the NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 11-13. There will be a lot of high-value learning and networking around online and mobile video. I'll be involved in activities on both Monday and Tuesday.

    On Monday morning I'll be moderating a Super Session at 10:30am, "Connected TV: Smart Devices, New Strategies," which will feature Richard Buchanan (VP/GM, Content Operations, Comcast Media Center), Wilfred Martis (GM, Retail CE Products, Digital Home, Intel Corp), Susan Panico (Senior Director, PlayStation Network, Sony Computer Entertainment America), Jack Perry (Founder and CEO, Syncbak) and Paul Wehrley (co-founder and COO, Clicker). Connected TVs and devices are red-hot, and we will discuss their implications on the traditional TV ecosystem, how consumers are using them and what's ahead.

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  • Upcoming NAB Show Offers Lots of Great Online Video Learning

    If you haven't signed up to attend this year's NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 11-13, I encourage you to do so. There will be a lot of high-value learning and networking around online and mobile video. And NAB Show has graciously offered a FREE exhibits pass (a $150 savings). I'll be involved in activities on both Monday and Tuesday.

    On Monday morning I'll be moderating a Super Session at 10:30am, "Connected TV: Smart Devices, New Strategies," which will feature Richard Buchanan (VP/GM, Content Operations, Comcast Media Center), Wilfred Martis (GM, Retail CE Products, Digital Home, Intel Corp), Susan Panico (Senior Director, PlayStation Network, Sony Computer Entertainment America), Jack Perry (Founder and CEO, Syncbak) and Paul Wehrley (co-founder and COO, Clicker). Connected TVs and devices are red-hot, and we will discuss their implications on the traditional TV ecosystem, how consumers are using them and what's ahead.

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  • Join Me At The NAB Show For Great Online Video Sessions

    Please mark your calendars to join me at this year's NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 11-13, where there will be tons of great education and networking around online and mobile video.

    On Monday morning I'll be moderating a Super Session at 10:30am, "Connected TV: Smart Devices, New Strategies," which will feature Richard Buchanan (VP/GM, Content Operations, Comcast Media Center), Peter Dille (SVP, Marketing, Sony Computer Entertainment America), Jim Lanzone (CEO, Clicker), Wilfred Martis (GM, Retail CE Products, Digital Home, Intel Corp) and Jack Perry (Founder and CEO, Syncbak). We will explore all angles of the connected TV wave: what content/apps are popular, how they're impacting the market, what's ahead for adoption, and more.

    Then on Tuesday, I'm hosting a full day of back-to-back sessions in the "Broadband Pit," a special area of the show floor devoted to broadband and mobile education and networking. Executives from the following companies will present on these topics, followed by audience Q&A:

    FreeWheel - "Best Practices in Profiting from Professional Content"

    Digitalsmiths - "Connecting Consumers to Content Through Video Metadata"

    Microsoft - "An Overview of Microsoft's Media Technologies"

    Signiant - "Protecting Media Assets in the Digital Age"

    Akamai - "Content, Consumers, Complexity and the Cloud"

    ActiveVideo Networks - "iVOD: Using Intelligence in the Cloud to Drive Next-Generation, On-Demand Navigation"

    Taboola - "Too Much Information = No Information At All. Video Discovery."

    Encoding.com - "Vid.ly - The Universal Video URL Platform. One Video, All Formats."

    Combined, the companies will offer a 360-degree perspective on many of the key issues in the online video ecosystem today. It promises to be an exciting day of learning. Of course, beyond the activities I'm involved in, there are many other sessions, exhibits, panels and networking.

    Click here for a FREE exhibit pass ($150 savings) which will allow access to the Broadband Pit session. To attend the Super Session (and other sessions), check out other NAB Show package prices.

    Feel free to email me if you have any questions (wrichmondATvideonuze.com)
     
  • Men's Health Magazine is Now Using Taboola for Video Recommendations

    Men's Health magazine, owned by Rodale, has begun implementing Taboola's Video2Video product to power video recommendations on its web site. Currently Taboola recommendations appear on the Men's Health home page in the featured area, when a video is played through to the end (see below). Taboola recommendations also appear on embedded videos in articles. As I've written previously, with Taboola's high-quality recommendations, video view-throughs and overall views increase, leading to improved monetization.

