Tag: Outbrain

New York, USA – Outbrain Inc., a recommendation platform for the open web, today announced key promotions to scale global operations, drive innovation, and expand Outbrain’s offerings for brands, advertisers, and publishers. These appointments follow Alexander Erlmeier’s promotion to chief revenue officer in October 2022. 

“Evolving customer habits and emerging technologies continue to necessitate agility and resiliency among technology and advertising organisations,” said Erlmeier. “With an expanded and unified leadership team, Outbrain is [well-positioned] to scale alongside the evolving industry. Together with our teams across the globe, our newly appointed senior leadership team will work to build deeper audience engagement to maximise brand impact for our advertisers and to help publishers diversify revenue streams.”

The leadership appointments include:

  • Ayal Steiner as executive vice president of brand solutions who will be overseeing the development of innovative solutions for brands and agencies looking to drive measurable outcomes and deeper engagement with audiences.
  • Stephanie Himoff as executive vice president of global publishers who will be leading strategic publisher initiatives on a global scale.
  • Sarah Baird as senior vice president of revenue operations who will be leading revenue operations and enablement functions to provide strategies designed to support clients at scale.
  • Craig Hughes as senior vice president of corporate development and strategy and as general manager of video who is tasked to drive Outbrain’s video strategy and business globally, and manage strategic initiatives and partnerships to deepen Outbrain’s industry presence.
  • Klaus Ludemann as senior vice president of programmatic and partnerships who is tasked to manage programmatic partnerships and adoption in service of advertisers and publishers.
  • Guy Yagur as senior vice president for global performance and growth revenue who will be leading a newly centralised global hub focused on supporting and scaling performance-based and DIY customers.

“We are moving with full force and are taking important steps to align our business model to best fit the evolving needs of brands, advertisers and publishers while seizing new opportunities for revenue and product growth,” said David Kostman, Co-CEO of Outbrain. “These appointments are an essential part of our plan to scale our business effectively and efficiently and enable Outbrain to integrate emerging technologies aimed at advancing the industry and driving value for our customers.”

Just recently, Outbrain announced the appointment of Amrita de la Peña, former general manager for APAC at Sprout Social and head of global brands for JAPAC at Twitter, to serve as managing director for the APAC.

Singapore – Global recommendation platform Outbrain has named Amrita de la Peña as its new managing director for Asia-Pacific. In her new role, de la Peña will be responsible for expanding the company’s offerings for agencies, brand advertisers, and publishers in the region.

Prior to joining Outbrain, she was recently the first general manager for Sprout Social in APAC. She also spent six years as the head of global brands for JAPAC at Twitter.

She brings with her over 25 years of experience in the digital marketing, media and advertising space.

Speaking of her new role, she said, “I am excited to join Outbrain at a time when the company is poised for significant growth in the APAC region. More and more marketers are understanding the real importance of trusted, premium content environments and looking to drive measurable outcomes and deeper engagement with audiences. I look forward to helping more brands, advertisers, and publishers leverage Outbrain’s suite of innovative technology and create even more value for all sides.”

Meanwhile, Alexander Erlmeier, chief revenue officer at Outbrain, commented: “Amrita is a seasoned leader with a track record of success in the digital marketing and advertising space. We are thrilled to have her on board as we continue to innovate our solutions to better serve brands, advertisers, and publishers. With her expertise and leadership, we are confident that we can build even more strong partnerships and deliver innovative solutions for our clients.”

De la Peña’s appointment follows recent appointments within Outbrain’s C-suite lineup namely Yonatan Maman as chief technology officer and Andraz Tori as chief product officer.

Sydney, Australia – Global recommendation platform Outbrain has announced key appointments to its C-suite team namely Yonatan Maman as chief technology officer and Andraz Tori in the newly-created executive role of chief product officer. Ori Lahav, who is the current chief technology officer as well as a co-founder and general manager for Israel, will transition his responsibilities and focus on cross-company strategic initiatives, while continuing his role in Israel.

Maman joined Outbrain in 2011 as a senior software engineer and has served as vice president of engineering for the past five years. While leading Outbrain’s research and development team, he brought modern practices and new capabilities to the growing engineering organisation. 

Meanwhile, Tori has served as head of recommendations and data science at Outbrain for the past four years, following Outbrain’s acquisition of Zemanta, of which he was a founder.

The newly-appointed executives will support Outbrain’s growth by building upon the company’s existing technologies and product offerings to align with the evolving needs of publishers, brands and advertisers as they increasingly seek to drive measurable outcomes while building deeper engagement with audiences. Both Maman and Tori will report to David Kostman, Co-CEO of Outbrain.

Kostman said, “Under Ori’s esteemed leadership, Yonatan and Andraz have helped transform our engineering team into a world-class technology organisation, built a mature infrastructure fit for supporting our partners, and helped us reach over $1 billion in revenue.”

