{
  "title": "The Taste Layer observational cohort aggregate summary",
  "paper": "The Taste Layer: Why AI Is Winning the Attention War, and How Taste Becomes a Product",
  "source_url": "https://native.no/research/the-taste-layer",
  "published_date": "2026-08-11",
  "observation_window": {
    "label": "January through April 2026",
    "end_date": "2026-04-30"
  },
  "study_design": "Observational longitudinal pre-post comparison",
  "cohort": {
    "accounts": 50,
    "selection": "Retained customer accounts with the longest and most complete eligible data series; convenience sample, not random",
    "pre_period": "Defined as the 90 calendar days before each account's first Native-published content. Eligible measurable accounts had at least 60 days of pre-adoption activity; new-activation accounts had no prior activity",
    "post_period": "From first Native-published content through 2026-04-30, with at least 60 days required",
    "geographic_scope": "Primarily Norway and Northern Europe"
  },
  "headline_results": [
    {
      "id": "result-posting-frequency",
      "measure": "Average monthly posting-frequency lift",
      "value": 9.0,
      "unit": "multiplier",
      "approximate": true,
      "accounts_improving": 48,
      "denominator": 50
    },
    {
      "id": "result-organic-reach",
      "measure": "Average monthly organic-reach lift",
      "value": 5.0,
      "unit": "multiplier",
      "approximate": true,
      "scope_note": "Organic reach only",
      "accounts_improving": 47,
      "denominator": 50,
      "non_responder_note": "The three accounts whose reach did not increase are described individually in section 6.2 and are retained in the topline."
    },
    {
      "id": "result-monthly-likes",
      "measure": "Average monthly likes lift",
      "value": 5.0,
      "unit": "multiplier",
      "approximate": true
    },
    {
      "id": "result-new-activation",
      "measure": "Accounts moving from zero or near-zero activity to consistent posting",
      "value": 9,
      "unit": "accounts",
      "denominator": 50,
      "share_percent": 18,
      "scope_note": "Reported separately because a lift ratio from zero is undefined"
    }
  ],
  "cohort_composition": [
    {
      "segment": "Local services and trades",
      "accounts": 11,
      "share_percent": 22
    },
    {
      "segment": "Retail and e-commerce",
      "accounts": 9,
      "share_percent": 18
    },
    {
      "segment": "Hospitality and experience",
      "accounts": 8,
      "share_percent": 16
    },
    {
      "segment": "Professional services",
      "accounts": 8,
      "share_percent": 16
    },
    {
      "segment": "Real estate and property",
      "accounts": 6,
      "share_percent": 12
    },
    {
      "segment": "Health, wellness, and beauty",
      "accounts": 5,
      "share_percent": 10
    },
    {
      "segment": "Specialty and other",
      "accounts": 3,
      "share_percent": 6
    }
  ],
  "measurement": {
    "metrics": [
      "posts per month",
      "organic reach per month",
      "likes per month"
    ],
    "normalisation": "Standard four-week month",
    "sources": "Social-platform analytics APIs",
    "paid_reach": "Excluded"
  },
  "limitations": [
    "Observational design; no causal treatment estimate",
    "Self-selected adopters",
    "Retained-customer survivor bias",
    "Potential confounding from other business and marketing investments",
    "Northern European geographic concentration",
    "No sales, leads, conversion, profit, or customer-lifetime-value outcomes",
    "Internal analysis; the paper reports no independent audit or external peer review"
  ],
  "privacy": "Aggregate summary only. No customer-level records, names, handles, or private data are included.",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "citation": "Bekken, B. A., Haugå, T., & Græsberg, H. (2026, August 11). The Taste Layer: Why AI Is Winning the Attention War, and How Taste Becomes a Product. Native Research, Native AS. https://native.no/research/the-taste-layer"
}