Our Advertising Guidelines

Trust & Authenticity

Great Recommendations Inspire Action

Here at Outbrain, one of our key differentiators is that our platform is filled with high-quality, reliable content from premium publishers and marketers alike. Our overlying goal is to create a great discovery experience for consumers online.

To do this, we've developed advertising guidelines to help you understand what can (and cannot) be promoted on our platform. Keep in mind, Outbrain reserves the right to reject or block any content for any reason at our sole discretion, even after post-launch, if we feel that it compromises the safety or quality of the user experience. Also, both publishers and marketers can choose to block pages or sources that they don't feel resonate with their brands.

If you encounter any content that violates Outbrain's guidelines, or have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to our friendly Support team.

We hope to see your content on our platform soon.

Acceptable Page Types

Article Pages & Blog Posts
Earned Media
Videos (must contain some descriptive text on the page)
Search Engine Results Pages
Home Pages
Product/Landing Pages
App Download Pages
Infographics
Advertorials (with proper disclosure that follow Outbrain's Advertorial policies)

PDF pages are not acceptable landing pages formats.

Prohibited Categories

Abortion and Contraception

Content related to abortion is prohibited
Promotion of prophylactics and contraceptives is prohibited

Adult

No promotion or sale of adult products
Content may not be:

Overly sexual
Imply nudity
Display excessive amounts of skin, cleavage or focus unnecessarily on body parts
Allude to sexual activity

Children

No content targeted to children under the age of 16

Controlled or Illegal Substances

Content cannot promote:

Ads must not promote the sale or use of illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs.

Promotion of hemp-based CBD (cannabidiol) products with little to no THC is acceptable in countries where CBD is legal
Promotion of investments or stocks relating to marijuana is acceptable

Fake News

Sites that seek to intentionally deceive the reader into believing something that is not true
Content designed to deceive the reader into believing that they are reading legitimate editorial content or fact-based news
Could be a cleverly disguised advertisement (with little or no value afforded to the reader) or a piece of propaganda or a hoax

Hate, Violence, or Discrimination

Content cannot:

Defame an individual, organization, or group of people
Exploit or endanger minors
Segregate or classify individuals or groups of people by race, religion, ethnicity, sexual origin, color, age, gender identity, family status, disability, or medical condition
Include the use or promotion of weaponry or explosives

High Risk of Fraud

No content that encourages high-risk investments or money-making schemes with the intention of profiting off user participation (i.e. "Get Rich Quick" Schemes)
No Payday Loans or Cash Advance Loans
No Penny Stocks, or Binary Options
No non-premium TV/Movie streaming boxes (acceptable brands are Mi/Xiaomi, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire stick).
No Penny Auctions

Malware

Contains adware, malware, spyware, virus, Trojan Horses, or other features designed to infiltrate or damage computer systems or access personally identifiable user information without explicit user consent

Religion

Content cannot advocate for or promote one religion over another

Sexual Enhancers

No male enhancement or erectile dysfunction products directly sold to consumers

Unsafe Products or Supplements

No anabolic steroids, ephedra, or HGH (others may be added according to Outbrain's discretion)
No herbal supplements that mimic the effects of illegal substances (e.g. magic mushrooms)
No nootropics, 'brain pills', or 'smart drugs' meant to improve cognitive function

Restricted Categories

Alcohol

Content can promote the sale of alcohol only in countries that allow the sale and advertisement of alcohol. Content must not:

target minors or display minors consuming alcoholic beverages;
associate the consumption of alcohol to having health benefits or improving social, sexual, athletic, or professional performance;
imply excessive drinking or that excessive drinking is therapeutic, relaxing, or stimulating;
show people under the influence of alcohol;
emphasize a product's alcohol strength;
associate drinking with activities that require a certain level of skill with coordination (e.g. driving or sporting activities);
use celebrities or people/icons/cartoons or any other image that may be appealing to minors.

Marketers are solely responsible for complying with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulatory guidelines (including age-gating where necessary). As a reminder, marketers are solely responsible for the content that they wish to run in our network.

