Most advertisers see AI gains only in walled gardens, Taboola study finds

Taboola this week published a survey report showing that 76% of senior performance marketers are seeing meaningful improvements from agentic AI campaign tools, yet the benefits remain concentrated almost entirely within search and social platforms. The report, titled "The Agentic Advantage in Performance Marketing: Securing Incremental Growth Beyond Search and Social," was conducted in March 2026 across 200 marketing leaders in the United States and United Kingdom and released in May 2026 by Realize, Taboola's advertiser platform.

The findings land alongside the beta rollout of Realize+, Taboola's agentic campaign system for the open web that the company launched on April 23, 2026. Taken together, the survey and the product signal how the company is trying to shift budget away from walled gardens by making the argument that the automation advertisers already rely on in Google and Meta can be replicated outside those platforms.

Who was surveyed and how

The study was administered online by Global Surveyz Research, an independent global research firm, with respondents recruited through a B2B research panel and invited via email. All 200 participants hold roles ranging from Senior Manager to VP and are responsible for performance strategy and execution at their organizations. Companies represented span the eCommerce, Banking and Financial Services, Automotive, and Health and Pharma sectors, split evenly 50-50 between the US and UK. Organization size leans large: 41% employ 1,000 to 4,999 people, 43% employ 5,000 to 9,999, and 16% employ 10,000 or more. Monthly marketing budgets start at $300,000 and range up to $5 million or more. The average survey completion time was 6 minutes and 6 seconds.

Responses to most non-numerical questions were randomized to prevent order bias. The survey was conducted entirely in March 2026.

AI adoption is a two-platform market

At-scale adoption of AI-powered campaign solutions is concentrated almost entirely on Google and Meta. According to the Realize report, 91% of respondents currently use Google's Performance Max at scale, with a further 7% testing or piloting it - meaning 98% of the sample is actively engaged with the product. Meta's Advantage+ shows almost identical numbers, with 88% using it at scale and 10% in testing, for a combined engagement rate of 98%.

TikTok's Smart+ occupies a different position. Current at-scale usage sits at just 9%, yet 73% of respondents are in active testing or piloting, suggesting broad exploratory interest that has not yet translated into full deployment. Open web campaign management solutions are used at scale by 36% of respondents, with a further 44% in the testing phase - an 80% total engagement rate that trails the two dominant platforms by a considerable margin.

The concentration matters. Performance Max and Advantage+ are not just the most-used tools; they are also the benchmarks against which all other solutions are judged. Both products use fully automated bidding, audience selection, and creative serving. The survey's framing consistently positions them as the standard that the open web has not yet matched.

Three-quarters report performance lift

Of the 200 respondents, all are currently measuring the performance impact of their best-performing platforms. According to the report, 76% are seeing meaningful improvements, with 29% reporting a significant lift and 47% reporting a moderate lift. A further 7% describe only a limited lift, 16% say it is too early to determine, and just 1% see no impact. Zero respondents said they are not measuring at all.

The strongest perceived benefit of these tools is real-time CPA/ROAS optimization, cited as the top value driver by 41% of respondents. Saving time and operational efficiency comes second at 14%, followed by improved budget allocation across channels at 11%. Greater ability to drive incremental performance ranks fourth at 10%. Automated creative generation and testing, and improved audience targeting and segmentation, each score 6%.

The ranking reflects a market where performance advertising is primarily evaluated in revenue terms. CPA and ROAS are the dominant success metrics, and solutions that directly optimize toward them carry more weight than those offering operational or creative benefits alone.

Despite broad satisfaction with AI tools in search and social, budget allocation has not moved significantly toward newer channels. According to the report, 74% of respondents allocate more than 25% of their total budget to paid search, against an average allocation of 22% of total budget. Paid social sees significant investment from 67%, with an average share of 21%.

The open web occupies a moderate position: 63% fund it at a moderate level (10-25% of budget), while only 4% give it significant investment above 25%. Average allocation sits at 13%. Retail Media Networks attract mostly minimal spend from 56% of respondents, with an average of 9%. Connected TV is split between moderate (50%) and minimal (35%) investment, averaging 12%. Affiliate and Partner Networks receive primarily minimal investment from 64% of respondents, averaging 8%.

The pattern reflects a structural gap. The open web reaches a large audience - Taboola's own platform touches approximately 600 million daily active users across properties including NBC News, Yahoo, and Samsung devices - yet it captures a fraction of the budget that search and social command. According to the report, the explanation is technical rather than strategic: the open web has yet to match the automation sophistication available in search and social, which offer advertisers more advanced tool options and more attractive CPA and ROAS outcomes.

This budget concentration is not a new observation. As PPC Land has tracked, Taboola began addressing the open web's automation deficit by expanding the Realize platform in October 2025 with deepened partnerships with TIME, Weather Channel Digital, Gannett, Nexstar, and Slate, followed by the launch of Predictive Audiences in June 2025, which delivered conversion improvements of up to 270% for early adopters.

