New Study: AI Ads Match Human Creative in Major Report from Columbia University, Harvard University, Technical University of Munich, and Carnegie Mellon University; Taboola Data Shows AI Wins by Appearing Authentically Human and Prioritizing Visual Trust Signals
Rhea-AI Summary
Taboola (Nasdaq: TBLA) released a large field study (Jan 28, 2026) with Columbia, Harvard, TUM, and Carnegie Mellon analyzing over 500 million impressions and 3 million clicks. The study found AI-generated ads matched human ads overall, with AI CTR at 0.76% vs human 0.65%, and top-performing AI ads appeared authentically human.
Key drivers of engagement included large, clear human faces and AI creatives that did not "look like AI." The methodology used matched sibling ads to control external variables.
Positive
- CTR advantage: AI ads 0.76% vs human 0.65% (≈17% higher)
- Large-scale dataset: analysis covered 500 million impressions and 3 million clicks
- No conversion trade-off: AI visuals maintained or increased CTR without reducing downstream conversions
Negative
- Perception risk: AI ads that appear artificial significantly underperform compared with authentic-looking creatives
News Market Reaction – TBLA
On the day this news was published, TBLA declined 0.49%, reflecting a mild negative market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
TBLA slipped 0.48% while key peers like BMBL (-4.91%), GRPN (-2.83%), and CARS (-3%) also traded lower, with FVRR slightly positive at 0.48%, pointing to mixed, stock-specific action rather than a clean sector trend.
Previous AI Reports
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 25 | AI product deployment | Positive | +2.5% | BuzzFeed Asia adopting DeeperDive AI answer engine across regional sites. |
| Nov 18 | AI product deployment | Positive | +0.6% | Bangkok Post rolling out DeeperDive AI answer engine across its properties. |
| Oct 07 | AI product deployment | Positive | -2.1% | India Today Group becoming first APAC partner to launch DeeperDive. |
| Sep 15 | AI product deployment | Positive | +0.0% | Full USA TODAY rollout of DeeperDive AI answer engine to all audiences. |
| Jun 11 | AI product launch | Positive | +0.3% | Initial launch of DeeperDive Gen AI answer engine for publisher sites. |
AI-related announcements have generally seen modest positive reactions, though there are instances where similar positive AI news led to flat or negative moves.
Recent AI-tagged news for Taboola highlights the rollout of its DeeperDive Gen AI answer engine across partners like BuzzFeed Asia, The Bangkok Post, and USA TODAY, plus the initial DeeperDive launch on June 11, 2025. Price reactions around these AI updates have mostly been modestly positive, with some divergence, framing today’s academic AI-ad performance study as part of an ongoing narrative of AI-driven product validation and adoption.
Historical Comparison
AI-tagged headlines for TBLA over the past months produced an average move of about 1.12%, suggesting historically modest but generally constructive reactions to AI-related developments.
AI news has evolved from DeeperDive’s launch toward wider deployments with major publishers in APAC and the U.S., underscoring a continued build-out of Taboola’s Gen AI capabilities and commercial footprint.
Market Pulse Summary
This announcement validates that AI-generated ads on Taboola’s platform can match human creative, based on over 500 million impressions and 3 million clicks. It extends a pattern of AI-focused developments alongside prior DeeperDive launches with major publishers. Investors may track how these results influence advertiser adoption, campaign mix on Realize, and whether future AI-tagged updates continue the historically modest average move of 1.12%.
Key Terms
generative ai technical
genai technical
click-through-rate (ctr) technical
quasi-experimental technical
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
NEW YORK, Jan. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Taboola (Nasdaq: TBLA), a global leader in delivering performance at scale for advertisers, today announced the findings of a major field study conducted in collaboration with researchers at Columbia University, Harvard University,Technical University of Munich, and Carnegie Mellon University. The research provides the first-ever look at how generative AI (GenAI) compares to human creativity in driving consumer action by analyzing large-scale real-world ad performance.
While GenAI has revolutionized production speed and cost, its impact on actual performance has remained a subject of intense debate. The new study, titled, "AI Ads That Work: How AI Creative Stacks Up Against Humans,” analyzed hundreds of thousands of live ads running on Realize, Taboola’s performance advertising platform, totaling more than 500 million impressions and 3 million clicks.
Key insights from the academic research include:
- GenAI ads perform just as well as human-made ads: AI-generated ads performed just as well as human-made ads. In raw data, AI ads saw a slightly higher average click-through-rate (CTR) (
0.76% ) compared to human ads (0.65% ), though they performed comparably when researchers applied the tightest statistical controls. - AI ads win the most when they don’t “look” like AI: AI-generated ads that did not "look like AI" achieved the highest engagement of all groups, significantly outperforming both human-made ads and AI ads that were perceived as artificial.
- Human faces are the "secret ingredient" for trust: The study found that one of the most important factors in making an ad feel "human" and trustworthy was the presence of a large, clear human face. Interestingly, based on Taboola’s best practices and policy restrictions, AI-generated ads were more likely to include these trust cues than their human-made counterparts.
- Brands no longer have to choose between speed and quality: AI-generated visuals increased or maintained click-through rates without reducing downstream conversion performance, proving that advertisers do not have to trade quality or conversions for production scale.
- Food, drink, and finance brands were among the first to adopt AI ads: Specific sectors; most notably, the “food and drink” and “personal finance” industries were early to adopt AI ads.
“Taboola’s platform provided us with a literal gold mine of real-world data that is simply unavailable in a lab setting. By analyzing over 500 million impressions, we were able to move past the hype of GenAI and uncover its real impact in large scale settings,” said Oded Netzer, Vice Dean for Research, Columbia Business School. “Our findings prove that when AI is used to enhance human cues—like the trust found in a human face—it doesn't just match human performance; it often sets a new ceiling for engagement.”
Methodology
The study utilized a quasi-experimental "sibling ads" approach, comparing matched pairs of AI-generated and human-made ads created by the same advertiser for the same campaign on the same day. This methodology allowed researchers to isolate the impact of the GenAI creative while controlling for external variables like the identity of the advertiser, timing, audience targeting, and landing pages.
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.
Contact: Nicole Gergits, nicole.g@taboola.com
FAQ
What did Taboola (TBLA) find in the Jan 28, 2026 study about AI ad performance?
How much data did the TBLA study analyze and what were the main metrics?
Why did some AI ads outperform human ads in the Taboola (TBLA) study?
Did the Taboola TBLA study find a trade-off between AI speed and ad quality?
Which industries were early adopters of AI ads in the TBLA study?
What research method did Taboola and academic partners use for the Jan 28, 2026 study?
