New Study Finds 76% of Advertisers See Performance Gains from Agentic AI; 86% Would Allocate Up to a Quarter of Advertising Budget to the Open Web with the Right Agentic AI Solution
Rhea-AI Summary
Taboola (Nasdaq: TBLA) released a new study on agentic AI in performance marketing, showing strong advertiser results on search and social and rising demand on the open web.
76% of advertisers report meaningful performance uplift from AI-powered solutions, but mainly in walled gardens. 80% would immediately increase open-web spend if comparable agentic AI existed, and 86% would allocate up to a quarter of their performance budget there.
The research finds workflow integration is the top challenge, especially for large advertisers: only 9% of those spending $300K–$499K per month cite integration as a barrier versus 74% of those spending $1M–$4.9M per month.
Taboola recently introduced Realize+, an agentic AI solution using its supply, first-party data, and AI to reallocate spend in real time and automate creative and targeting, now available in beta.
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News Market Reaction – TBLA
In the May 12 session, TBLA gained 0.58%, reflecting a mild positive market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Previous AI Reports
| Date | Event | Sentiment | 24h Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23 | AI product launch | Positive | -2.1% | Launch of Realize+ agentic AI system and opening platform to Claude Skills. |
| Apr 14 | AI customer win | Positive | +0.9% | HuffPost UK adopts DeeperDive AI answer engine to boost engagement and ads. |
| Apr 08 | AI scale milestone | Positive | +2.7% | DeeperDive reaches nearly 7M MAUs and over 10M monthly questions. |
| Feb 05 | AI customer win | Positive | -2.9% | Reach chooses DeeperDive GenAI engine across key news properties. |
| Jan 28 | AI performance study | Positive | -0.5% | Large study shows AI-generated ads match human creative on engagement. |
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
AI-tagged news for TBLA has produced mixed reactions, with an average move of -0.38% and more downside divergences than upside follow-through despite generally positive AI product and adoption updates.
Recent AI-related releases show Taboola steadily deepening its AI stack and adoption. Since Jan 28, 2026, it has highlighted a large AI ad effectiveness study, multiple publisher wins for its DeeperDive Gen AI answer engine, and scale milestones like nearly 7 million monthly active users. On Apr 23, 2026, it launched Realize+, an agentic AI system for performance marketing. Today’s study on advertiser demand and budget willingness for agentic AI aligns with this ongoing AI expansion story.
Key Terms
agentic ai technical
walled gardens technical
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decision engine technical
beta technical
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
NEW YORK, May 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Taboola (Nasdaq: TBLA), a global leader in delivering performance at scale for advertisers, today announced new research highlighting growing advertiser adoption of AI-powered solutions and increasing interest in applying these capabilities beyond walled gardens.
While agentic AI has driven strong performance gains in search and social, marketers are increasingly focused on unlocking incremental growth beyond those channels—especially in environments that can offer similar AI-powered automation. The new study, titled, “The Agentic Advantage in Performance Marketing: Securing Incremental Growth Beyond Search and Social” explores how advertisers are approaching performance in an increasingly AI-driven landscape.
Key insights from the research include:
- Agentic AI is delivering performance advertising wins, but the benefits are confined to the walled gardens. A significant
76% of advertisers are already seeing meaningful performance uplift from AI-powered solutions, primarily on search and social platforms. - Performance advertisers feel trapped with Agentic AI on search and social. The vast majority (
80% ) state they would immediately increase their ad spend on the open web if comparable agentic solutions existed, with86% willing to allocate up to a quarter of their performance budget to the shift. - The biggest advertisers are struggling the most with agentic AI. The number one challenge for advertisers adopting agentic AI is integrating it into existing workflows, but the struggle is disproportionately felt by large advertisers. Only
9% of advertisers spending$300 K–$499 K per month cite integration as a barrier, compared to a large74% of companies spending$1M –$4.9M per month who call it the dominant roadblock.
“Advertisers of all sizes are leaning into agentic advertising, and the results are following. Our research shows a clear demand for advertisers that want the same "always-on," AI-driven performance they see in walled gardens applied to the open web, however,” said Adam Singolda, CEO of Taboola. “They are looking for autonomous systems that learn continuously, pivot in real time, and turn every impression into a measurable outcome.”
In April 2026, Taboola announced Realize+, an agentic solution that uses its supply, first-party data, and AI to scale performance through a Decision Engine that reallocates spend in real time and an Element Generator that automates creative and targeting. The company has now rolled out the Realize+ beta to help advertisers drive outcomes at scale.
About Taboola
Taboola empowers businesses to grow through performance advertising technology that goes beyond search and social and delivers measurable outcomes at scale.
Taboola works with thousands of businesses who advertise directly on Realize, Taboola’s powerful ad platform, reaching approximately 600M daily active users across some of the best publishers in the world. Publishers like NBC News, Yahoo, and OEMs such as Samsung, Xiaomi and others use Taboola’s technology to grow audience and revenue, enabling Realize to offer unique data, specialized algorithms, and unmatched scale.
Disclaimer – Forward-Looking Statements
Taboola (the “Company”) may, in this communication, make certain statements that are not historical facts and relate to analysis or other information which are based on forecasts or future or results. Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding future prospects, product development and business strategies. Words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “believes,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means for identifying such statements. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there are risks that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. You should understand that a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements, including the risks set forth in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 under Part 1, Item 1A “Risk Factors” and our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
*Study methodology: Survey of 200 senior performance marketers at large advertisers and agencies representing organizations with monthly budgets of
Contact: dave.s@taboola.com