Taboola names Ankit Tandon as national lead, agency business – India

MUMBAI: Ankit Tandon is back at Taboola, this time in a national leadership role. Tandon has joined Taboola as national lead, agency business-India, taking charge of the company’s agency business and partnerships in the country. He announced the move on LinkedIn, saying he had started his new assignment with the AdTech company last week.

Tandon returns to Taboola after nearly two years at Affinity Global, where he most recently served as director, advertiser sales. At Affinity Global, he worked on advertiser growth, high-intent user acquisition and partnerships across categories including retail and e-commerce, quick commerce, fintech, travel and BFSI.

He also worked with global and Indian platforms and developed partnerships with independent agencies and networks to expand advertiser sales.

Before Affinity Global, Tandon was associated with Bobble AI as associate vice president, business growth. His responsibilities included developing agency partnerships, data licensing initiatives and business relationships with major agency networks including WPP Media, Dentsu and Publicis Groupe.

Tandon’s first stint at Taboola ran from June 2021 to December 2022, when he served as client partner. In that role, he worked on programmatic advertising sales, agency relationships, full-funnel marketing strategies and new revenue opportunities across Indian and international markets.

At Taboola, he will now return to the company with a broader mandate covering the agency ecosystem in India.

Taboola operates a performance advertising platform that enables advertisers to reach audiences across publisher websites and other digital platforms. The company says its technology reaches hundreds of millions of daily active users through its network of publishers and original equipment manufacturers.

Announcing his return, Tandon thanked colleagues and senior leaders at Taboola and said he was excited about starting the new role.

“Once a Taboola’r, always a Taboola’r!” Tandon said in his LinkedIn announcement, signalling a return to familiar territory as he takes on the new national mandate.

The appointment comes as advertisers and agencies increasingly look for performance-led advertising solutions beyond traditional search and social platforms. Tandon’s experience across programmatic advertising, agency partnerships, audience acquisition and AdTech positions him to lead Taboola’s efforts to deepen its relationships with agencies and expand its business in India.

With the return of a familiar face in a significantly broader role, Taboola is looking to put agency partnerships at the centre of its next phase of growth in the Indian market.