My grandma loves tennis. I know this, and she knows this. But most advertisers aren’t targeting 90-year-old women like my grandmother with their ads. But here’s the thing: she does spend money on tennis. She subscribes to a streaming package every year just to watch the Grand Slams. And she’s bought merch from her favourite players.
Evidently, many advertisers are missing an important opportunity to reach highly engaged customers who are likely to convert. By just assuming who their target audiences are, these brands are leaving valuable performance results and ROI on the table.
That’s where Realize’s game-changing tool, Predictive Audiences, comes in. Predictive Audiences helps advertisers discover untapped, high-converting customers so they can meet their performance marketing goals at scale.
As Senior Director of Product Management Roei Turgeman put it: “The bottom line is it allows you to find more of what you’re looking for.”
So, how can Predictive Audiences transform your performance campaigns and boost ROI? Let’s dive in.
What is Predictive Audiences?
Predictive Audiences is a new way to find more prospective customers. Powered by AI and machine learning, Predictive Audiences uses your first-party data, past conversions specifically, and combines this with Realize’s unique data signals, to identify new users who are likely to take that same action. For example, you might want to reach users with a high propensity of adding an item to their cart, installing an app, or filling out a contact form.
Basically, Predictive Audiences takes the guesswork out of performance marketing by anticipating user behaviors. Beyond basic demographic and interest targeting, it allows marketers to deliver their ads to additional users who they know are going to take action.
“The biggest value for the advertisers is that they’re able to tap into audiences that they haven’t had the access to in the past,” Turgeman said. “They give us examples of consumers that have already converted, and then, based on that data, we go ahead and find similar users for them.”
This solution is an important part of our Realize ad platform, which is built specifically to drive performance results beyond the walled gardens of search and social channels.
Why should advertisers use Predictive Audiences?
If Predictive Audiences was a superhero (and, for Realize advertisers, it can be), its superpower would be seeing the future. Because it can identify and anticipate which audiences will take a specific action before they do so.
As Algorithm Engineer Boaz Shor said, “We are able to leverage what we know to help you as an advertiser find the right user for you.”
Going further, here’s a look at some of the biggest benefits of Predictive Audiences for Realize advertisers:
- Identifying users likely to take action at scale: Predictive Audiences builds audiences based on actions, such as leads or purchases, and Taboola’s AI uses this to find similar users at scale across our broad network.
- Reduced reliance on third-party cookies: Predictive Audiences leverages first-party data sourced directly from customers, ensuring accurate results without the need for third-party cookies. This future-proofs your targeting strategy, allowing you to achieve strong performance even as the digital landscape evolves.
- More effective than lookalike models: While lookalike models focus on customer attributes and demographics, Predictive Audiences assess the real-time context of each session to determine the likelihood of converting. This allows for a more dynamic and nuanced approach to reaching high-converting users.
What makes Predictive Audiences so unique for Realize advertisers?
If I can brag for just a moment, I’m proud to say that Predictive Audiences isn’t like other targeting solutions on the market. And Realize has the numbers and features to prove it.
With Predictive Audiences, advertisers get access to:
- Greater returns: This tool uses an online, data-driven model to maximize the impact of your incremental spend with higher conversion rates. Results from our beta testing show on average a CVR lift of up to 23% and CPA lift of up to -13%.
- Future-proof targeting: By combining your first-party data with Realize’s advanced performance AI, you can reach more high-converting users in a more durable, privacy-centric way.
- Flexible audience control: This isn’t one-size-fits-all. Adjust your audience size to balance scale and efficiency, ensuring optimal performance based on your campaign goals.
How is Predictive Audiences already changing the game for Realize advertisers?
Advertisers are already achieving exceptional performance results and reaching incremental audiences at scale with Predictive Audiences.
The Motley Fool, for example, saw a 25% increase in ROAS for their mobile campaign compared to their always-on broad targeting approach.
“By leveraging Predictive Audiences, we’ve unlocked a whole new audience while maintaining a strong CPA, driving meaningful improvements to our overall margin,” said Ajay Bhatia, Marketing Manager for The Motley Fool. “Predictive Audiences have proven instrumental in refining our targeting strategy and maximizing our marketing efficiency. It’s a must-have for any team looking to elevate their campaign performance.”
Meanwhile QuinStreet used Predictive Audiences to scale their performance campaign month over month, driving a 22% uplift in CTR and 31% increase in CVR compared to their control campaigns.
“The ease of implementation and rapid scalability allowed us to see results almost immediately,” said the marketing team at QuinStreet. “Taboola has become a key partner in helping us reach the right users at the right time, all while maximizing efficiency and growth.”
Advertisers leveraging Predictive Audiences are already beginning to see signs of incremental growth on Realize. In Q1, some advertisers grew their Q1 spend on Realize by as much as 43% YoY, while seeing conversion growth of up to 276% — all with minimal change to their CPA (less than 1% increase).
Still, we know this is just the beginning. These initial results are just a sign of what’s to come for Predictive Audiences and Realize. We look forward to helping even more advertisers adopt these performance-first solutions and generate next-level results for their campaigns.
Ultimately, it’s an achievement I hope my grandma would be proud of.
