Likelihood to Recommend If you have a multiple social channel strategy, the Brand Networks Platform does a good job of comparing and summarizing the cross-platform performance of all the social campaigns. They also have really good optimization technology, so if you have a beginner media buyer who doesn't have a lot of time to devote to (or knowledge about) optimizing campaigns, the BN tool would be helpful.
Read full review If your client or organization is running a high volume awareness campaign, Outbrain would be a platform to diversify your mix with. Pretty low maintenance and easy to set up, you can get ads running in a few minutes. If your primary goal is conversions, there are probably better channels you can use where the targeting is a little more transparent and would likely see a higher avg conversion rate.
Read full review Pros Sleek design -- very attractive UI Constantly innovating and updating the platform Their support desk is very good. Very responsive and can usually update my issue within 1-2 business days. Read full review Website network: Outbrain provides high-quality websites in its network so that you can get a quality audience. Affordable pricing: The CPC offered by Outbrain is relatively cheaper than other alternatives. Content dashboard: The dashboard allows you to edit the content before publishing it on Outbrain's platform. Read full review Cons API data issues. There are somewhat frequent breakdowns in continuous data being pulled from the social platforms The campaign creation flow is a little clunky and has a couple bugs. Users often forgo using the platform to set up new campaigns, and use the native platforms instead Because it's in continual development, there are lots of little bugs that slip through the cracks Read full review Customer Service - Speaking to a human is nearly impossible, there is no "chat" function, and no phone number immediately available. Ultimately, I've had to email a generic CS contact and wait several days before heading back. High Number of Guidelines - The number of guidelines one must meet before using Outbrain is much higher than any other ad platform I've used. Most of them are highly specific and not necessarily items that a website would have out-of-the-box. Read full review Usability The use case is very obvious, brand awareness and low cost conversions because of its reach in billions. The platform is easy to use, well sorted and defined with good click optimized algorithms and brands can use it without hesitation. If monitored well and optimized accordingly, this can prove to be one of the best advertising channels.
Read full review Support Rating We had an account manager assigned to us, but they really didn't offer too much help outside of the financial side of things. We used the self-serve platform with mild suggestions every few weeks from our reps amounting to "spend a bit more here."
Read full review Alternatives Considered Facebook for Business has far fewer bugs and errors. Brand Networks has made some major changes over the 3 years that I have been using the platform, but because they are constantly changing and overhauling their platform, there are naturally more bugs in the system -- and this can interfere with the user experience.
Read full review Here at AdRizer my personal ad sources primarily revolve around Google Ads & Outbrain.
Taboola is extremely similar to Outbrain minus the fact that strategies are dictated on the account level unlike by campaign with Outbrain
Read full review Return on Investment If you can create the report you need through automation, you can have those automatically sent to your email or a client's email. That saves time. If optimization works correctly, you get even more efficient costs against you given campaign objective. However, when features are broken, or there is a bug and I can't pull the performance data I need immediately, it detracts from my productivity Read full review None. My perspective is that further testing is needed as well as additional tracking capabilities applied to be able to assess value. However, it's a CPC model and relatively inexpensive in regards to additional reach, especially if it's packaged in with an Earned media push into the marketplace. Reet Das Vice President, Global Digital Marketing
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