StepLeader Partners with Taboola, Reports Mobile App Monetization Growth 200% Over Mobile Display Banners

NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2013 – Taboola, the world’s leading content distribution and discovery platform, announces the launch of its mobile API today, an innovative product that empowers publishers to quickly integrate Taboola in native mobile environments, resulting in immediate revenue. By making available an extension of its discovery engine in the form of an API, released earlier this year, publisher partners are able to render Taboola’s content recommendations in non-desktop environments, including native apps, mobile websites, and connected TVs.

Taboola and StepLeader, an industry leader in mobile app development and mobile advertising for local media jointly announce integration of this API into more than one hundred mobile apps to help publishers capitalize on the growing mobile trend.  The result is the first native app deployment of Taboola across both Android and iOS platforms

The collaboration places Taboola’s content recommendations into native mobile apps by top publishers such as Fox Television Stations, Capitol Broadcasting Company, ComCorp USA, Cowles California Media, News-Press Gazette, Midwest Television and Titan TV Broadcast Group.

Veterans of traditional display advertising in apps, StepLeader sought new ways to increase the value of their apps while still adding value to the end user.  The sponsored content recommendations from Taboola deliver on both, exceeding mobile banner CPMs by over 200 percent and CTRs by over 400 percent.

“We are constantly searching for the best way to generate exciting monetization opportunities for our partners, and bridge the gap between mobile audience growth and mobile revenue,” said Matthew Davis, Director of Product Marketing at StepLeader. “Taboola has successfully delivered a high-quality, scalable solution, and the results have exceeded our expectations.  We look forward to further collaborating and innovating together.”

Mobile traffic is growing 1.5 times per year and is expected to constitute 25 percent of Internet traffic this year, according to a recent report published by Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers. Twenty percent of Taboola’s recommendations, over 20 billion recommendations in November, are already served in mobile environments, and the company intends to continue to innovate within mobile.

“We’re thrilled to partner with StepLeader and offer millions of users a consistent and native discovery experience in apps, establishing an exciting revenue opportunity without showing a single banner,” said Adam Singolda, founder and CEO of Taboola. “We believe users should have an orthodox experience that is tailored to the environment where they consume content, whether that is on a large screen, mobile browser or in apps. We’re very excited about the opportunity to help publishers, app developers, brands, and marketers to unlock the potential of their content wherever users may like it.”

About Taboola

Headquartered in New York City, with R&D in Israel and offices in London and Bangkok, Taboola is the world’s leading content distribution and discovery platform. Taboola serves over 3 billion daily recommendations to over 300 million monthly visitors on the Web’s most innovative publisher sites, including USA Today, The Huffington Post, Time, and The Weather Channel. Publishers, marketers, and agencies leverage Taboola to retain users on their sites, monetize their traffic, and distribute their content to drive high-quality audiences. Learn more at www.taboola.com and follow @taboola on Twitter.

About StepLeader

Located in downtown Raleigh, StepLeader formed in 2004 when it developed the nation’s first news app for local media. Today, the company offers solutions and thought-leading expertise to help trusted content producers deliver their stories across mobile apps, mobile websites and smart TV apps. StepLeader provides advertisers with transparent access to a nationwide audience, delivering more than 400 million ads monthly. StepLeader has a proven track record of quality return-on-investment for its partners including Scripps Television Station Group, Fox Television Stations, Morgan Murphy Media, News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) and Capitol Broadcasting Company. Learn more at http://www.stepleaderdigital.com.