The upcoming acquisition of Teads by Outbrain will create a “real powerhouse for the open internet” that can offer advertisers a true, large-scale alternative to walled gardens, according to David Kostman, CEO of Outbrain.
The deal, announced in August and expected to close in the coming weeks, will combine Teads’ pioneering outstream video capabilities with Outbrain’s native performance expertise. This will enable a full-funnel solution for advertisers to reach audiences across publishers, platforms, and CTV, Kostman said in this video interview with Beet.TV.
“We believe it will sort of open an opportunity for advertisers to have a true, huge-scale company that is focused on the open internet, focused on omni-channel between publishers, other platforms, and CTV and offering a full funnel solution for advertisers to advertise from branding campaigns to consideration and to conversions,” Kostman told Julian Zilberbrand, CEO of Ivey Milton Consultants.
Competing with walled gardens
One key difference between the open internet and walled gardens is the lack of data on logged-in users. However, Outbrain has invested heavily in contextual targeting, predictive demographics, and other capabilities that can still drive strong outcomes for advertisers, Kostman noted.
“The open internet does connect people with content that is trustworthy, which makes the advertising around it also more trustworthy generally,” he said. “This is a unique aspect and this is part of how we compete and deliver what we call elevated outcomes to advertisers on the open internet that we believe are on par or better than what the walled gardens can offer.”
‘Our Acquisition of Teads Gives Marketers Full-Funnel Reach’: Outbrain’s David Kostman
Leveraging unique data assets
As a result of being code-on-page with publishers, Outbrain and Teads have access to contextual data beyond just the advertising impression. This includes insights into users’ interests based on the articles they read and engage with.
“We have much more data, especially in a combined basis, much more than just the advertising impression, but really the context, the reading, the depth of time you spend on a certain topic,” Kostman explained. “And then, that helps us deliver great outcomes.”
Looking ahead, Kostman’s vision is for the combined Outbrain-Teads entity to become the go-to destination for omni-channel campaigns across the open internet. The company says it will have close to $2 billion in revenue.
“If we can become that one-stop shop destination for advertisers on the open internet, and expanding beyond publishers, games, CTV, potentially looking into other areas that are non-walled gardens, I think that’s, that would be a great achievement for us in the coming years,” he said.
You’re watching “Rethinking the Open Internet”, a Beet.TV Leadership Series at CES 2025, presented by Outbrain. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can view all of our CES 2025 content here.