Workflow integration is the dominant adoption barrier

The biggest internal obstacle to broader agentic AI adoption is not skepticism about performance outcomes. According to the report, 54% of respondents cite difficulty integrating these solutions into existing workflows as the single largest barrier. That figure dwarfs all other options: lack of team knowledge or expertise scores 12%, uncertainty about which technology or vendor to choose scores 9%, and budget constraints rank fourth at 6%.

The challenge grows sharply with budget size. Among companies spending $300,000 to $499,000 per month, only 9% identify workflow integration as the primary barrier. That figure rises to 38% among $500,000 to $999,000 per month spenders. Among the largest two segments - $1 million to $4.9 million per month and $5 million or more per month - it reaches 74% and 68% respectively. The companies that have invested most heavily in existing platforms are the ones finding it hardest to add a new layer of automation on top.

This creates a specific challenge for the open web. Large advertisers, who would generate the most revenue for platforms like Realize, are precisely those with the most entrenched workflows and the highest integration costs. The transition from manual campaign management to agentic systems requires changes to reporting infrastructure, attribution models, and organizational processes that small budgets can absorb more easily than large ones.

82% see potential, few have scaled

When asked about their organizational stance on AI-powered goal-based buying on the open web, 82% of respondents indicate they see meaningful growth potential. The distribution within that 82% is revealing. According to the report, 46% describe it as a high-potential opportunity they have not yet scaled, 19% say they believe in it but are holding back, and only 17% describe it as a proven growth driver at scale. On the skeptical side, 15% question its incremental impact, 2% say they do not believe it drives meaningful results, and 1% have not seriously evaluated it.

The gap between perceived potential and actual deployment is large. The dominant stance is one of cautious optimism - recognizing the opportunity while lacking either the tools or the confidence to act on it fully. According to the report, many of those holding back are not doing so out of caution but because a suitable solution does not yet exist at the technical level they require.

Open web barriers are operational, not philosophical

The factors limiting further open web investment point squarely at operational complexity and measurement gaps. According to the report, 74% of respondents cite too many vendors or the complexity of managing multiple partners as a limiting factor. Lack of unified attribution and measurement ranks close behind at 71%. Brand safety concerns are cited by 54%. Insufficient resources to manage additional channels scores 42%.

Strategic skepticism is rare. Only 7% say they have not seriously considered diverting budgets to the open web, 5% say they do not believe they can reach incremental users, and just 2% say they do not believe incremental performance is achievable. Only 5% report no significant barriers at all.

The data draws a clear line: advertisers broadly believe the open web can deliver performance, but fragmentation and measurement complexity make it operationally harder than staying within walled gardens. This is directly relevant to the investment case for platforms like Realize. The argument is not that advertisers need convincing about the open web's audience quality; it is that they need a simpler operational layer to access it.

The study's most direct finding on the market opportunity is this: 81% of respondents agree they would increase open web investment if it offered agentic AI-powered campaign solutions comparable to what they use in search and social. Broken down, 49% strongly agree and 32% somewhat agree. Only 11% disagree, and 8% are neutral.

The intensity of agreement scales with seniority and spend. Among VPs, 67% strongly agree - compared to 46% of Directors and 35% of Senior Managers. The pattern by budget is steeper still: only 3% of organizations spending $300,000 to $499,000 per month strongly agree, rising to 21% among $500,000 to $999,000 per month spenders, 67% among $1 million to $4.9 million per month, and 74% among those spending $5 million or more. The largest advertisers are the most enthusiastic about automation reducing operational complexity.

Expected budget reallocation averages 24%

If agentic AI solutions existed for the open web, virtually all respondents (99%) say they would allocate some share of their performance marketing budget to it. The average expected allocation is 24%. Half of respondents cluster in the 11-25% range, while 37% would allocate 26-50%. Only 11% would allocate up to 10%, 2% would allocate more than 50%, and 1% would allocate nothing.

The gap between current and anticipated significant open web investment tells the story clearly. Just 4% of respondents currently invest more than 25% of their performance budget in the open web. At least 39% say they would invest 26% or more if agentic AI solutions were available for it. That would not make the open web the dominant channel - the 24% average still trails paid search's current 22% average allocation modestly - but it would represent a substantial shift in where performance dollars flow.

Why this matters for the marketing industry

The survey's findings carry direct implications for how performance marketing budgets may evolve. At present, the industry's agentic AI story is largely a Google and Meta story. As PPC Land has reported, Google's Performance Max serves over one million advertisers and has received more than 90 quality improvements over the past year, including expanded automation tools, AI-generated creative features, and channel performance reporting. Meta's Advantage+ demonstrated 22% average ROAS improvements through 2025.