Meanwhile, Lahav commented, “Yonatan and Andraz bring distinct strengths and capabilities to our team, and we’re fortunate to have a succession stemming from internal drivers of Outbrain success. I’m confident they will have a positive impact on the engineering organisation and the future of Outbrain as our company continues to evolve to meet the needs of this dynamic industry.”

Sydney, Australia – Recommendation platform Outbrain has announced the release of Keystone, a business optimisation platform aimed at aligning a publisher’s complete set of business initiatives with a more tailored experience for audiences.

Keystone applies Outbrain’s proprietary bidding and optimisation AI technologies to integrate every revenue-generating facet of a publisher’s site, including subscriptions, e-commerce, and any other business goal unique to each publisher.

While Outbrain’s current recommendation technology provided nearly US$745M in direct payments to Outbrain’s media partners in 2021 alone, Keystone is expected to help media owners increase their earnings by providing a more customised experience for readers across all properties and initiatives.

In addition, the technology utilised Outbrain’s AI conversion prediction-engine to create dynamic user segmentation, and the Keystone dashboard provides full transparency and a unified view of business initiatives to monitor and report on KPIs, inform strategies, and gather insights in real time.

Yaron Galai, co-founder and co-CEO of Outbrain, said, “Keystone is a technology that publishers can rely on to make the most of audiences’ digital experiences while preserving quality editorial content. The anticipated result is a tailored user experience supporting a more diversified revenue mix that positions our media partners for future growth.”

Keystone currently has four design partners including a large US news publisher and a leading European financial publisher.

Meanwhile, Andrew Burke, managing director for APAC and growth markets (India, China, Brazil) at Outbrain, commented, “With Keystone, publishers will be able to revolutionise the way they connect with their readers, providing a whole new level of engagement. This new tool has great potential, and we’re excited to offer it to audiences in our region.”

Lastly, Amit Elisha, general manager of Keystone and VP of products of Outbrain, said, “With publisher ad revenues under pressure, static experiences across all touchpoints are causing them to leave money on the table. “Providing a more tailored experience for readers by understanding their intent will create loyalty, ultimately driving repeat visits and increasing the value of a publisher’s business.”

Pandemics, war, political dogfights and soaring inflation. You’re not imagining it – we’re being put through the wringer currently.

The recent instability we’ve experienced has only been exacerbated by the massive amounts of information being thrown at us every day. We’re being inundated – and when we’re trying to understand what our new future looks like, it’s important to have information we can rely on.

This is a major reason why news websites have seen surges in audience numbers lately. People need reliable and accurate information to understand the changing world around them.

There is no more room for misinformation. Not when we’ve all seen how dangerous it can be. Being able to trust the content we’re consuming is now one of the biggest differentiators in choosing which online platforms we frequent.

Trust has always been essential to advertisers, but it’s now more important, and difficult to achieve than ever. And with so many online media platforms competing for attention, it’s no wonder why customers are feeling a bit suspicious of the ads they’re seeing.

A recent global study by Outbrain and Savanta looked into the changing nature of trust, recommendations and advertising online. The research discovered that news sites are some of the most trusted online spaces, with 75% of respondents saying they trust the information they find there. That’s compared to just 54% who trust social media sites.

So while trust is harder to win, it can still be won with robust and accurate information. The more likely a website is to offer unreliable information, the more likely it will lose its audience. The said study found that 21% of people are planning to spend less time on social media in the next six months. Of that group, 36% are planning to spend that time visiting websites with editorial content.

This movement means it’s increasingly important that advertisers and marketers think more deeply about where brands appear online. Advertising needs to foster trust for both the page and the brand alike – it’s not just about ensuring the ad aligns with the general theme of the page anymore.

We can already see the effects of this shift in some major internet companies. Take Netflix and Facebook. Netflix had a widely publicised fall in subscribers for the first time in the first quarter of this year, and Facebook reported a drop in Daily Average Users in the last quarter of 2021.

These are both stalwarts of the digital space, and both are battling a content problem. Their trust exchanges are failing as their audiences no longer believe their attention (and in Netflix’s case – money) is being rewarded adequately. The situations aren’t unrelated.

In the new world, customers expect that in exchange for the attention they pay to your brand, they’ll be rewarded with helpful information they can actually use in their lives. Audiences cannot be taken for granted anymore. Any value your brand can provide needs to be established before they can expect to move customers through the purchase journey. 

So in the battle to win trust in the online arena, there are a few ways brands can ensure they’re targeting customers in the most effective and engaging way possible.

Native advertising is considered the least intrusive ad type, with only 20% of people considering it intrusive and 64% placing their trust in it. This is compared to 29% of respondents who say social feed ads are the most intrusive. People are either going online to escape or to find specific information – don’t disrupt that experience with a jarring ad.

