Sydney, Australia – Global web recommendation platform, Outbrain, has acquired video intelligence AG (vi), the Swiss-based contextual video technology platform, to strengthen its video offering for media owners and advertisers.
vi’s contextual and machine learning technology enables media owners to enhance user engagement and monetization by adding relevant video content to articles. It also provides advertisers with video ad inventory that drives awareness and user engagement.
Yaron Galai, Outbrain’s co-Founder and co-CEO, said the combination will allow Outbrain to deepen its partnership with media owners, providing mid- and top-of-article video solutions.
“It will also expand our addressable market, introducing high-quality in-stream video inventory to support our brand advertisers. We see significant synergies between our companies and we are very excited to welcome the incredibly talented and experienced vi team to Outbrain,” said Galai.
Kai Henniges, the co-Founder and CEO of vi, believes that their years of video expertise and unique offering for publishers and CTV providers are a perfect addition to Outbrain’s market position and premium global media owner partnerships.
“Together we will accelerate our mission to inspire, inform and entertain users by putting video in context. We believe we have found a great match between our companies’ cultures and we share the same vision of the future of media,” said Henniges.
According to Outbrain, the acquisition of vi is worth the purchase price of approximately US$55m, funded by US$46.75 million of balance sheet cash and 412,500 Outbrain shares. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022 and is expected to be accretive in the first year.