Outbrain
Outbrain and Taboola spent years fighting for the same grid of thumbnails at the bottom of news sites. They merged in 2024, crushed publisher revenue shares, and formed a $2.3 billion duopoly on open-web recommendation.
Outbrain and Tabula merged in 2024 to create the largest content recommendation platform on the open internet. Before the merger, both competed for the same real estate, the grid of articles at the bottom of news websites. Competition drove publisher revenue shares to 50%, squeezing both companies' margins. Outbrain had launched in 2006 with a different philosophy. While Tabula optimized for clicks, Outbrain optimized for engagement quality, measuring time spent rather than just the click. Publishers preferred Outbrain because higher quality recommendations kept readers on-site longer, generating more page views. Combined revenue exceeded $2.3 billion in 2024. The merged company served over 1 billion daily users across 30,000 websites.
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