Headlines and personalisation are also key ways to ensure you’re targeting customers in the most unobtrusive way. Most customers now prefer to see their recommendations personalised with headlines. Specifically, the research by Outbrain found that household decision-makers are significantly more likely to prefer personalised recommendations (59%) and headlines (58%) than non-decision makers.

These headlines need to be short, sharp and snappy – much like a news headline would be. They’re most effective for grabbing attention and pulling customers in to learn more about the topic.

Personalisation is also one of the best ways to achieve trust and provide a helpful experience online for younger age groups. These demographics resoundingly prefer an evolving experience unique to their preferences, with 53% of 18-24 year olds and 48% of 25-34 year olds choosing this option. To reach these groups, update your creative to highlight the products or services they’re interested in. Be smart about optimising your messaging to reflect where your customers are in their purchasing journey – if you get that wrong, you risk isolating them for good.

It may feel as if it’s all doom and gloom at the moment. But in a time of uncertainty, being trusted by your customer is invaluable – and can be the difference between your brand and your competitors.

This article is written by Ben Steel, general manager of Outbrain for SEA.

Singapore – Global web recommendation platform Outbrain has appointed Benjamin Steel, former head of business development for APAC at advertising agency Bench, to be its new general manager for SEA. 

In his new role, Steel, who will be based in Singapore, will be responsible for developing Outbrain‘s regional business strategy and digital growth, leading a successful business team and delivering revenue growth from both publisher and advertiser sales.

Steel has a wealth of experience in APAC, having spent eight years based in Singapore. Aside from his previous role at Bench, Steel has held senior sales management roles at eGentic and AB Tasty. Moreover, he has held various roles in Australia, including new business manager at Yahoo, where he was tasked with launching Yahoo Native.

Commenting on his appointment, Steel said that Outbrain is a rapidly growing company and now is an excellent time to join the team, as he aspires to make a positive difference here.

“Great content matters even more today than ever before. Outbrain publishers can expect continued support to better monetise journalism and independent journalism as we expand deeper into South East Asia regions,” he added.

Meanwhile, Andrew Burke, Outbrain’s managing director for APAC and growth markets (India, China, and Brazil), shared that Steel brings a strong track record of digital technology experience and is the ideal candidate to help lead the business in South East Asia, a region that is becoming increasingly important to their business.

“As Outbrain’s new general manager, we know Benjamin is committed to growing our existing presence in the market. He already has plans to expand the publisher base and deepen relationships with marketers and agencies using our innovative monetisation tools. In doing so, we’re working towards building a thriving native advertising ecosystem in the region,” said Burke.

He added, “His expertise in digital advertising and ability to collaborate in a team-oriented environment will advance our growth in the region, and we are very much looking forward to working with him.”

Singapore – Global web recommendation platform Outbrain has expanded its global partnership with tech giant Microsoft, to utilise cloud computing service Microsoft Azure and encompass business, technology, and services.

Outbrain has been a long-standing Microsoft partner, through technology and advertising integrations that span MSN, Microsoft 365, Xbox, gaming, and Microsoft Bing. The expansion of the partnership will entail a multi-year Azure engagement to further enable the fast-paced innovation of Outbrain’s media platform. 

Through this, Outbrain aims to leverage Azure to further its global expansion, accelerate development cycles, and improve connectivity between advertisers and publishers, particularly with Outbrain’s programmatic bidders. This will also continue to drive forward the partnership through continuous innovation, enhancing Outbrain’s extensive data estate with a rich set of tools and services, ultimately helping Outbrain’s customers improve their business outcomes.

David Kostman, Outbrain’s co-CEO, commented that they are excited to further expand their strategic partnership with Microsoft, as they both share the mission of supporting independent journalism and the open web.

“Over the course of the last decade, we have worked together to serve publishers and advertisers with high-quality solutions across the globe. Extending our partnership with Microsoft to include Microsoft Azure technology as part of our hybrid cloud platform will drive innovation and deepen the relationship between our companies,” said Kostman.

Meanwhile, Andrew Burke, Outbrain’s managing director for APAC and growth markets, namely India, China, and Brazil, said, “This partnership represents another significant milestone in our efforts to provide innovative solutions to publishers and advertisers in our local markets”

Tara Brady, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of strategic partnerships, said, “We are pleased to expand our established partnership and look forward to partnering with Outbrain’s technology teams as they leverage Microsoft Azure’s most advanced technologies to service their customers.”

Rob Wilk, Microsoft’s vice president of advertising, commented, “We’ve been impressed by Outbrain’s platform, scale, and technology and are pleased to see Outbrain embrace Microsoft Azure and look forward to how it will improve performance for advertisers in Microsoft’s growing advertising ecosystem and on the open web.”

