BestSolutionX12
Newbie
- Jun 15, 2018
- 40
- 10
Our experience as a publisher with Taboola is like working with the mafia. The company withholds publisher payments as a hostage. They knowingly give publishers low RPM. Their contract puts publishers entirely at a disadvantage.
In May 2022, I noticed a sudden revenue drop from Taboola’s ad units. I instructed our team to try another ad company. Upon testing, we realized the new company offers a much higher RPM.
Soon after, we got an email from our Taboola account manager Roberto Scontrini saying we have a contract with them, and using other ad networks is a breach of the agreement.
With other ad companies, the conversation normally starts with a revenue increase discussion. With Roberto Scontrini, the conversation started with him ORDERING us to put the Taboola ads back on site.
For the next 2 days, I had two phone calls with the account manager.
During the first phone call, he asked how much I make with others. I made it perfectly clear that Taboola is offering a very low RPM. We also want a 2-month contract termination notice clause so that if Taboola keeps supply low RPM, we will exit their service.
I repeatedly stressed the importance of keeping the rate competitive as that’s the only way to keep clients and contract-bullying clients will not get them anywhere. I also expressed our willingness to continue working with Taboola in the long term.
The next day, Roberto Scontrini got back to me. With two offers:
During the conversation, the account manager repeatedly avoided the revenue comparison topic and blamed us didn’t turn on enough ad units.
THE COMPARISON RESULT WE GOT WAS BETWEEN THE SAME AD UNIT DESIGN!
The account manager even went as far as to try to convince me that by increasing 10% revenue share, I will have higher revenue compared to other ad companies.
The offer was literally an insult. In his mind, other people don’t understand math. And the exit clause was a joke since they are the ones who control the numbers.
The account manager said that’s the best I’ll get while clearly understanding that we are losing revenue with them.
As soon as I told him the offer was not good enough, his attitude changed for the worst. I didn’t want to listen to his legal threats and finished the phone call.
Next Roberto Scontrini sent an email threatening to withhold our payment until we come back to Taboola.
Fair enough, our developer puts the Taboola code back. But since they offer a low rate, we set up our own native feed. And I told Taboola the issue was fixed.
I want to point out that during the phone call, Roberto Scontrini explicitly said that removing the Taboola ad unit from our website is fine. And this is exactly what we did.
However, from the email message below you can see that even our own native feed seems to be an issue with Taboola.
From there, Taboola’s true bullying starts.
During the next 15 days, we learned about our native feed’s impressive performance. In fact, with proper adjustments, we can generate even more revenue than with Taboola.
But we were still interested in working with Taboola. Our plan was to test Taboola Feed again together with our native feed in July.
On June 14, I noticed Taboola didn’t process our April payment. At the time of writing this message, we have 2 unpaid revenues, April and May.
On June 15, I sent them a couple of emails and expressed my concern and our plan to test Taboola again in July. Only to learn that we are being ghosted. No reply to our email at all.
On June 16, I sent an email to Roberto Scontrini asking if the 60% revenue increase is still valid. We finally got a reply.
In my email reply, I mentioned our Taboola Feed and native feed test in July and mentioned the payment issue.
As soon as I mentioned the payment issue. Roberto stopped replying. It seems that Taboola would rather take our revenue than continue to work with us. Just because we switched to our native feed.
On June 17, I sent one more email to express our plan and concerns.
Until now, we didn’t get any reply.
MORE IMPORTANTLY, NO EXPLANATION IS PROVIDED ON WHY OUR PAYMENT IS NOT ISSUED. NOTHING! NONE!
We fixed the issue right after the second phone call as the account manager suggested. That was the 3d day after the account manager contacted us. And 20 days after that they quietly withhold our payment.
Just because we switched to our native feed, we are not getting paid.
It’s truly amazing how the ghosting technic is being practiced by Roberto Scontrini.
The way Taboola team handles the issue is abusive to the maximum. If we are to talk about mafias, Taboola is the perfect example.
If you are reading this message, do not work with Taboola. Do not become a victim like me.
My message to Taboola: The publishers are not your slaves!
I'll keep updating this post as the event progresses.
Has anyone had a similar experience with Taboola?
