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Outbrain is a publicly listed native advertising platform (NASDAQ: OB) headquartered in New York and one of the two dominant content recommendation networks in the European media ecosystem (alongside Taboola). It serves sponsored content recommendations on major news publishers and uses third party cookies for retargeting and audience building.
Outbrain Inc. is a publicly listed native advertising company (NASDAQ: OB) founded in 2006 in Israel and now headquartered in New York. It operates one of the two dominant content recommendation networks in the global media ecosystem (alongside Taboola), with widgets embedded on major news publishers such as Le Figaro, Le Monde, BFM, Bild, Spiegel, El Pais, ABC and many regional outlets. Outbrain serves sponsored content recommendations that look like editorial content, charged on a pay per click basis. In 2024 Outbrain announced the acquisition of Teads, consolidating its position in European programmatic video advertising.
Outbrain sets third party cookies on outbrain.com and outbrain.net: obuid (12 months) is the unique user identifier used for retargeting and audience building, _ouid (12 months) handles the cross publisher recognition, adrl (30 days) is the audience retargeting list cookie and recs_perm (6 months) stores the recommendation context. Outbrain also performs cookie syncing with bidding partners (AppNexus / Xandr, OpenX, PubMatic) to align user IDs across the Open RTB programmatic ecosystem, and reads page content for contextual targeting.
The Outbrain widget and its advertising cookies require prior explicit consent under Article 5(3) ePrivacy Directive and Article 6(1)(a) GDPR. Legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f)) is not available for cross site behavioural advertising, as confirmed by the EDPB and the CNIL. The CMP must block the Outbrain widget before consent and forward the IAB TCF v2.2 string. The CNIL has clarified that native content recommendation that looks like editorial content can amount to a dark pattern when it is not clearly identified as advertising.
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Outbrain processes data in the US, the EU and Israel. Israel benefits from a European Commission adequacy decision since 2011 (renewed in 2024), so the Israel leg does not require additional safeguards. For the US leg, Outbrain relies on the EU US Data Privacy Framework (certified) and the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (2021/914). A Schrems II transfer impact assessment is recommended for sensitive deployments.
Tag the Outbrain widget through a CMP (Didomi, Iubenda, Axeptio, CookieFirst, Usercentrics, Klaro) and block it before consent. Activate the IAB TCF v2.2 integration and forward the TCF string to Outbrain. Label sponsored content clearly to comply with the CNIL dark patterns guidance and the Digital Services Act transparency requirements. Keep proof of consent for 13 months minimum and document the Outbrain DPA, the US and Israel transfer mechanisms in the record of processing activities.
Websites using Outbrain must obtain user consent under GDPR regulations.
DPIA considerations
Outbrain native advertising is high risk processing: large scale behavioural profiling, cross border data sharing with bidding partners, retargeting that affects data subjects. A DPIA is strongly recommended. Document the consent flow, the IAB TCF vendor registration, the US and Israel transfer mechanisms and the contractual relationship with Outbrain Inc.
Sample consent text
We use Outbrain to display sponsored content recommendations tailored to your interests. Outbrain Inc. sets third party cookies that identify your browser across publishers and build an advertising profile. The widget only loads after you click accept on the advertising category. Data is processed under EU US Data Privacy Framework and Standard Contractual Clauses.
Third-party domains contacted
widgets.outbrain.comamplifyobpxl.outbrain.comlog.outbrain.comtr.outbrain.comCookies placed
| Name | Type | Duration | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| obuid | third_party | 12 months | Unique user identifier on outbrain.com used for retargeting, audience building and frequency capping across publishers. |
| _ouid | third_party | 12 months | Cross publisher recognition cookie that links sessions on different sites running the Outbrain widget. |
| adrl | third_party | 30 days | Audience retargeting list cookie used to assign a visitor to a campaign segment for short term retargeting. |
| recs_perm | third_party | 6 months | Recommendation context cookie storing the latest read articles to compute the next recommendation slate. |
Outbrain places tracking cookies for advertising — comply with GDPR using FlowConsent.
Outbrain sets third party cookies obuid (12 months) for the user ID, _ouid (12 months) for cross publisher recognition, adrl (30 days) for retargeting and recs_perm (6 months) for the recommendation context. Outbrain also performs cookie syncing with Open RTB bidding partners.
Yes. Outbrain widgets set advertising cookies and run cross site behavioural profiling. Explicit prior consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR and Article 5(3) ePrivacy is required; legitimate interest is not available, as confirmed by the CNIL and the EDPB.
Only consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). The CNIL and EDPB have confirmed that behavioural advertising and cross site profiling cannot rely on legitimate interest.
Yes, plus to Israel. Israel benefits from a Commission adequacy decision; the US transfer relies on the EU US Data Privacy Framework (Outbrain is certified) and EU Standard Contractual Clauses (2021/914). A Schrems II transfer impact assessment is recommended.
Yes. Native advertising with behavioural profiling at scale is a high risk processing activity (Article 35 GDPR, EDPB list). Document the consent flow, the IAB TCF vendor registration, the US and Israel transfer mechanisms and the dark pattern mitigation.
Block the widget in a CMP, activate IAB TCF v2.2, transmit the TCF string, label sponsored content clearly to comply with CNIL dark pattern guidance and DSA transparency, keep the consent proof 13 months and document the DPA.
Native advertising alternatives include Taboola (the main competitor), Ligatus (Germany, now part of Outbrain), ADYOULIKE (France), Plista (Germany), Yahoo Native, and contextual platforms like Seedtag (Spain). Privacy first option: first party content recommendation engines on your own infrastructure.
List Outbrain Inc. as a third party advertising processor, link to https://www.outbrain.com/privacy, declare the IAB TCF vendor registration, document the US Data Privacy Framework certification and update the cookie list when Outbrain changes its tag.