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  • USAToday.com Implements Taboola's Video Recommendations

    USAToday.com has begun implementing video recommendations engine Taboola to power videos on all of its News pages. I confirmed with Taboola's CEO and founder Adam Singolda that USAToday.com is using the company's "Text2Video" product on its news pages currently and that a fuller rollout is planned, though he wouldn't provide further details.

    With the Text2Video product, Taboola analyzes web pages and uses its proprietary text algorithms to understand the content of those pages. This data is combined with cookies to gain insight into users' interests. Videos are then recommended based on this information using Taboola's EngageRank video solution.

    This is the 3rd big recent publisher win for Taboola, following both NYTimes.com and Bloomberg (additional customers include Demand Media, Revision3, Kiplingers and others). What's distinctive about the USAToday.com implementation is that the video recommendations are given the most prominent placement yet (see below), at the top of the right column with 3 thumbnails exposed. That's highly valuable page real estate, and it shows the confidence the USA Today team must have not only in the quality/relevance of the recommended videos, but also in their ability to deliver superior monetization.

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  • Taboola Is Providing Video Recommendations For NYTimes.com

    Taboola's EngageRank video recommendation technology has been officially adopted by the NYTimes.com, following a successful 8-month trial. NYTimes.com has implemented Taboola's recommendations in a section called "Other Videos You May Like" as thumbnails below the main player window and when the video ends. Taboola's CEO and founder Adam Singolda told me that based on A/B testing vs. other recommendations technologies, Taboola was found to drive 250% higher video views. Last week I met up with Adam and Lior Golan, who runs product and technology at the company and was in from Israel where he's based.

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  • Bloomberg is Now Using Taboola's Video Recommendations

    Browsing the web last week, I noticed that Bloomberg.com is now incorporating videos throughout its site from Taboola, the video recommendations engine. If you click on any article on the site, in the lower part of the right column you'll see several thumbnails of recommended videos (here's an example from an article today about Motorola's earnings). When you click any video you're then brought to a playback page, which has additional recommended videos (see below).  


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  • Taboola Aims to Crack Video Recommendations Nut

    For Internet-based content, recommendations have to be one of the toughest nuts to crack. There are just so many variables in play - analyzing and characterizing the initial piece of content consumed, building a large enough database of content to match it against, understanding individual user's peculiarities, presenting results in a meaningful way, etc. Still, effective recommendations are powerful because they enhance the user's experience, increase consumption and drive more ad inventory.

    One company trying to crack the recommendations nut for video content is Israel-based Taboola. I recently caught up with their CEO/founder Adam Singolda to learn more about their approach and progress. The company's ViDiscovery system analyzes both the content provider's video and its users' behaviors. The combination of the two then drives Taboola's recommendations, which can be presented in a number of different formats depending on the content provider's preferences.

    You can see several examples of the recommendations in action. At CNN.com, a little tab in the bottom left of the video window prompts for "Videos Like This" which in turn opens a horizontal scroll bar with recommended videos. In some cases the recommendation work very well, matching specific news stories with one another. But in other cases the experience was mixed. For example, when watching a video about the "Zooz Beat" music app the first recommended video was an update about Hurricane Gustav from August '08 and the second was about a refinery workers' strike in the U.K. Hmm, if there's a correlation between the three videos, I'm not sure I see it.

    Still, Taboola's team has an impressive pedigree and has raised $6M to date, plenty for a small team to continue refining its algorithms and results. The company's primary model is ad-based, with it receiving a revenue share for incremental video viewing that it drives. That kind of success-based approach will endear it to resource-constrained content providers eager to generate additional usage and revenues without extra expense. It's easy to implement Taboola by just adding a line of code to the player or web site.

    High-quality recommendations are not easy to pull off, but if Taboola can get its system really humming with demonstrable case studies of success it could gain very quick traction.

    What do you think? Post a comment now.

     
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