Taboola & Columbia University Research Shows GenAI Ads Perform Just as Well as Human-Made Content

Taboola, a global leader in delivering performance at scale for advertisers, announced the findings of a major field study conducted in collaboration with researchers at Columbia University, Harvard University, Technical University of Munich, and Carnegie Mellon University. The research provides the first-ever look at how generative AI (GenAI) compares to human creativity in driving consumer action by analysing large-scale real-world ad performance. 

While GenAI has revolutionised production speed and cost, its impact on actual performance has remained a subject of intense debate. The new study, titled "AI Ads That Work: How AI Creative Stacks Up Against Humans," analysed hundreds of thousands of live ads running on Realize, Taboola’s performance advertising platform, totalling more than 500 million impressions and 3 million clicks. 

Key insights from the academic research include: 

• GenAI ads perform just as well as human-made ads: AI-generated ads performed just as well as human-made ads. In raw data, AI ads saw a slightly higher average click-through-rate (CTR) (0.76%) compared to human ads (0.65%), though they performed comparably when researchers applied the tightest statistical controls. 

• AI ads win the most when they don’t "look" like AI: AI-generated ads that did not "look like AI" achieved the highest engagement of all groups, significantly outperforming both human-made ads and AI ads that were perceived as artificial. 

• Human faces are the "secret ingredient" for trust: The study found that one of the most important factors in making an ad feel "human" and trustworthy was the presence of a large, clear human face. Interestingly, based on Taboola’s best practices and policy restrictions, AI-generated ads were more likely to include these trust cues than their human-made counterparts. 

• Brands no longer have to choose between speed and quality: AI-generated visuals increased or maintained click-through rates without reducing downstream conversion performance, proving that advertisers do not have to trade quality or conversions for production scale. 

• Food, drink, and finance brands were among the first to adopt AI ads:  Specific sectors, most notably, the "food and drink" and "personal finance" industries, were early to adopt AI ads. 

"Taboola’s platform provided us with a literal gold mine of real-world data that is simply unavailable in a lab setting. By analysing over 500 million impressions, we were able to move past the hype of GenAI and uncover its real impact in large-scale settings," said Oded Netzer, vice dean for research, Columbia Business School. "Our findings prove that when AI is used to enhance human cues—like the trust found in a human face—it doesn't just match human performance; it often sets a new ceiling for engagement."