The Independent and The Evening Standard have partnered with Outbrain to increase user engagement

New Outbrain partnerships helps contribute 40% increase in click-through rates on The Independent and The Evening Standard

The Independent and The Evening Standard have partnered with Outbrain, the leading content discovery platform, to increase user engagement across their online sites via smart personalised recommendations on editorial content.

Following a successful trial of Outbrain, which has contributed to a 40% increase in click-through rates, both newspaper websites have decided to work with Outbrain exclusively across all platforms – video, mobile and desktop.

Follow @OutbrainUK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OutbrainUK

In addition to providing internal links to boost engagement across its sites, both websites will also use Outbrain Amplify to provide links to external third-party content on a pay per click (PPC) basis and take advantage of Outbrain Engage’s new editorial features and real-time analytics for optimal editorial performance*.

As the first UK user of Outbrain Engage’s editorial decision platform*, The Independent and The Evening Standard will work with Outbrain to support and improve content performance on homepages, section fronts and social channels. For both newspapers, this multi-faceted approach to editorial support, together with impressive results, cemented their decision in choosing to work with Outbrain.

Christian Broughton, Digital Editor, The Independent commented: “During many years working in print journalism, meaningful, proven insights into reader engagement were rare. Now, with Outbrain, we get instant insights that we can act on, live, as stories happen. That’s a huge asset – fascinating and informative for the team working on layout, while delivering incremental revenue as we go. Most importantly of all, it helps make our site more enjoyable for everyone who visits.”

Outbrain connects more than 391 million** people per month to quality content and serves twice as many recommendations per day as its closest competitor. It is constantly advancing its services through innovation and strategic acquisitions and most recently acquired Visual Revenue *. In 2012 it also acquired content-curation platform Scribit in a bid to continue to extend and further improve its product offering.

Stephanie Himoff, Outbrain’s UK Managing Director added:  “We are passionate about good journalism, and committed to providing the best tools to help publishers, editors and journalists maximise their content in this rapidly-shifting editorial landscape. It’s fantastic to be working with The Independent and Evening Standard, helping their readers discover great content online, while also supporting their skilled editorial teams with new tools such as our editorial decision support platform, part of Outbrain Engage.

In the UK, Outbrain is currently implemented on over 200 publisher sites including The Telegraph, Sky News and The Daily Express. Outbrain recently extended its global reach to seven new European markets including France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Worldwide Outbrain now serves over 100 billion recommendations per month and is installed on over 100,000 sites.

* Outbrain Engage – New Editorial Features

Following the acquisition of Visual Revenue and its editorial decision support platform in March 2013, Outbrain Engage now offers features that reduce the complexity of managing content and increase audience engagement across a publisher’s web properties. These features help publishers drive toward their specific objectives, all while maintaining their distinctive editorial voice; they offer real-time, first-hand understanding of audience interaction and the tools needed to act upon it.

** comScore Media Metrix

About Outbrain
Outbrain (www.outbrain.com), the leading content discovery platform, is on a mission to help readers find the most interesting content online, while giving publishers and brands the ability to reach a highly engaged audience. Using personalised links, Outbrain recommends content across a network of more than 700 premium publishers, including The Guardian, The Telegraph, CNN, Sky News, Future Publishing and Express Group. Links to content on a publisher’s own site increase stickiness, while links to high-quality third-party content increase site traffic and generate revenue.

Outbrain is currently installed on more than 100,000 sites and generates more than 100 billion recommendations per month. Founded in 2006, the company is headquartered in New York, with 15 offices globally, including the U.S., U.K., Israel, Singapore and Australia. Outbrain has also recently extended its reach in Europe which now includes France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

Follow @OutbrainUK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OutbrainUK

For further information please contact Annabel Parkinson or Roxanne Kingsman  at CubanEight on 01869 238089 / Outbrain@cubaneight.com