Singapore – Outbrain, a global recommendation platform for the open web, has announced the date of its upcoming virtual event ‘Unveil 2022’, an annual advertising innovation conference dedicated to address current trends in direct-to-consumer marketing. The event is slated to take place on 17 March at 12 pm, SGT.

As the event will cover the topic of marketers engaging with customers on the open web, ‘Unveil 2022’ will provide an in-depth and exclusive look into this topic while revealing the latest integrated digital technology to be showcased at Outbrain. Attendees can expect discussions across themes of brand creativity, marketing simplicity, and campaign performance.

In addition, the event will provide a glimpse at never-before-seen products and advertising technology from Outbrain that helps grow business and find customers online.

“With a rapid increase in online shopping seen across the pandemic, brands and marketers are at risk of being left behind if they don’t use the appropriate technology to connect with audiences. Outbrain has seen this trend and has been working to help brands and marketers grow their business with advertising technology that drives discovery results,” the company said in a press statement.

The event will also tackle innovations directly relating to improving advertising communications such as title suggestions to support campaign management and foster user engagement, as well as Outbrain’s solutions that will explore new and original technology across platforms and multimedia that focuses on the creative and landing page optimisation.

Eytan Galai, chief revenue officer at Outbrain, said, “Unveil is a key event for advertisers. It’s Outbrain’s chance to share our most exciting innovations and new platform capabilities as an opportunity for advertisers to learn about new tools and platform features designed to help them stay ahead of the game.” 

Meanwhile, Andrew Burke, managing director for APAC and growth markets at Outbrain, commented, “It’s been a year full of marketing and technological feats across our industry. I’m looking forward to delving into topics such as the use of high-quality in-stream video inventory such as Video Intelligence AG (VI) to support our brand advertisers. I’m mostly keen to share what is an increasingly important platform in your digital marketing arsenal that helps you invest in Direct-To-Consumer Marketing and ultimately gives your business more leads.”

He added, ‘Unveil 2022’ will be about how your brand can innovate and adapt to new dynamics. It will be about connecting with your audience in fresh ways. The event is not just a recap of the trends but an exploration of what the future might hold for brands.”

Register for Outbrain’s ‘Unveil 2022’ HERE.

Sydney, Australia – Global web recommendation platform Outbrain has appointed Paul Knegten, former senior marketing executive of CTV platform FreeWheel, to step into its newly created position of chief marketing officer (CMO).

Knegten brings his deep background in advertising technology in this hyper-growth sector of ad tech to Outbrain following its acquisition of video intelligence AG, a contextual video platform in the CTV space. Prior to FreeWheel, Knegten was the CMO for Beeswax, which was acquired in 2021 by Comcast’s FreeWheel.

In his new role, Knegten will be leading Outbrain’s global marketing initiatives and will be instrumental in promoting the platform’s global brand. He will also oversee the global and regional planning, development, and execution of Outbrain’s strategic and product marketing programs and campaigns.

Commenting on his appointment, Knegten said, “I have been watching Outbrain since its founding with admiration and am beyond excited to join this amazing team and build upon Outbrain’s unparalleled technology and product leadership.”

Meanwhile, David Kostman, Outbrain’s co-CEO, commented that Knegten is a talented, experienced, and impressive addition to their executive team and the ideal person to drive their brand and global marketing. 

He further shared that Outbrain is on the verge of its annual 2022 advertising innovation conference, ‘Unveil’, and Knegten is joining the company at an exciting time.

“Paul’s extensive and proven track record in our markets will be invaluable as we continue to grow as a leading recommendation platform for the open web across platforms,” said Kostman.

‘Unveil 2022’ is a digital innovation roadshow which will run for a single day on 17 March 2022 for the APAC region, which is now open for early registration.

Singapore – Recommendation platform Outbrain has announced an agreement with global technology company Vivo, to power Vivo’s browser newsfeed with native content.

Through the agreement, Vivo will utilize Outbrain’s OB News feature, which relies on content from Outbrain’s premium publisher network and allows partners to tap into a stream of editorial content from these sites at no extra cost alongside trusted native monetization.

Said news and native advertising format allows Outbrain’s partners to choose from a range of categories to match their users’ interests and will specifically help Vivo’s daily active users across Southeast Asia discover leading editorial content in new ways and in new places.

Bob Xu, business development director at Vivo, said, “The easy integration of OB News into our platform allowed us to already see a marked improvement in our user engagement and monetization strategy. Outbrain’s recommendation technology is second-to-none in terms of editorial content and brand-safe environment.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie Himoff, VP of publishers at Outbrain, commented, “We continue to work with top-tier OEMs to be the premier business partner in the industry. Utilizing our best-in-class recommendation technology, such as OB News, to help partners optimize their engagement and monetization journey is something we continue to pride ourselves in as we work with Vivo to put our recommendations in front of audiences across the world.”