One Israeli company out, another Israeli company in. AOL
AOL partners with Israel's Taboola
American Internet giant signs agreement with Israeli startup for integration of recommended video content on group's websites, replacing deal with another Israeli company
American Internet giant AOL has signed an agreement with Israeli startup company Taboola for the integration of recommended video content on the group's websites.
Outbrain and Taboola are active in a similar field: Recommendations for content appearing on websites. On news websites, for example, there are links at the bottom of stories leading to other articles which may interest the readers. These links are selected through advanced algorithms developed by the companies.
Meanwhile, AOL has given up on the services of Taboola's archrival, Israeli company Outbrain, Yedioth Ahronoth has learned.
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Outbrain is a more veteran company with more experience in the field, and its customers include TIME, CNN and Reuters. Taboola is smaller, and the new agreement with AOL is an important step for the company.
As part of the agreement, AOL Group's content websites, like The Huffington Post, will present recommend videos to their readers at the bottom of stories, which will be selected using Taboola's technology.
AOL initially turned to Outbrain with the cooperation proposal, but was turned down. According to the AOL-Outbrain deal, the companies were slated to cooperate since early 2011, but until now AOL has not acted on the agreement.
