Outbrain acquires Teads for $1B to form new open-web advertising heavyweight

Dive Brief:

Outbrain is acquiring Teads for $1 billion to create a new independent, end-to-end advertising platform, according to a press release.
The deal combines the performance focus of Outbrain with Teads’ specialty in digital video and connected TV (CTV). Outbrain CEO David Kostman will lead the combined company, with Teads Co-CEOs Bertrand Quesada and Jeremy Arditi acting as co-presidents.
The new entity will cover over 50 markets and reach more than 2 billion consumers per month, making for one of the largest open-web advertising platforms. The acquisition comes as advertisers are seeking alternatives to digital advertising’s established duopoly.

Dive Insight:

Outbrain’s acquisition of Teads aims to address the push-pull many advertisers are currently experiencing in balancing brand building with performance marketing, all at a time when signal loss is on the rise. Outbrain, a content-recommendation firm known for promoting blogs and articles around the internet, will cover the performance bases while Teads fills a need for more upper-funnel video and CTV know-how and ad inventory.

The $1 billion transaction, expected to close in Q1 2025, will create a new independent advertising platform with wide reach across the open web, CTV and mobile. The combined company wields 20,000 direct advertiser relationships and access to over 10,000 “premium media environments,” per the press release.

“This is a transformative transaction to establish a true end-to-end, full-funnel platform for the open internet,” said Kostman in a press statement. “The combination of our highly-complementary offerings accelerates our vision to become the preferred partner to deliver meaningful brand outcomes across premium, quality media environments — while scaling the industry-leading offerings Teads is known for.”

The potential introduction of another scaled, full-funnel offering in digital comes as the open-web market is growing in value but mired in transparency and privacy challenges. The Outbrain-Teads news also comes as ad-tech M&A has been on the rise this year.

Outbrain is purchasing Teads from embattled telecommunications provider Altice. The deal is being financed through a mix of cash, common stock and convertible preferred equity. Altice acquired Teads in 2017 but has been looking to sell the ad-tech unit for some time. Outbrain COO Asaf Porat is leading the integration and Altice will appoint two members to Outbrain’s board as part of the process, one of them unaffiliated with its business.

Earlier reporting indicated Altice was seeking between 2 billion to 3 billion euros for Teads. Altice has spent the year embroiled in a corruption scandal and is contending with a pile of debt.