Publisher alliance Ozone makes a larger play for U.S. advertisers

To date, the model has driven more than £400 million ($532 million) in incremental spend back into the U.K. publishing sector and secured close ties with major agency groups, per Ozone.

To match that ambition, Ozone is scaling up stateside — planning to expand its U.S. headcount from 10 to 50 next year, with new hires in Chicago to deepen relationships with agencies and brands, according to Ozone CEO Damon Reeve. The platform has had a U.S. footprint for some years, courtesy of the original global brands it had as stakeholders, but now it’s building a roster of U.S.-first, rather than U.K.-first media brands. 

In a world where other attempts at publisher alliances have flamed out fast, Ozone is the one that held. Associated Press-run U.S. alliance NewRight (2012-2014), launched to create a licensing and rights management hub for news content, fizzled because uptake was slow and many publishers weren’t aligned on strategy. Pangea, the alliance run out of the U.K. by the likes of CNN, The Guardian, the Financial Times and Reuters (2015 – 2019), had difficulties scaling across so many different business models and tech stacks, and each partner eventually pulled back to focus on their own strategies. 

But Ozone has stuck. 

That’s partly because it has managed to evolve to offer more of a technical layer than solely providing a scaled inventory buy for publishers to compete against platforms like Google and Meta for ad dollars. It can provide a publisher-consented first-party data map of audience reading habits across the titles it has on board – the stuff of advertisers’ dreams and which publishers themselves can’t offer outside of their own platforms. 

“By offering a unique, scaled, data-led offering to brands, Ozone’s positioning as an alternative to the major platforms helps pull investment into the publishing category, driving incremental revenue for us all,” said Hannah Buitekant, chief commercial, digital and strategy officer at the Daily Mail, which joined Ozone in 2023.  

She said that Ozone has played an important additive role in the Daily Mail’s – and the publishing industry more broadly – ability to compete for digital platform budgets. “The continued evolution of the platform is really important for the wider sector, especially when you see the relentless growth of investment into social channels,” she said. 

Reeves told Digiday that there is scope to keep evolving the platform in sync with what publishers need. Currently, one of the biggest challenges facing publishers is that many of them don’t have the scale needed for true negotiating power with the largest LLMs with regard to licensing. Reeves said he “wouldn’t rule out” Ozone in the future taking a role where it can collectively help negotiate with LLMs on behalf of publishers, should that be something they wanted. 

The past 25 years of digital advertising show what happens when publishers don’t align, stressed Reeves. Without a unified position, programmatic tech disintermediated publishers and fragmented the publisher community, he said. “That’s a lesson for not letting that happen again, and at an early stage, with this journey around [AI] licensing, and the role that language models and answer engines play in this world,” he said. “I think it’s really important that that alligned position and sense of community plays a leading role, and we’re not reactive to what others do.” 

Publisher collaboration: ‘gang up on the predator’

On September 25, Ozone hosted its CTRL event in NY, where leading publishing executives convened under the Chatham House Rule to discuss shared challenges and opportunities.

A central theme was the importance of collaboration in an increasingly difficult market environment. Publishers outlined their immediate priorities, which included launching new brand campaigns, diversifying traffic sources, developing regional editions, and growing non-advertising revenue through areas such as events and custom content. Participants noted the disruptive effects of search engines – predominantly AI-powered overviews, making diversification a pressing concern.

The discussion repeatedly returned to collective advocacy. While publishers hold deep expertise in advertising and technology, this is often undervalued compared with platforms. Whereas acting in unison could amplify their credibility, both with advertisers and policymakers. 

“Publishers have always been treated as slow-moving herbivores by ad tech and Big Tech,” noted one publisher-side source during an open debate at the proceedings. “So either you can, as an individual publisher, grow some teeth and decide to take on a fight, or get some friends right, and gang up on the predator.”

Ideas raised included exploring performance-based buying options for smaller advertisers, which could unlock larger budgets, and presenting a clearer, more unified message about publishers’ value in the media ecosystem.

Examples of past collaboration were also discussed, with projects like Hulu and Prebid serving as reminders that external facilitation and sustained focus are critical for success. Pre-digital example of successful collaborative initiatives include shared printing arrangements, or even early publisher collectives, such as the ad network Pangea. 

However, speakers also acknowledged that industry-wide efforts must be carefully structured to avoid any perception of collusion, making legal and compliance oversight essential.

“Guys, stop worrying about colluding,” added one participant at the event. “The DOJ just gave Google a free pass on search. You all get together and say, ‘We want to take over all of the interface with the demand side.’” 

Discussion participants argued that the industry’s buy-side would react favorably to publishers forming a realistic alternative to Big Tech – Ozone Project’s combined U.S. daily audience is more than 100 million, according to its pitch deck.

“They’ll be thrilled because they’ll have a lot more working media, and then see them in court in 10 years,” added the source, who also quipped that, “U.S. publishers have been scared of their shadow.” 

In short, collaboration, if executed thoughtfully and within legal boundaries, could serve as publishers’ best opportunity to strengthen their role in the digital economy.