Content recommendation platform Taboola has bought the New York-based ConvertMedia in an undisclosed cash and stock deal, alleged at nearly $100 million, adding some serious weight to the competition in video ad tech.
ConvertMedia’s expertise lies in outstream video ads, tending to appear in-line with the content of an article and only playing when the user has scrolled them into view.
So far the format enjoys a reputation for attracting premium publishers, designed to be more aesthetic, naturally-interactive and able to function more seamlessly between devices. A war of words centers around the companies advocating these formats and those serving pre and post-roll video ad placements, as seen on sites like YouTube.
Synonymous with “you may also like” related content ad placements at the foot of articles, Taboola had offered its own video ad inventory before the deal, but that required users to leave the page in order to view it.
SSP rivalry
The acquisition sees Taboola on an even keel with rival video supply-side platforms (SSPs) including Teads, Freewheel, Tremor Video and AppNexus among others, as the format sees a strong reception among consumers.
Late last year, Facebook pinned a 51.7% Q4 year-on-year leap in revenue to advertiser spend on video ads. The social network can now be considered a heavyweight competitor for Taboola, along with the likes of YouTube and Snapchat.
Taboola’s CEO, Adam Singolda, claims that his group currently reaches over a billion people a month, and serves over 1.5 billion content recommendations every day, which it can now harness to posture against the giants.
“We project that together we’ll stream over one billion videos a day and operate on the same scale as YouTube, Snapchat and Facebook,” he added.