Tag: Outbrain

Singapore – Outbrain Inc. has officially completed its acquisition of Teads, merging their branding and performance solutions to form an omnichannel outcomes platform for the open internet.

With the acquisition complete, the new omnichannel outcomes platform for the open internet will deliver results across all screens—CTV, mobile, and web—from branding to performance, operating under the name Teads.

The new Teads will offer one of the largest optimised supply paths on the open internet, focusing on connecting exclusive media environments with data-driven creative. The combined company will use Outbrain’s predictive technology and AI to help marketers achieve measurable results throughout the marketing funnel.

The merger creates one of the largest open internet companies, with a combined advertising spend of $1.7b (FY24) and a reach of 2.2b consumers. Headquartered in New York, the new Teads becomes one of the largest advertising platforms globally, partnering with over 10,000 publishers and 20,000 advertisers, and employing nearly 1,800 people across 36 countries.

Outbrain CEO David Kostman will lead the combined company, while former Teads CEOs Jeremy Arditi and Bertrand Quesada will take on the roles of co-president, chief business officer of the Americas, and chief business officer of International, respectively.

Speaking on the acquisition, CEO Kostman said, “I am extremely excited about this new chapter in our journey. This transformative merger creates a company that directly addresses a large gap in the advertising industry: a scaled end-to-end platform that can drive outcomes, from branding to consideration to purchase, across screens.” 

“Together, we are creating an extraordinary new company, combining the best of both organisations’ deep expertise in omnichannel video branding solutions and performance advertising. The new Teads’ mission is to drive lasting value with an offering that invites marketers to expect better outcomes, media owners to expect sustainable value, and consumers to expect elevated experiences. I want to thank the teams of both Outbrain and Teads, who have pioneered major advertising categories and have built leading global companies over more than a decade. It is their innovation and commitment that have brought us to this moment and will propel us to new heights,” added Kostman.

Co-president & chief business officer Arditi also said, “We’re committed to creating a solution that will harness the untapped opportunity of the open internet and allow all of its constituents to thrive. We believe that by prioritising beautiful creative experiences, trust and transparency in media, and delivery of meaningful outcomes, we can create a stronger ecosystem that provides value for all.”

Outbrain, Altice, and Teads have revised their August 1, 2024, share purchase agreement. Outbrain will pay approximately $900m, consisting of $625m in cash and 43.75m shares of Outbrain common stock. The revised deal eliminates deferred cash payments and convertible preferred equity, reducing the need for debt financing and simplifying the structure.

Additionally, Outbrain will finance the transaction with existing cash and $625m in committed debt financing from Goldman Sachs, Jefferies Finance, and Mizuho Bank, subject to standard conditions. Altice will receive 43.75m shares and nominate two directors to Outbrain’s board, subject to a stockholder agreement with voting and share disposition restrictions.

“The merger between Teads and Outbrain makes a lot of sense strategically. We look forward to exploring the new possibilities this provides us with to reach our audiences in a new and interesting way, to deliver full funnel solutions, and to better business outcomes,” said Sital Banerjee, global head of integrated media, performance marketing, and BMI management at Lipton Teas and Infusions.

Singapore – Teads, a cloud-based omnichannel platform, has officially announced its merger with Outbrain, a global leader in performance advertising, in a $1 billion transaction. 

Tead’s merger with Outbrain marks a pivotal milestone for both category leaders. Teads excels in omnichannel video, branding, and mid-funnel capabilities, while Outbrain boasts a top-tier performance and outcomes platform. Both companies also have long-standing partnerships with premium media owners, and as a combined entity, they will be better equipped to support and enhance these collaborations.

The merger will create one of the top open internet advertising platforms by size and scale, expected to reach over 2 billion monthly consumers across 50+ markets. Combining Teads’ video and branding strengths with Outbrain’s performance solutions, the platform will offer direct supply paths to premium media owners on the open internet and CTV. 

Additionally, this integration will continuously optimise outcomes through direct code-on-page and pixel-on-advertiser-site capabilities. The powerful data suite will make over 1 billion predictions per second, and innovative ad experiences will enable engaging brand storytelling, from full-page takeovers to story sequencing from CTV to digital.

In an official press release, Jeremy Arditi  and Bertrand Quesada, co-CEO’s of Teads, said, “Marketers are looking for more accountability, addressability in a privacy-centric way, and to harness the rapid rise of AI and CTV. As we look ahead, together with Outbrain, we will be THE platform that delivers on these needs across the open internet.” 

They added, “We look forward to sharing more about the combined company over the next few months. Our focus remains on our clients and partners, continuing to provide the product solutions, service, and value you’ve come to rely on Teads for. We’re tremendously excited for the opportunities this news brings and hope you’ll join us in this next phase of our evolution.”

