HolesInTheNet, which announced last week that it will integrate Taboola’s content-recommendation system. Until now, the company has operated in Israel primarily on English-language websites, such as "Globes", and on video content, such as Calcalist TV. As reported in “Globes,” Taboola has decided to enter additional markets, and to install its content-recommendation system in foreign-language websites, including Arabic. In recent weeks, Taboola representatives have held meetings with executives at leading Israeli websites, hoping to convince them to ditch Outbrain in favor of Taboola’s content-recommendation system.
Taboola’s re-entry into the Israeli market, which is expected to be reinforced with dedicated salespeople, has put Taboola’s competitor Outbrain in its crosshairs, where some signs of stress have become apparent.
Senior figures at Israeli websites recently told “Globes” that Outbrain is well aware of Taboola’s renewed efforts to focus on Israel, and has attempted to match terms and make attractive offers in order to keep its big clients loyal. It appears, however, that Outbrain was unsuccessful in convincing Walla! and HolesInTheNet to maintain their loyalty.
A senior industry source told “Globes” two weeks ago, “The fact that there are two companies in Israel competing for the market will do only good. The websites will make more money from this competition.” The same source believes that the local market is growing each year, and that in 2014 had between NIS 30 million and NIS 40 million in advertising revenue through Outbrain’s system.
The two companies’ business models are based primarily on the same, simple, pay-per-click (PPC) principle, embedded in the content-recommendation system. Thus, a content website presents a number of content recommendations at the bottom of an article - some internal, and at least one external. The external recommendation can be for a different content website, or for content piece from an advertiser, or a brand. These third parties pay the content-recommendation company for the traffic that reaches their websites, and the income is divided between the content-recommendation company and the content website that made the referral to the third-party.
At the end of the day, the primary decision-making factor for any such website in considering whether to switch content-recommendation providers or stay with the existing one, is money. Offers may vary in the minimum monthly revenue commitment that the companies offer the websites, or in the revenue distribution between the company and the website.
Walla! CEO Ilan Yeshua praised the process and said, “We are happy about the cooperation with Taboola, and this is part of the company’s strategy to strengthen its content and to establish our position as the leading news website in Israel. More than a million people read Walla! content each day, and Taboola’s products will help to make the content accessible in a smarter, and more comfortable manner.”
Taboola CEO Adam Singolda added, “Using our platform, Walla’s many users will be able to discover content they like, which they did not know existed.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 25, 2015
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