Companies that use Outbrain

Source: Analysis of job postings that mention Outbrain (using the Bloomberry Jobs API)

I noticed that Outbrain purchasing decisions are split between two groups. Leadership roles like Director of Marketing, Director of Programmatic Media, and Head of User Acquisition make up 27% of the postings, focusing on strategic budget allocation and channel expansion. However, the majority (73%) are individual contributors who both buy and execute, including Performance Marketing Specialists, Media Buyers, and Digital Marketing Managers. These companies prioritize scalable customer acquisition, with leadership seeking people who can "drive efficient customer acquisition" and "unlock new growth opportunities."

Day-to-day users are hands-on practitioners managing native advertising campaigns alongside other channels. They're launching campaigns on Outbrain while simultaneously running Meta, Google, Taboola, TikTok, and programmatic display. I found that users are responsible for "planning, launching, and optimizing native ad campaigns," conducting A/B tests on creatives and landing pages, monitoring CPL and ROAS metrics, and producing performance reports. The work involves constant optimization cycles and creative testing to improve conversion rates.

The pain points center on profitable scale and multi-channel complexity. Companies want to "maximize revenue and reach growth targets" while maintaining strict "CPA and CAC goals." One posting emphasized the need to "scale profitable ad campaigns" for high-ticket programs, while another sought someone to "drive consistent high-conversion performance through relentless execution." A third mentioned managing "high-scale budgets and large-scale paid customer acquisition campaigns." The recurring theme is finding practitioners who can profitably scale lead generation across an increasingly fragmented channel landscape.

Source: Analysis of Linkedin bios of 2,035 companies that use Outbrain

I noticed that Outbrain's customers span an incredibly diverse range of industries, but they share a common thread: they're all trying to reach and engage consumers directly. These companies include e-commerce brands selling everything from fitness apparel to promotional plants, digital service providers like online pharmacies and trading platforms, content publishers ranging from German newspapers to luxury lifestyle magazines, and direct-to-consumer businesses in health, finance, education, and home services. What unites them is that they need to acquire customers or readers at scale, often in competitive markets where paid content distribution makes sense.

These companies skew toward mid-stage and mature businesses rather than early startups. The employee counts cluster heavily in the 11-200 range, with many showing Series A, B, or established operations. Several mention millions of customers or users, substantial revenue operations, and geographic expansion. While there are a few seed-stage companies, the majority have moved past product-market fit and are in growth or optimization mode. The presence of traditional publishers, established healthcare providers, and public companies suggests Outbrain appeals to organizations with proven business models and marketing budgets.

Source: Analysis of tech stacks from 2,035 companies that use Outbrain

I noticed that companies using Outbrain are heavily invested in paid performance marketing across multiple channels. The presence of Taboola appearing 524 times more frequently than average is particularly telling, since these are direct competitors in native advertising. This suggests these companies aren't putting all their eggs in one basket. They're running parallel campaigns across competing platforms to maximize reach and compare performance. The strong correlation with Criteo, TikTok Ads, and Twitter Ads confirms these are businesses that spend aggressively on paid acquisition across diverse channels.

The pairing of Outbrain with Microsoft Clarity and HotJar reveals something important about their approach. These companies aren't just driving traffic, they're obsessively analyzing what happens after the click. They're using behavior analytics tools to understand if the traffic from native ads actually converts. This combination tells me they're optimizing the entire funnel, not just buying clicks blindly. The presence of TikTok Ads alongside traditional native advertising platforms also suggests they're testing newer channels while maintaining their core distribution strategy.

My analysis shows these are definitively marketing-led organizations, likely in growth or scale-up stages. They have sophisticated marketing operations with budgets large enough to test multiple paid channels simultaneously. The analytics stack indicates they have dedicated teams measuring ROI across platforms. These aren't early-stage startups experimenting with their first ad campaigns. They're companies that have found product-market fit and are now focused on efficient customer acquisition at scale.