Outbrain

Was a top-two global content discovery and native advertising platform; retired brand following 2025 merger that formed Teads Holding Co.

Outbrain, now operating as Teads, was a web recommendation platform founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City.¹ The company generated revenue for online publishers by displaying feeds of content and ads — known as chumboxes — on websites and mobile platforms, with advertisers paying on a pay-per-click basis and a portion of that revenue shared with publishers.¹ It placed sponsored "recommended for you" widgets on premium publisher sites such as CNN and BBC, where users encountered the recommendations as part of the editorial experience rather than as conventional ads.² Its algorithm drew on contextual signals — including the publisher, the article being read, and the user's interests — alongside performance feedback to surface relevant sponsored content, with destination quality influencing both placement and cost.² In August 2024, Outbrain announced plans to merge with Teads in an approximately $1 billion transaction, and following receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, the combined company was subsequently renamed Teads Holding Co.¹ Source 1: wikipedia.org — Outbrain Source 2: adtribute.io — Outbrain: Features & Reviews | adtribute Directory