Fred Wilson & Brian Morrisey Hate Interruptive Marketing

The lively debate around Fred Wilson’s recent post on why he hates marketing continues today as Brian Morrissey, head editor over at Digiday, challenges Fred’s points by saying much of what startups do is actually marketing. In my humble opinion, what’s missing from the conversation is the distinction between what kind of marketing that startups, or [...]

Location-Based Apps, Group Messaging and Cowboy Hats: Outbrain Recaps SXSWi

Earlier this week, a handful of Outbrainers headed to Austin, Texas for the yearly nerd retreat known as South by Southwest Interactive. While they may have had a bit too much fun, they also tackled the conference with gusto in order to report back on the latest trends and technologies to keep an eye on [...]

Advertising on Paywall Sites

On March 18, 2011, in Advertising, Current Affairs, For Publishers, paywalls, Web/Tech, by Yaron Galai

The debate over paywall vs. ad-supported publishing tends to sound like a binary discussion: should publishers pursue an ad supported business model OR should they charge their readers for access to the content? In fact, there are several ways in which paywalls and ad-based publishing mix, but it’s the dynamic between these two that changes [...]

Google Algorithm Change Increases Publisher Search Traffic, Outbrain Data Shows

On March 11, 2011, in Algorithms, data, Data Analysis, For Publishers, Google, Google Algorithm, Reports, Web/Tech, by Lisa LaCour

Google recently updated their search algorithm in an effort to move higher quality content to the top of its search results. Since Outbrain’s platform is installed on many of the largest publisher sites on the web, we decided to do some data digging to see the effect the algorithm tweak had on publisher search traffic. [...]