• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, July 25, 2017

Content discovery and recommendation platform Outbrain said it acquired Zemanta, a Slovenian-based firm with a native programmatic demand-side platform (DSP).  The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In acquiring Zemanta, Yaron Galai, CEO, Outbrain said the company was looking to fill a need in the marketplace: “We’ve heard from many marketers both directly and through agencies that they’re looking to grow native programmatic.”

The benefit of this kind of technology integration is that native programmatic capabilities reside in one comprehensive platform. “You cut out layers of middlemen so for more of the marketer’s spend goes to reaching the audience they’re looking to target,” Galai said.

Outbrain said marketers and agencies that use the Zemanta platform will have access to a native ad supply that resides in dozens of programmatic native networks including marketplaces like Facebook, Yahoo and Outbrain.

Galai said that Outbrain has integrated Zemanta’s technology over the past year. It already offers a native programmatic capability through AppNexus.

Outbrain said Zemanta’s native DSP will continue to operate as a standalone product after the acquisition. About 25 people in R&D will remain in Slovenia.