Teads’ $1 billion deal with Outbrain includes $725 million in upfront cash, $25 million in deferred cash, 35 million shares of Outbrain common stock, and $105 million in convertible preferred equity.

Upon closing the transaction, David Kostman will serve as CEO of the combined company, with current Teads co-CEOs Quesada and Arditi as co-presidents. Meanwhile, Asaf Porat will take on the role of COO, overseeing the integration of the two companies. 

Teads’ parent company, Altice, will also appoint two board members (one non-affiliated) in addition to Outbrain’s existing eight.

Singapore – Open web technology platform Outbrain has appointed Chris Oxley to the newly created role of country manager for Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, wherein he will lead the charge in driving the expansion of Outbrain’s advertising business. 

In his new role, Oxley will oversee the development and implementation of Outbrain’s commercial strategy along with driving new business opportunities to accelerate revenue growth across the region. His responsibilities include building and maintaining strategic partnerships, amplifying Outbrain’s value proposition, and managing the Outbrain sales teams.

Most recently, Oxley was the national head of digital sales for Foxtel Media, where he launched programmatic TV and led the team to commercialise advertising on the streaming platform Binge. Prior to that, he had successful tenures at Yahoo and BSkyB, which have contributed to Oxley’s deep understanding of ad tech platforms, programmatic advertising and data-driven marketing.

Speaking on his appointment, Oxley said, “Outbrain has quickly become a leader in digital media, connecting advertisers with premium audiences in contextually relevant environments. I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to lead the ANZ and Singapore teams, solidifying our role as the primary engagement partner for some of the world’s top digital media companies.”

Meanwhile, Amrita de la Peña, APAC managing director at Outbrain commented, “Chris is a best-in-class sales leader. He leads from the front and has a remarkable track record of empowering sales teams to surpass their targets. He possesses extensive expertise with a passion in digital media and he strives to build an incredible sales team who are just as passionate as he is.”

“Chris was selected for his visionary mindset, strong relationships in-market, and successful track record of leading high performing teams. We are thrilled to welcome Chris to Outbrain at this exciting time of growth,” she added.

Sydney, Australia – News Corp Australia has signed a new multi-year agreement with technology platform Outbrain to elevate audiences’ online news experience across the news publisher’s digital properties.

News Corp Australia will leverage Outbrain’s Smartlogic, an AI-powered recommendation technology, to improve the online content discovery experience and how audiences explore and consume media across their digital platforms.

Outbrain’s advanced publisher suite, including its monetisation, audience development, and total revenue optimisation technology, will be integrated into News Corp Australia’s expansive online portfolio to enhance the content recommendation experience on high-traffic sites like news.com.au and taste.com.au.

Through this collaboration, advertisers can also gain new opportunities to reach a more diverse and engaged audience with Outbrain’s network for content discovery.

Combining News Corp Australia’s premium publisher content with Outbrain’s expertise in predicting engagement, the agreement aims to deliver enriched digital experiences to audiences that also drive sustainable, year-round revenue growth.

The collaboration builds on Outbrain’s market-leading network of publishers in Australia, which includes major Nine Entertainment properties, Daily Mail Australia, and Australian Community Media, further solidifying its position in the Australian market.

Eve Solomon, vice president and managing director of publisher business development at Outbrain, commented, “This collaboration with News Corp Australia is a monumental milestone for Outbrain. It epitomises our commitment to innovating and growing alongside leading media houses.”

“We are thrilled about the opportunities this opens up for advertisers aiming to reach premium audiences. Our advanced predictive technology, combined with News Corp Australia’s extensive online footprint, will usher in a new chapter of digital excellence and audience engagement, creating meaningful experiences for readers and advertisers in the Australian market,” she added.

Also speaking on the deal, Paul Blackburn, director for commercial data video and product at News Corp Australia, explained, “Outbrain’s sophisticated technology, experience, and focus on audience engagement complement our vision for growth and innovation. We are delighted to be working with them and eager to see the positive impact it will have on our digital platforms.”

Singapore – Outbrain has announced a strategic partnership with Cedara, an end-to-end carbon intelligence platform, to support Outbrain and its customers’ sustainability and decarbonisation efforts. 

The partnership will allow Outbrain to share in-depth emissions measurements with its advertiser partners, including those running on the company’s newly launched branding platform, ‘Onyx by Outbrain’. It will also enable the company to comprehensively measure carbon emissions across its global organisation. 

Moreover, the company announced the launch of its ‘smart-throttling’ tool – a response prediction model which uses machine learning to predict and recommend the most valuable requests for its demand-side-platform (DSP) partners.

