European digital publisher Axel Springer selects Outbrain to power its sponsored content recommendations

Outbrain Inc., a recommendation technology company, has announced it had been selected by Axel Springer, Europe’s digital publisher, to power its sponsored content recommendations – placing it among Outbrain’s top ten publisher partners.

According to the agreement, the German digital offerings of the BILD and WELT Groups as well as B.Z., Rolling Stone, Musikexpress, and Metal Hammer will integrate Outbrain's recommendation technology to serve personalized editorial article recommendations and support Axel Springer's monetization with native advertising. BILD and WELT will start March 30, 2022, the other brands will follow shortly thereafter.

BUSINESS INSIDER Germany, finanzen.net, POLITICO in the USA as well as the media brands of Axel Springer in Spain already exclusively use Outbrain's recommendation technology.

Key factors in Axel Springer's decision to select Outbrain were the native platform's contextual technology, which provides both publishers and marketers with a solution built for the post-3rd-party cookie era, and Outbrain's commitment to quality, which was reinforced by the announcement of QualityRating last year. In addition, Outbrain's regional sales and account management team ensures broad and consistent demand through longstanding partnerships with the leading brands and agencies.

Peter Würtenberger, Executive Vice President, Axel Springer SE: "As a media and technology company, we are committed to providing our readers and viewers with the best possible user experience with the information that is most relevant to them. Thanks to the cooperation with Outbrain, we are further expanding the possibilities to provide users with personalized recommendations. In a rapidly changing ecosystem, it is a great advantage for us that the algorithm is also based on contextual article data in particular.”

Alexander Erlmeier, Managing Director International, Outbrain: "We are thrilled to further expand our strategic partnership with Axel Springer and warmly welcome Bild and Welt Groups and their many other quality brands to our platform. The shift of these brands to Outbrain will allow advertisers to benefit from massively expanded reach across the highest quality publications that now amounts to 92% of the German internet population. Axel Springer is a pioneer in digital publishing, and we look forward to this long-term partnership."

www.outbrain.com

www.axelspringer.com

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