Captify vs Taboola

Social commerce surges 457% and AI fashion searches rise 44% during Christmas, Captify UK data reveals

Captify UK data reveals social commerce surges 457% and AI fashion searches rise 44% during Christmas. Also, Black Friday shopping starts earlier, and gamers are turning in-game finds into real-world buys.

Gamers are turning in-game finds into real-world buys, Captify UK data reveals

New Captify UK data reveals gamers are turning in-game finds into real-world buys (Aug 27, 2026). Also added: Captify UK data reveals Back to School is no longer one shopping moment – it’s two distinct consumer journeys (Aug 10, 2026).

Gaming Spurs Real-World Brand Discovery, Captify UK Data

Captify (part of Verve) analysed UK search data from January–July 2026 alongside Fandom survey data and finds gaming is increasingly a commerce and brand-discovery channel. One-third of UK gamers (33%) are more likely to consider a brand after an in-game interaction (47% for 18–24s); 55% of 18–24s discover brands in-game versus 27% overall. The report highlights specific campaign lifts (e.g., The Sims 4 drove a 40% rise in searches for Coach) and shows Fortnite players searched Lamborghini far more often than Porsche. Captify also found AI responses broaden brand comparisons (AI mentions both PlayStation and Xbox far more than users do). Anticipation for GTA VI is already driving console research: 20% of GTA VI searchers researched Xbox and 16% researched PlayStation. The findings signal opportunities for brands to engage younger, high-consideration gaming audiences.

• Captify analysed billions of UK real-time search signals from January–July 2026 alongside Fandom 2026 UK survey data.
• 33% of UK gamers said they are more likely to consider a brand after an in-game brand interaction; that rises to 47% among 18–24-year-olds.
• 55% of 18–24-year-old gamers discover brands through in-game presence versus 27% of gamers overall.

AdExchanger Podcast: Infillion-Foursquare, Taboola-Dianomi, WarnerMount Merger

This AdExchanger podcast episode discusses two ad tech acquisitions from last Friday: Infillion's acquisition of Foursquare, adding location data to its ad tech stack, and Taboola's acquisition of Dianomi, targeting the finance vertical. Editor-in-Chief Allison Schiff provides rationale and potential synergies. The episode also covers the Warner Bros.-Paramount merger, now dubbed 'WarnerMount', as the major antitrust hurdle was resolved when California and 11 other states settled their lawsuit. Paramount had threatened to leave California, which pressured the settlement. A new legal challenge emerged but is seen as less formidable. The discussion highlights the strategic moves in ad tech consolidation and the significant regulatory scrutiny on major media mergers.

• Infillion acquired Foursquare, adding location data to its ad tech stack.
• Taboola made an offer to acquire ad network Dianomi to target the finance vertical.
• California and 11 other states settled an antitrust lawsuit against the Warner Bros.-Paramount merger.

PolyAI, Taboola, Contentful, Docusign Win 2026 Digiday Tech Awards

The 2026 Digiday Technology Awards recognized companies leveraging AI and automation to enhance personalized experiences, targeting, and performance. PolyAI won Best AI Tool for its agentic dialog platform, which powers SafeRide Health's AI agent 'Steven', reducing speak-to-human rates from 55% to 2%. Taboola's Adam Singolda was named Technology Founder of the Year for launching DeeperDive, a conversational AI platform for publishers. Contentful and Docusign won Best Personalization & A/B Testing Platform, with Docusign using Contentful Personalization to launch tailored homepages across 20 audience segments, reaching 6.19 million monthly active profiles by March 2026. The awards span categories like affiliate marketing, agentic AI, CDPs, and clean rooms.

• PolyAI won Best AI Tool for its agentic dialog platform, with SafeRide Health's AI agent 'Steven' managing 80% of inbound calls.
• Adam Singolda, founder and CEO of Taboola, was named Technology Founder of the Year for DeeperDive.
• DeeperDive generates nearly three times more revenue per user for publishers.

Taboola Launches Realize ID

Taboola has launched Realize ID, a new cookieless identity solution for the open web, announced on September 23, 2026. The solution unifies usage, advertising, and conversion signals from its ecosystem to predict purchase intent, integrating data from publisher and advertiser activities such as content consumption, search terms, ad interactions, and conversions. Realize ID supports hashed email addresses from CRMs, custom identifiers, and over 15 data platform integrations, with clean room matching planned. This launch is part of Taboola's strategy to expand from native advertising to performance display, following its platform launch and opening to external AI applications. The open web identity market remains fragmented with competitors like NetID, Utiq, ID5, EUID, and Ramp ID.

• Taboola launched Realize ID, a cookieless identity solution for the open web, on September 23, 2026.
• Realize ID combines usage, ad, and conversion signals to predict purchase intent.
• Supports hashed email addresses, custom identifiers, and over 15 data platform integrations.