Outbrain will leverage Cedara’s technology to assess its own current baseline, analyse data to identify areas for improvement, and empower advertisers to gain visibility into the emissions derived from their campaigns with Outbrain. The partnership also supports the industry-wide initiative Ad Net Zero, aimed at decarbonising the production, distribution, and publication of advertising. 

Yaron Galai, co-founder and co-CEO of Outbrain, said, “Outbrain is committed to shaping a better and more sustainable digital advertising ecosystem, and our partnership with Cedara combined with our Smart-Throttling tool will give us another avenue to support our premium publisher partners while addressing the need to reduce carbon emissions and ensure advertisers have a transparent way to measure the impact of their campaigns.” 

He added, “Our direct integrations with many of the most prestigious publishers across the globe make us supply-path-optimised by design, and this added layer will enable us to strengthen our focus on sustainability to continue building deeper partnerships with advertisers.”

Meanwhile, David Shaw, CEO & co-founder of Cedara, commented, “Cedara is thrilled to further enable Outbrain’s commitment to sustainability, while supporting their publisher and advertiser partners’ own paths to net zero. We applaud Outbrain’s industry-leading efforts at both an organisational and technological level in decarbonisation.”

Philippines – Outbrain, an open-source technology platform, has recently announced a new partnership with Summit Media, a local digital lifestyle media network. Outbrain’s continued leadership in providing product offerings, platform capabilities, and service is shown by this three-year contract.

The partnership creates more opportunities for advertisers to connect with targeted consumer audiences by extending Outbrain’s AI-driven customisation across Summit Media’s premium digital properties, which include platforms like PEP.ph, Cosmo.PH, Smart Parenting PH, and Esquire PH.

A diverse and engaged audience can be reached by advertisers by exclusively featuring Summit Media on the Outbrain network. An individualised user experience is promoted by Outbrain’s platform, which not only improves brand visibility but also incorporates content recommendations from advertisers.

Speaking about the partnership, Eve Solomon, managing director of publisher business development for JAPAC at Outbrain, commented, “Summit Media’s choice to once again partner with Outbrain after a brief stint with another advertising platform brings us great joy and is a clear indication of Outbrain’s unmatched ability to deliver outstanding results for our publishers and advertisers.” 

She added, “With Summit Media’s extensive network of websites, advertisers gain access to a broad and engaged audience, elevating the reach and impact of their campaigns. We look forward to empowering more advertisers to leverage the potential of native advertising and reach their target audiences effectively.”

Meanwhile, Monette De Leon, head of programmatic sales at Summit Media, said, “Outbrain’s platform empowers us to deliver relevant and engaging content to our readers seamlessly. We are confident that this new partnership will further elevate the user experience on our sites and enable us to attract more advertisers to run campaigns with us through Outbrain.”

Sydney, Australia – Yury Glikin has been promoted to the recently established role of commercial director overseeing Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) by Outbrain, a technology platform operating on the open web. This appointment is effective right away. 

Glikin will directly report to Amrita de la Peña, managing director APAC at Outbrain. 

Glikin will focus on building strong relationships with agencies and brand investments in his promoted role. In order to provide Outbrain’s clients with better service, this transformation entails improving Outbrain’s technological infrastructure and value proposition in partnership with agencies. 

He joined Outbrain in 2021 as head of sales for ANZ. Since then, his responsibilities have grown to include overseeing the creation and implementation of Outbrain’s commercial and sales strategy as well as the identification of new business opportunities for regional revenue growth. His responsibilities include developing new strategic partnerships, maintaining relationships with significant clients and stakeholders, and managing the Outbrain ANZ sales team.

Glikin has 20 years of experience creating strategic business alliances and managing

sales groups. He worked as the Australian country manager for Fiverr before joining Outbrain. held positions at HotelsCombined.com, Nine, BizCover, and Booking.com.

Speaking about his promotion, Glikin said, “With continued industry changes, Outbrain’s core proposition of connecting advertisers with premium audiences in contextually relevant environments is only going to become more important. Ensuring our team is set up for success to help achieve this is incredibly important, and I’m thrilled to be entrusted with guiding the ANZ team along this journey.”

Meanwhile, de la Peña, commented, “In just a few years at Outbrain, Yury has achieved fantastic results even amongst an unpredictable economic environment. His authentic style matched with the commitment he has for the team and our partners makes him a great fit for this new, strategic position. I’m excited to see the team scale to new heights under his guidance.” 

Malaysia – Malaysian publishers Malaysiakini and Media Works (Malay Mail) have renewed their relationships with Outbrain, a technological platform for the open web. The extended three-year renewals underline Outbrain and these publishers’ beneficial continuous partnership.

