Dentsu Aegis Network Australia has strengthened its relationship with content marketing and amplification business Outbrain, with the two businesses looking to link Dentsu clients with premium publishers.
Outbrain partners with premium publishers such as Fairfax Media, News Corp, Mi9, Yahoo7, The Guardian and Bauer Media, in order to promote digital content across desktop, tablet and mobile.
“As our clients shift more into digital content marketing, we are focused on providing solutions that help brands scale and drive the right impact from these activities,” said Andrew Reid, Dentsu Aegis Network Australia head of digital and data.
"Outbrain has the scale to drive the right impact with the right audience, and its extensive publisher partner network includes premium sites that our clients trust.”
Dentsu's partnership with Outbrain rivals GroupM's ownership of the main rival to Outbrain, Plista.
WWP acquired Plista at the end 2013 and GroupM has been having conversations about the service with its Australian advertisers and publishers since mid-2014 regarding a roll-out of Plista.
The service launched on Australian shores in January and claimed it wouldn't be long until is was a serious rival for the US-owned Outbrain.
Outbrain’s head for Australia and New Zealand, Ayal Steiner, previously told AdNews there was a “fundamental difference” between his offer and most others, Plista in particular.
“You have to understand Plista is an ad network,” Steiner said. “Outbrain is a content discovery network. There is a fundamental difference. We don’t run ads. We focus very clearly on running content that adds value. We have very strict editorial guidelines in that space on a publisher’s page.
“By sticking ads into a content stream, readers will eventually pick up it’s an ad, avoid clicking and it will very quickly drift into the blind spot of readers just like any attempt to advertise on the page.
"This is not a sustainable business model for publishers. The focus has to be on the reader’s trust and continuing to grow this rather than get a quick lemon squeeze.”
Adam Carroll, head of brands and agencies for Outbrain Australia - New Zealand, said: “We are committed to operating openly and transparently to drive better outcomes for our publishers by working across the entire marketplace of brands and agencies.
“Dentsu Aegis agencies have been extremely forward-thinking and early adopters of new technologies and capabilities we bring to the table. Most Australian brands are still experimenting with digital content marketing and run a simple model for success that is based on page-views and cost-per-click, rather than a model that is engagement and performance driven.”
The primary partnership agreement will cover all Dentsu Aegis Network Australia agencies and aims to help drive stronger ROI for the increasing number of brands doing content marketing.
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