Bangkok Post adopts Taboola's DeeperDive AI search tool for website
The Bangkok Post partners with Taboola to implement DeeperDive AI answer engine directly on its site, marking first Southeast Asian deployment on Nov 18.
The Bangkok Post on November 18, 2025, announced its selection of DeeperDive, an artificial intelligence answer engine developed by Taboola that operates directly within publisher websites rather than redirecting traffic to external platforms. The newspaper, which has published continuously in Thailand since 1946, becomes the first media organization in Southeast Asia to deploy the technology across its digital properties.
According to Taboola, DeeperDive processes natural language queries from readers and generates responses using content exclusively from the publisher's archive. The system leverages data from Taboola's network of 600 million daily active users across 9,000 publisher partners to identify trending topics and suggest relevant questions. Each AI-generated answer includes links to related articles from the same publisher's site.
"We are proud to be the first in Southeast Asia to launch Taboola's DeeperDive to the market," according to Chiratas Nivatpumin, the chief operating officer of the Bangkok Post. "Generative AI will help strengthen the content proposition and experience for readers, and Taboola was a natural fit for our needs. DeeperDive will be able to offer new insights to readers based on the Bangkok Post's rich 79-year history in covering news and events in Thailand, the region and across the globe."
The deployment addresses mounting challenges facing digital publishers. Publishers experienced approximately 10-15% pageview declines during the third quarter of 2025, according to advertising technology platform Teads. Research published in April 2025 documented that AI-generated summaries in search results reduced organic clicks to top-ranking websites by 34.5% compared to traditional search results.
DeeperDive's technical architecture differs from conventional AI search engines by confining all interactions within the publisher's website. Traditional AI systems aggregate content from multiple sources and present synthesized answers that reduce the need for users to visit original websites. According to Taboola, this approach threatens publisher business models by eliminating the traffic they monetize through advertising or subscriptions.
The technology processes queries in real-time using advanced language models trained on the publisher's content database. According to Taboola, the system draws from "years of proprietary, real-time, high-quality content created by journalists and editors across the open web." Readers can ask questions about travel destinations, sports teams, or financial topics and receive immediate answers sourced from the publisher's editorial archives.
Adam Singolda, CEO and Founder of Taboola, stated that "The Bangkok Post is taking their rich history of delivering quality content and with DeeperDive, offering it to readers in a completely new, appealing and innovative way. Publishers who adopt DeeperDive aren't just keeping up with the GenAI revolution, they're leading it, on their terms."
Revenue generation mechanisms include contextually relevant advertisements integrated within AI-powered results pages. According to Taboola, this creates "search-like advertising revenue within their own environments" and represents an alternative to traditional display advertising targeting higher-intent commercial opportunities. The company positioned this monetization approach as a response to declining referral traffic from external AI search platforms.
Taboola initially announced DeeperDive on June 11, 2025, with launch partners Gannett | USA TODAY Network and The Independent. Gannett operates approximately 220 local markets across 43 states in the United States, reaching approximately 140 million monthly unique visitors across its digital platforms. The Independent deployed the technology across its British operations including its Bulletin service.
The Bangkok Post partnership expands DeeperDive's geographic footprint beyond North American and European markets. Thailand's digital advertising market has experienced growth alongside increasing internet penetration, though specific market size figures were not disclosed in the announcement.
Technical specifications indicate the system suggests questions based on current trends identified through Taboola's network data. According to the company, this "pulse of the internet" capability allows DeeperDive to surface timely, contextual answers and recommend questions aligned with what readers across the platform are actively engaging with at that moment.
The deployment occurs as publishers face significant pressure from AI-powered search features. Google's AI Overviews now operate in 200 countries and 40 languages as of May 2025. Research from Similarweb cited by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe showed that referrals from AI platforms increased 357% year-over-year in June 2025, reaching 1.13 billion visits compared to 191 billion visits from organic Google search.
However, these traffic increases don't translate uniformly to revenue. Publishers lose the advertising impressions and subscription opportunities that occur when users visit their websites directly. Zero-click searches—queries resolved entirely within search interfaces without directing users to source websites—rose from 56% to 69% in May 2025, according to industry data.
DeeperDive represents one approach among several emerging publisher monetization strategies. IAB Tech Lab launched its Content Monetization Protocols working group on August 20, 2025, to standardize frameworks for AI platforms to compensate publishers for content usage. Perplexity announced Comet Plus in October 2025, offering subscribers access to premium publisher content through its AI interface while sharing revenue with participating media organizations.