Outbrain is developing connections with publishers and providing content suggestion tools in order to increase traffic, enhance ad quality, and earn revenue by securing these renewals. 

In order to demonstrate the efficacy of Outbrain’s platform, Malaysiakini and Media Works have been useful in solidifying their position as important partners within the Outbrain network.

Outbrain has been able to reach a larger audience with its content discovery engine, Smartlogic, thanks to its relationship with Malaysiakini, an independent news outlet in Malaysia. Outbrain’s goal of connecting audiences with information and engaging experiences is ideally aligned with Malaysiakini’s commitment to offering reliable news and compelling content.

Eve Solomon, managing director, publisher business development for JAPAC at Outbrain, expressed, “We are delighted to announce the renewal of our partnerships with Malaysiakini and Media Works.” 

“Our shared commitment to excellence in journalism and their trust in our platform has allowed us to forge strong and enduring collaborations. We are excited to continue working together to deliver outstanding results and drive further growth for both publishers,” Solomon said. 

Speaking of the renewal of partnership, Manohar Kanagasingam, general manager of Malaysiakini, remarked, “At Malaysiakini, we strive to provide our readers with the most relevant and engaging content. Outbrain’s content recommendation capabilities have been instrumental in helping us achieve this goal.” 

He added, “We are excited to continue our partnership with Outbrain and leverage their AI technology to further enhance the user experience and deliver high-quality news to our audience.”

Media Works has shown growth in attracting and maintaining a sizable audience with the use of Outbrain’s content recommendation engine, all while optimising ad revenue.

Singapore – Eve Solomon has joined the team at Outbrain as its managing director of publisher business development in Asia-Pacific. In her new role, Solomon will be in charge of enhancing Outbrain‘s APAC supply operations by bringing her nine years of experience to the company.

She led a cross-functional team for four and a half years that was in charge of managing Outbrain’s international strategic accounts. Her strategic perspective and consultative style played a role in expanding the alliance beyond typical native placements and clearly demonstrating her contribution.

Speaking on her appointment, she said, “It’s truly a welcome return for me to be back in my home country and join the Outbrain APAC team.” She also stated, “Outbrain’s commitment to innovation while providing publishers the ability to maximise the impact of user engagement and loyalty is consistent across all markets. I’m excited to continue driving growth and building strategic relationships that deliver results for our publisher partners across APAC.” 

Solomon will also take on the duty of building the development of Outbrain’s APAC supply business as part of her new role. She will accomplish this by establishing alliances with current, credible publishers. Solomon will also give proper resources and support a higher priority in order to strengthen Outbrain’s current APAC business.

Amrita de la Peña, managing director APAC at Outbrain, said, “Eve’s extensive experience and deep understanding of Outbrain’s operations will undoubtedly strengthen our collaborative efforts across APAC. Together, we will drive strategic partnerships, deliver exceptional services to publishers, and ensure mutual success in the dynamic digital advertising landscape.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie Himoff, EVP global publishers at Outbrain, commented, “Eve’s dedication, expertise, and passion for the industry make her a valuable addition to the APAC team. Her extensive experience on the publisher side, combined with her strategic mindset, will truly strengthen our relationships with publishers in the APAC region and drive mutual growth.” 

Singapore – Mothership, the youth-focused digital news platform in Singapore, has forged a partnership with Outbrain, the recommendation platform for the open web.

The partnership will see Outbrain’s AI-driven customisation featured on the digital publisher’s website, providing advertisers with premium inventory reaching younger, hard-to-reach audiences in new and innovative ways.

Mothership is the third-largest news site in Singapore by traffic, according to Similarweb, and reaches a significant portion of Singapore’s Millennial population. Outbrain’s Smartlogic technology will enable Mothership to further monetise its traffic by personalising the user experience and content recommendations for readers.

Ben Steel, GM of Outbrain for SEA, commented, “Supporting quality local journalism has never been more important, and is at the heart of our mission at Outbrain. So we are thrilled to partner with Mothership to help this fantastic Singaporean success story keep on telling the stories that matter.” 

“Importantly, Mothership speaks to younger audiences, a hard-to-reach group for many marketers. Outbrain’s innovative technology and data-driven approach will provide new ways to communicate with this vibrant group.”

Daniel Ho, head of corporate development at Mothership, also said, “We are excited to adopt Outbrain’s AI-driven customisation with editorial, ad, and layout prediction, to better serve our audiences and generate positive brand value.”

Outbrain has also previously inked partnerships with Singaporean publishers Singapore Press Holdings, Mediacorp, and AsiaOne.