Last month, Outbrain announced the launch of Onyx, a new branding platform designed to maximise the business impact of awareness and consideration campaigns.
The platform features custom large ad formats designed to drive high attention from contextual Pre-Roll Video and High-Impact Display experiences. Initial launch partners included Ford via Xaxis, among other brands across the automotive, tech, retail, health, and CPG categories.
Launched in partnership with Adelaide, a leader in the rapidly growing field of attention-based media quality measurement, Onyx aims to increase campaign effectiveness and return on ad spend for enterprise brands and agencies.
Mediaweek spoke with Outbrain’s executive vice president brand solutions, Ayal Steiner, to find out all the ins and outs of Onyx.
For those unfamiliar with the product, what is the elevator pitch for Onyx by Outbrain?
“Onyx is a completely new branding platform designed to drive stronger brand impact from display and video ads by optimizing for user attention. Onyx is built to find and serve ads in placements and in moments that cut through the noise and win real user attention. Onyx uses Outbrain’s AI engagement engine to predict moments where users have shown to have higher attention levels. Using new interactive ad experiences that are built for user engagement, Onyx ensures ads are not just seen, but are actually engaged with.”
What inspired the creation of Onyx? Are there any gaps in the market you are looking to fill with it?
“Traditional advertising methods often struggle to capture and maintain user attention in the noisy digital environment. At the same time, an increasing percentage of advertisers are considering attention as a key metric for their campaign and brands are looking to boost their upper-funnel awareness and consideration campaigns.
“Onyx aims to fill this gap by going beyond traditional ad views, providing a solution that not only brings greater performance, but also optimizes user attention through strategic ad placements and measures the actual attention that users give to those ads.
“For the past 15 years, we’ve obsessed about building technology that revolutionizes the way advertisers worldwide engage and acquire customers through online advertising. We bring this DNA and level of accountability to brand marketers with Onyx as we harness the power of AI to predict the exact moment a user is ready to pay attention and engage with a brand message.”
Why was Adelaide the right fit to partner with on Onyx?
“Adelaide’s Attention Unit (AU) measurement aligns perfectly with the focus of Onyx when it comes to measuring user attention to ads. Adelaide’s AU measurement analyzes various media quality signals, eye-tracking data and full-funnel outcome data to provide a precise and nuanced media quality score. This measurement helps in assessing the effectiveness and impact of Onyx units.
“We don’t just measure attention, we maximize it during the campaign. The integration of Adelaide’s AU measurement into the Onyx engine allows for a comprehensive understanding of attention and its correlation with campaign success. By leveraging Adelaide’s expertise and data analysis capabilities, Onyx can provide valuable insights into moments of high attention, optimize ad placements, and offer brands a clear understanding of the quality and impact of their advertising efforts.”
What have some of the early results been for those using the product?
“The early results we’ve seen for advertisers using Onyx are promising! During the beta testing phase, Onyx ad placements on the Outbrain platform outperformed Adelaide’s benchmarks for display and rich media formats on all types of devices. In particular, the scores for mobile ads were outstanding, surpassing Adelaide’s benchmark for mobile banners by 53% and for mobile rich media formats by 20%.
“We are optimistic about the results gathered thus far and the platform is delivering on its goal to help brands reach their target audiences and make a lasting impression. It’s an exciting opportunity for advertisers looking to drive awareness and engagement with their brand messages across various devices.”
What are your goals for Onyx now that it’s out there in the world?
“Through Onyx, we want to continue to build on our 15-year history of creating technology that revolutionizes the way advertisers worldwide use online advertising and forge long-term partnerships.
“Looking ahead, we’re focused on continuously improving the platform’s features based on user feedback and market response to meet the evolving needs of advertisers. We’re also excited about expanding Onyx’s availability later this year to reach more people around the globe.”
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Top Image: Ayal Steiner