The Bangkok Post's 79-year publishing history includes coverage spanning Thai politics, regional business developments, Southeast Asian affairs, and international news. The newspaper maintains both English-language print and digital operations serving expatriate communities, business professionals, and English-speaking Thai readers.
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Taboola operates an advertising technology platform that delivers recommendations across publisher websites and original equipment manufacturers like Samsung and Xiaomi. The company works with thousands of advertisers through its Realize platform, reaching approximately 600 million daily active users. Taboola expanded partnerships with TIME, Weather Channel Digital, and Gannett for its Realize platform in October 2025, with the company expecting to pay over $1.5 billion to publishers and OEMs in 2025.
Previous Taboola AI initiatives include Abby, a campaign creation assistant launched in October 2024, and Predictive Audiences announced in June 2025, which generated conversion improvements of up to 270% for early adopters including The Motley Fool, QuinStreet, and NerdWallet.
The implementation timeline for DeeperDive across Bangkok Post's digital properties was not specified in the announcement. Integration requires embedding the AI interface components within existing websites and configuring access to the publisher's content database. Technical support and ongoing optimization come from Taboola's platform infrastructure.
For the marketing community, DeeperDive's deployment signals continued fragmentation in digital content discovery. Advertisers must navigate increasingly complex pathways to reach audiences as traditional search traffic diminishes and on-site AI interactions increase. Performance measurement frameworks require adaptation to account for content usage within publisher AI interfaces rather than standard website metrics.
The technology also represents competition for advertising budgets. Contextual advertisements integrated into AI-generated answers compete with display inventory elsewhere on publisher sites. Advertisers evaluating placement strategies must determine whether AI interface positions offer sufficient visibility and conversion performance to justify potentially higher costs associated with high-intent placements.
Publisher adoption of proprietary AI tools creates additional targeting complexity. Campaign management across multiple publisher AI systems requires understanding different interface capabilities, audience reach, and performance characteristics. This contrasts with centralized platforms where campaigns scale across multiple publishers through unified interfaces.
The announcement included standard forward-looking statements disclaimers noting that projections regarding product development and business strategies involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Taboola cautioned readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and noted the company does not undertake obligations to update such statements based on changing circumstances.
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Timeline
- November 18, 2025: Taboola announces Bangkok Post as first Southeast Asian publisher to deploy DeeperDive
- October 15, 2025: Taboola expands Realize platform partnerships with TIME, Weather Channel Digital, Gannett
- October 3, 2025: Perplexity announces Comet Plus subscription with major news publishers
- August 20, 2025: IAB Tech Lab launches Content Monetization Protocols working group addressing AI impact on publisher revenue
- June 11, 2025: Taboola launches DeeperDive with Gannett USA TODAY Network and The Independent as initial partners
- June 4, 2025: Taboola unveils Predictive Audiences AI-powered targeting capability
- April 2025: Research documents 34.5% decline in organic clicks when AI Overviews appear in search results
- October 16, 2024: Taboola introduces Abby AI assistant for campaign creation
Summary
Who: The Bangkok Post, Thailand's oldest daily newspaper established in 1946, partnered with Taboola, a New York-based advertising technology company operating across 9,000 publisher partners reaching 600 million daily active users.
What: The Bangkok Post selected DeeperDive, an artificial intelligence answer engine that operates directly within publisher websites rather than redirecting traffic to external platforms. The technology processes natural language queries from readers and generates responses using content exclusively from the publisher's archive, with integrated advertising opportunities.
When: Taboola announced the partnership on November 18, 2025. DeeperDive was initially launched on June 11, 2025, with partners Gannett | USA TODAY Network and The Independent, making Bangkok Post the technology's first Southeast Asian deployment.
Where: The implementation covers The Bangkok Post's digital properties serving audiences in Thailand, Southeast Asia, and international readers. The deployment marks geographic expansion beyond initial North American and European markets for DeeperDive technology.
Why: Publishers face declining traffic from AI-powered search features that provide direct answers without directing users to source websites. Research documented 10-15% pageview declines during third quarter 2025 and 34.5% reductions in organic clicks when AI summaries appear in search results. DeeperDive addresses these challenges by keeping AI interactions within publisher websites while creating new advertising revenue opportunities through contextually relevant ads integrated into AI-generated responses.