Outbrain, the world’s leading discovery and native advertising platform on the open web, announced that it has partnered with the Local Media Consortium (LMC), a strategic alliance of local media companies, as the organization’s preferred native advertising provider.

“We’re excited to partner with the Local Media Consortium. Now, more than ever, it’s incredibly important to support local journalism due to the critical role it plays helping people navigate the current times,” said Josh Feller, Senior Vice President, Global Business Development at Outbrain. “The industry is at an inflection point where local media has seen advertising dollars dramatically decline. Our goal is to continuously support independent and quality journalism, local news and media, and brands and advertisers — this is a big step in the right direction.”

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As part of the deal, the Local Media Consortium and its members will receive access to exclusive and negotiated rates across Outbrain’s inventory. By leveraging industry scale, the LMC can arrange more favorable rates to its members than members would otherwise receive. In addition to pre-negotiated rates, each member will have access to Outbrain’s Smartfeed technology that allows publishers to not only monetize directly, but to also drive subscriptions, newsletter, and podcast adoption. All while keeping audiences engaged with personalized, organic news from publishers.

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“Our mission is to support quality journalism by helping local media companies of all sizes have access to best-in-class business and technology platforms. Partnering with Outbrain is a natural synergy for us, and it allows the LMC to further expand our offerings, especially during a time when local media is an even more vital source of news for communities,” said Fran Wills, CEO of the Local Media Consortium.

“When we started Outbrain, we came with the belief that independent and sustainable journalism are important pillars for society,” said David Kostman, Co-CEO of Outbrain. “For over a decade, we have partnered with news and media organizations to keep their operations sustainable. We share the same values and beliefs of the Local Media Consortium, in supporting local news and journalism, and ensuring all audiences have access to quality, trustworthy content.”

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