• by Laurie Sullivan , September 26, 2025

Motion added to static ads has begun to attract more brands to a different type of ad. Google introduced this feature last year, and now it has become more popular with the brands working with Taboola.

Taboola’s performance ad platform Realize launched in February. Since then it has added generative artificial intelligence features, attracting companies such as Homes.com, TripAdvisor, Philips Home Appliances, NerdWallet, Motley Fool and others.

Morley Quatroche, senior marketing manager of performance and acquisition at TripAdvisor, thinks it has made it easier to bring in new qualified users to engage with the site, while Brian Comeau, Homes.com, believes adding motion to static ads has enabled the company to surpass its advertising objectives.

Realize allows advertisers to take static images used for ads and automatically turn them into animated ads.

“Imagine taking a static image of a car on a road and having AI add movement to the steering wheel,” says Dave Struzzi, communications lead at Taboola. “Typically, video and animated imagery does well in terms of driving conversions.”

Some advertisers have seen motion ads outperform static images by 20%, Struzzi says. “It’s a way for advertisers to extend the lifespan of existing creative they have used,” he added.

Realize is powered by an AI performance engine that finds the best opportunities for campaigns across Taboola’s network of trusted publishers and apps. Powered by Taboola’s code-on-page integrations with publishers, the engine gives it signals from publishers across the open web to optimize and place ads.

Companies that work with Taboola have a number of performance goals, including increasing conversions, achieving incremental growth while scaling spend, maintaining CPAs, improving return on ad spend (ROAS) and enhancing audience targeting.

Philips Home had a goal to amplify demand for a steamer product, which the company said they met by driving high-quality traffic and meaningful conversions -- particularly among users actively researching home care solutions, according to Struzzi. For others, it was to generate qualified leads by driving visitors to their rental property pages, Struzzi adds.

The platform also allows advertisers to extend their reach beyond native ads, tapping into a network of publishers, apps and OEMs like NBC News, Yahoo, Xiaomi, and Samsung.

It also offers creative flexibility, enabling advertisers to use existing display and social media assets for high-performing ads in various formats such as social, display and vertical videos.