Forbes has joined the fray of publishers adding prediction markets to their websites as part of a broader strategy to reduce reliance on search traffic and focus more on onsite engagement.
The publisher worked with tech startup company Axiom (Axiom founder and CEO Jeff Yam is a Forbes board member) to build its own prediction platform – Forbes Predict – which will launch in beta in February. Unlike real-money prediction markets like Kalshi or Polymarket, Forbes’ platform lets readers make forecasts and track results in exchange for tokens. It’s designed for engagement, not wagers.
The Predict tool will appear as a widget next to articles. Instead of letting users bet real money on news, Forbes is gamifying predictions to boost onsite engagement, and foster reader loyalty as it shifts away from relying on traffic, as search referrals erode, according to Forbes chief innovation officer Nina Gould. It’s an alternative to commenting, in some ways, she noted. In the future, Forbes may give out tokens for other actions on the site, such as asking users to provide more information on their registered accounts to glean more audience data, Gould added.
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