June 27 Update: This post is a replacement for the original post.
In May 2022, I noticed a sudden revenue drop from Taboola’s ad units. I instructed our team to try another ad company. Upon testing, we realized the new company offers a much higher RPM.
Soon after, we got an email from our Taboola account manager Roberto Scontrini saying we have a contract with them, and using other ad networks is a breach of the agreement.
With other ad companies, the conversation normally starts with a revenue increase discussion. With Roberto Scontrini, the conversation started with him ORDERING us to put the Taboola ads back on site.
For the next 2 days, I had two phone calls with the account manager.
During the first phone call, he asked how much I make with others. I made it perfectly clear that Taboola is offering a very low RPM. We also want a 2-month contract termination notice clause so that if Taboola keeps supply low RPM, we will exit their service.
I repeatedly stressed the importance of keeping the rate competitive as that’s the only way to keep clients and contract-bullying clients will not get them anywhere. I also expressed our willingness to continue working with Taboola in the long term.
The next day, Roberto Scontrini got back to me. With two offers:
- A revenue share increase from 50% to 60%.
- Exit clause under this condition: In case of a performance drop for 3 consecutive months, I will have a month’s notice.
During the conversation, the account manager repeatedly avoided the revenue comparison topic and blamed us didn’t turn on enough ad units.
THE COMPARISON RESULT WE GOT WAS BETWEEN THE SAME AD UNIT DESIGN!
The account manager even went as far as to try to convince me that by increasing 10% revenue share, I will have higher revenue compared to other ad companies.
The offer was literally an insult. In his mind, other people don’t understand math. And the exit clause was a joke since they are the ones who control the numbers.
The account manager said that’s the best I’ll get while clearly understanding that we are losing revenue with them.
As soon as I told him the offer was not good enough, his attitude changed for the worst. I didn’t want to listen to his legal threats and finished the phone call.
Next Roberto Scontrini sent an email threatening to withhold our payment until we come back to Taboola.
Fair enough, our developer puts the Taboola code back. But since they offer a low rate, we set up our own native feed. And I told Taboola the issue was fixed.
I want to point out that during the phone call, Roberto Scontrini explicitly said that removing the Taboola ad unit from our website is fine. And this is exactly what we did.
However, from the email message below you can see that even our own native feed seems to be an issue with Taboola.
From there, Taboola’s true bullying starts.
During the next 15 days, we learned about our native feed’s impressive performance. In fact, with proper adjustments, we can generate even more revenue than with Taboola.
But we were still interested in working with Taboola. Our plan was to test Taboola Feed again together with our native feed in July.
On June 14, I noticed Taboola didn’t process our April payment. At the time of writing this message, we have 2 unpaid revenues, April and May.
On June 15, I sent them a couple of emails and expressed my concern and our plan to test Taboola again in July. Only to learn that we are being ghosted. No reply to our email at all.
On June 16, I sent an email to Roberto Scontrini asking if the 60% revenue increase is still valid. We finally got a reply.
In my email reply, I mentioned our Taboola Feed and native feed test in July and mentioned the payment issue.
As soon as I mentioned the payment issue. Roberto stopped replying. It seems that Taboola would rather take our revenue than continue to work with us. Just because we switched to our native feed.
On June 17, I sent one more email to express our plan and concerns.
Until now, we didn’t get any reply.
MORE IMPORTANTLY, NO EXPLANATION IS PROVIDED ON WHY OUR PAYMENT IS NOT ISSUED. NOTHING! NONE!
We fixed the issue right after the second phone call as the account manager suggested. That was the 3d day after the account manager contacted us. And 20 days after that they quietly withhold our payment.
Just because we switched to our native feed, we are not getting paid.
It’s truly amazing how the ghosting technic is being practiced by Roberto Scontrini.
The way Taboola team handles the issue is abusive to the maximum. If we are to talk about mafias, Taboola is the perfect example.
If you are reading this message, do not work with Taboola. Do not become a victim like me.
My message to Taboola: The publishers are not your slaves!
I'll keep updating this post as the event progresses.
Has anyone had a similar experience with Taboola?
June 27 Update: This post is a replacement for the original post.
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