Asia next area of focus for US start-up Outbrain

EVER felt unfulfilled and asked yourself "but what's next?" after you have finished reading an online article? That's the feeling US start-up Outbrain - "passionate about helping people discover great content" - hopes to eliminate.儲存倉The content discovery platform was founded in 2006 by two serial entrepreneurs from Israel, Yaron Galai and Ori Lahav. The venture capitalist-backed site has been working with media and publishing firms such as CNN, Fox News, Rolling Stone and Fast Company to integrate its software into their websites to drive increased audience engagement and open up new revenue streams.Speaking to BizIT, Anthony Hearne, regional manager of Outbrain Asia, said the company initially focused on establishing itself in North America before spending the past two years expanding its presence in Europe.In the last 10 to 11 months, Outbrain turned its sights on Asia-Pacific. It recently opened an office in Sydney to manage operations in Australia and New Zealand, and officially launched its regional headquarters in Singapore - which it plans to use as the launch pad for further expansion in South-east Asia, Mr Hearne shared.Outbrain has also signed up Asian media groups such as The Times of India, the Philippines' ABS-CBN and Singapore's Channel NewsAsia. The crux of its value proposition lies in the 40 or so software algorithms the company has developed, which help the company mine its customers' websites to find out each visitor's online consumption patterns in order to personalise the content served up to them.Outbrain offers its customers a customisable widget that is easily integrated into the various websites - both on personal computers (PCs) and mobile devices - to offer recommended content. The content includes those generated by the publisher, as well as those from other publishers, Mr Hearn迷你倉沙田 said."This widget has helped provide an average of 8.5 per cent click-through rate, with the majority of the clicks going to internal links on a 2:1 ratio, which has helped publishers and brands increase audience engagement and open up new, native revenue streams," he pointed out.Asked how its service is different from that of other service providers such as Google, Mr Hearne said the ability to discover online content is an area that has been somewhat neglected by other market players.Google's search engine, for instance, is used by people who are searching for specific content they have in mind at any given time. Outbrain's service, on the other hand, helps Web surfers discover content within their interests, much like when they are reading a magazine, he said. "Outbrain aims to be to content marketing what Google is to (online) search."He added that its efforts to ensure the content it serves up is genuine and trustworthy is another differentiating factor. For instance, Outbrain has a unit based in India that looks through every link submitted by publishers for promotion within its network, to ensure that these comply with its editorial guidelines. This is to prevent advertising material or even phishing sites to enter its network, he explained.On average, the company rejects 20 per cent to 30 per cent of all content links submitted because they fail to meet its editorial standards, Mr Hearne revealed. He expressed confidence that Outbrain's content recommendation service will be picked up by not just media houses but by brands with great content to share.Already, India, the Philippines, Singapore and Japan are the top four regional markets for the start-up, with the initial adoption revolving around PC-based online content, he said.Mobile-based content will prove to be a game-changer for the company.迷你倉價錢