Overview
Howl has quietly divested the creator arm of its business to Connexity, the commerce unit owned by Taboola, the companies confirmed in August. Financial terms were not disclosed, and a source familiar with the deal told Adweek that the sum was small enough not to trigger a disclosure in Taboola’s quarterly filings. Reporting on the transaction was led by Mark Stenberg at Adweek. (See Mark Stenberg, Adweek).
Sale details and immediate fallout
Representatives for Howl and Connexity confirmed the asset sale but declined to share price or contract specifics. Connexity, which operates alongside its ShopYourLikes creator affiliate operation, told creators it regarded fixing payment problems as a top priority, and one source said Connexity has since cleared outstanding balances owed to creators. Connexity is part of Taboola (taboola.com), the public company best known for content recommendation and native advertising.
Howl told some publishing partners that, as part of the transaction, it would focus on repaying publishers it owes money to. That pledge follows a pattern first reported by Adweek in 2023, when Howl – formerly Narrativ – fell behind on payments to publishers, leaving millions in delinquent invoices that in some cases stretched back months and totaled between roughly $20,000 and $900,000. Two publishers who spoke to Adweek said Howl still owes money; one publisher executive put the outstanding balance at about $60,000. (See Adweek coverage of prior late payments).
Why the sale matters
For Howl, the divestment represents a retreat from the creator-centred strategy the company adopted after rebranding from Narrativ in 2022. The business it built out to serve influencers and social commerce is precisely the asset Connexity sought to add to its ShopYourLikes offering. From Connexity’s point of view, the deal is consolidation – folding Howl’s creator relationships into a broader affiliate play that can be cross sold to brands. From the publishers’ and creators’ perspective, the change of ownership looks chiefly like a test of whether a larger, better capitalised operator can fix known operational problems – primarily payments infrastructure and cashflow management.
Payments and trust – the central issue
The payment issues lie at the heart of this story. Repeated missed or delayed payments are not a minor bookkeeping blemish; they strike at the trust publishers and creators need to work with intermediaries. Howl’s founder Li Haslett Chen framed the move positively, telling Adweek that Connexity would “continue to invest in and grow Howl as the leading creator commerce platform in tech, gaming, and collectibles.” That optimism will be judged against whether affected publishers receive timely settlement and whether creators see stable revenues under Connexity ownership.
Market and regulatory implications
There are two practical implications for the Irish and wider European digital media markets. First, consolidation in affiliate commerce may concentrate negotiating leverage with brands – a development that can be efficient but also risky if it reduces competitive pressure to pay partners promptly. Second, public companies that acquire smaller firms can sometimes obscure the scale of purchases if a deal is small relative to their filings threshold. That makes transparency around liabilities and post-transaction remediation plans more important, not less.
What to watch next
– Payments follow-through: Will Connexity continue to honour and clear remaining publisher balances, and will it put new controls in place to prevent recurrence?
– Brand retention: ShopYourLikes is reportedly reaching out to brands Howl worked with; whether those relationships stick will determine the commercial value Connexity extracts.
– Howl’s strategy: Howl says it will remain in commerce while reassessing priorities and exploring opportunities in AI-native commerce. Whether the company pivots successfully or fades as a smaller operator will be a signal to other start-ups about the cost of execution failures.
Conclusion
The Howl-Connexity transaction looks, on paper, like straightforward industry consolidation. In practice, it is a wake-up call about operational discipline in affiliate networks. Publishers and creators need prompt, transparent payments; acquirers need to price in remediation and public companies should be candid about what they are buying. For full reporting on the deal and the earlier payment issues, see Mark Stenberg’s coverage on Adweek (https://www.adweek.com/dealroom/howl-sells-creator-business-taboola-connexity/) and the related Adweek report on Howl’s prior late payments (https://www.adweek.com/media/affiliate-network-howl-late-payments-publishers/).
