Taboola shares readership insights during Covid-19

As the world is transitioning to work-from-home scenario and engaging themselves with innovative activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, Taboola, the world’s leading discovery platform, has released readership trends for most read topics in the past one-month period (9 March 2020 - 10 April 2020) for India & across Asia Pacific region. The Taboola network sees a surge in traffic around subjects related to health, food, technology, health and skincare. Here are some of the key insights revealed from the readership trends released:

Readership Trends & Insights for India

 Taboola Publishers network in India shows that number of daily readers have been up for Arts/Entertainment, Careers, and Government/Politics. Average daily reading time spent (in minutes) has gone up across various topics, suggesting that in India, more people are spending more time on the open web.

• Immunity-boosting foods: Pageview traffic to articles about how to boost immunity, and recipes involving turmeric have seen a huge increase in traffic during the current pandemic. The Taboola Network recorded 5.6M pageviews about stories related to how to boost immunity, health benefits of turmeric and recipes for immunity-boosting foods.
• Health: Skin care and hair care have seen an increase in pageviews. Maintaining healthy hair and skin has become a growing concern as hair salons close and people are washing their hands for longer periods of time. The Taboola Network recorded a 56% increase in pageviews about skincare.
• Online Gaming: Pageview traffic to articles about popular game PUBG Mobile increased 48% during this period. The Taboola Network recorded 2.3M pageviews about stories related to this topic.
• Food Delivery Services: News stories about food delivery services have seen a surge in pageviews since the country is in lockdown. The Taboola Network recorded 800% increase in pageviews about food and delivery services.

The latest data shared by Taboola relates to COVID-19, revealing shifts in how consumers are consuming content in different regions during the lockdown which also impact various brand strategies and how advertisers plan their future budget spend during and post pandemic. In an earlier study by Taboola titled - Moments of Next part 2, it was revealed that people trust advertisements on news sites by 4x compared to ads on social media websites.

 Readership Trends & Insights Across Asia Pacific

• In Japan, online resources for students pageview traffic to articles about online learning for students increased 282% during this period especially as schools close and students are doing classes at home. The Taboola Network recorded 649K pageviews about stories related to online learning. Also, pageview traffic to articles about e-sports and live video game streaming has seen a 211% increase during this time. The Taboola Network recorded 413K pageviews about stories related to e-sports tournaments and video games.
• In Korea, despite staying at home, people’s interest in cosmetics has not decreased. They are still reading about new cosmetic products being manufactured and even how to get cosmetics delivered to their home during a pandemic. The Taboola Network recorded 194K pageviews, a 198% increase in pageviews about this topic.
• In Australia, exercise continues to see a steady increase in pageview traffic as readers look for solutions and ways to exercise at home when all their gyms are closed. The Taboola Network recorded 2.7M pageviews in this category. Articles about weight loss are also seeing a similar increase in traffic during this period.

Data from Taboola Newsroom identifies topics and news categories which have seen an increase in pageview traffic for the past 30 days. This data comes from the wide network of news publishers Taboola works with in various countries.