The pressure that dynamic creates on other channels is real. If 74% of performance budgets flow to paid search and social, and those platforms continue improving their automation while the open web remains fragmented, the gap risks widening rather than closing. The survey suggests the market is aware of this dynamic and is looking for a way through it. Whether platforms like Realize can provide the automation layer that unlocks the 81% willing to increase open web investment is a product and execution question as much as a market one.

The Taboola survey also lands as the company reported Q1 2026 revenue of $466.4 million, a 9.1% year-on-year increase. Realize+ is built on two core technical components. The first is the Decision Engine, which includes a Budget Allocator that automatically moves spend toward the highest-performing campaigns in real time. The second is the Element Generator, which creates and continuously updates ads and targeting parameters without manual input. The architecture is explicitly designed to replicate the autonomy of Performance Max and Advantage+ on open web inventory - without the owned-and-operated bias critics of walled garden systems have raised repeatedly.

Adam Singolda, CEO of Taboola, addressed the core market demand in the press release accompanying the report: "Advertisers of all sizes are leaning into agentic advertising, and the results are following. Our research shows a clear demand for advertisers that want the same 'always-on,' AI-driven performance they see in walled gardens applied to the open web. They are looking for autonomous systems that learn continuously, pivot in real time, and turn every impression into a measurable outcome."

The survey frames this not as a niche demand but as a near-universal one. Three-quarters of all respondents rate finding a performance channel that delivers incremental outcomes beyond search and social as very or extremely important. Among VPs, that figure climbs to 53% rating it extremely important alone. Among those spending $5 million or more per month, 70% call it extremely important - the single largest concentration of urgency in the entire dataset. The combination of high stated demand, measurable performance gaps, and specific operational barriers provides the clearest public data picture yet of where performance marketing budgets might go if the automation gap between walled gardens and the open web can be closed.

Timeline

April 2024 - Taboola launches Taboola Select, a curated premium publisher package for large advertisers with access to a vetted subset of 15% of top US publishers.
June 2025 - Taboola announces full commercial launch of Predictive Audiences on its Realize platform, reporting conversion improvements up to 270% for early adopters including The Motley Fool, QuinStreet, and NerdWallet.
October 15, 2025 - Taboola expands the Realize platform with deepened publisher partnerships including TIME, Weather Channel Digital, Gannett, Nexstar, and Slate, adding display inventory to a historically native-focused network.
October 22, 2025 - Taboola and Paramount Advertising announce Performance Multiplier, connecting CTV advertising to measurable open web performance outcomes via Realize.
December 3, 2025 - LG Ad Solutions and Taboola announce Performance Enhancer, combining LG's ACR data with Realize to connect CTV exposure to digital conversions.
January 28, 2026 - Taboola publishes research with Columbia, Harvard, Technical University of Munich, and Carnegie Mellon showing AI-generated ads match human creative performance across 500 million impressions.
March 2026 - Global Surveyz Research conducts the survey underlying the "Agentic Advantage in Performance Marketing" report, polling 200 senior performance marketers in the US and UK.
April 23, 2026 - Taboola launches Realize+, an agentic AI system for open web performance campaigns built on a Decision Engine and Element Generator, alongside Claude Skills integration.
May 6, 2026 - Taboola reports Q1 2026 results: revenue $466.4 million, up 9.1% year-on-year, net income $59.1 million.
May 14, 2026 - Taboola and Realize publish "The Agentic Advantage in Performance Marketing" report based on the March 2026 survey of 200 senior marketers in the US and UK.

Summary

Who: Taboola (Nasdaq: TBLA), through its Realize advertiser platform, in partnership with Global Surveyz Research, surveyed 200 senior performance marketers - ranging from Senior Managers to VPs - at mid-to-large organizations in the United States and United Kingdom across eCommerce, Banking and Financial Services, Automotive, and Health and Pharma industries.

What: A research report titled "The Agentic Advantage in Performance Marketing: Securing Incremental Growth Beyond Search and Social" showing that 76% of performance marketers see meaningful performance gains from agentic AI tools like Google Performance Max and Meta Advantage+, yet gains are concentrated within walled gardens. The report also finds 81% would increase open web investment if comparable automation were available, with an average expected budget allocation of 24% to the open web under that scenario.

When: The survey was conducted in March 2026 and the report was published on May 14, 2026.

Where: Respondents are based in the United States and United Kingdom, split evenly 50-50. The findings relate to global digital advertising markets and the structural divide between walled garden platforms and the open web.

Why: The research addresses a persistent structural imbalance in digital advertising, where the open web captures a fraction of performance budgets despite reaching a large share of user time. The primary barriers identified are not performance skepticism but operational complexity: workflow integration difficulties, fragmented vendor environments, and lack of unified attribution. The report was released alongside Taboola's Realize+ beta, positioning the findings as a market-level argument for agentic AI automation on the open web.