Tobacco products

Content can promote the sale of tobacco-related products only in countries that allow the sale and advertisement of tobacco. Such offers can be promoted by managed accounts only, and upon verification by the Outbrain team.
Marketers are solely responsible for complying with applicable federal, state and local laws and regulatory guidelines (including age-gating where necessary).

Dating & Personals

Content must not promote one-night stands, hook-ups, and sexual encounters
Content must not promote infidelity or casual sex
Content must not promote International matchmaking or mail-order bride services
Content must not use sexually suggestive imagery or comment on the physical appearance of individuals.
Content must not group individuals by ethnicity or gender/call out a specific gender.

Health/Beauty and Cosmetics

May not make illegitimate or unproven claims about results
May not allude to diagnose, cure, prevent, treat, or reverse any disease, condition, or illness

Financial Services (Restricted)

Content must comply with financial governing bodies
CFDs and Forex can be promoted by managed accounts only, and upon verification by the Outbrain team.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is not allowed, with the exception of editorial content from premium publisher sites. The following is explicitly not allowed:

Digital currency exchanges
ICOs
Investment and trading advice

However, selected countries may decide to run cryptocurrency offers that they deem are valid in their country only. Such offers can be promoted by managed accounts only, and upon verification by the Outbrain team.

Gambling

Promotions of gambling, or of sites where gambling is facilitated, are generally prohibited. The exceptions are when targeting the United Kingdom and the United States, where certain forms of gambling, such as online casinos, sports betting, and fantasy sports, are accepted. Rummy and Fantasy cricket are also accepted for campaigns targeting India.
The following services or promotions are accepted:

Apps promoting free games (such as "social casinos")
Physical casinos (as destinations)
State-run lotteries

Negative Earned Media

Direct competitors cannot promote negative earned media or content that defames or otherwise compromises an industry competitor

Political Advertisements

Political content must comply with the local legislation
Required disclosure
- All political ads must contain clear disclosure of who has paid for the ad.
- The landing page and the site name for the ad should identify: "Paid for by Candidate X for President", "Paid for by the Committee on Democratic Ideals", etc.
- In the site name, the "Paid for by" element can be omitted unless the organization promotes third party material.
- The landing page must include a link to contact information for the organization.
- All advertising must clearly identify who paid for the communication and whether or not it was authorized by a candidate and/or organization on the landing page or during the video.
Focus on Facts - Content should contain only neutral or positive stories/positions that are based on facts. Additionally, political advertising cannot give the appearance that Outbrain promotes any particular candidate, party, or political agenda.
Speak For Yourself - Even when positive, ads should not falsely speak for political persons or parties. They should only speak from the voice of the actual organization promoting the ad.
Be Positive - Nothing negative. Ads must not humiliate, disparage, or incite against a candidate, party, or population group. All information should be neutral or positive and must be based in fact.
Headlines - Content can call out political groups or leanings in the headline, as long as paid sponsorship is clearly disclosed.Stance language is authorized as long as it does not discriminate against any group, person, or belief.
Images: When selecting images for your campaign please ensure they are relevant to the campaign or cause you are promoting. You may not use images of your competitors.
Clarification
- Political ads don't include ads for products or services, including promotional political merchandise like t-shirts, or ads run by news organizations to promote their coverage of federal election campaigns, candidates, or current elected federal officeholders.
- Outside of clearly disclosed political ads (as defined above), taking or expressing political stands is not allowed.

Fundraising

Personal fundraising for individuals (e.g. raising money for a sick person) is not allowed
General fundraising for businesses and/or products is acceptable

Landing Page Guidelines

Advertising Policies

Clear Disclosure Required:

"Advertisement" or "Advertorial" must appear clearly and prominently at the top of applicable pages. Disclosures must appear in a placement, color, and font size that is easily read by a reader
Affiliate marketing sites must clearly disclose any financial relationship between the site and sponsoring advertiser in accordance with governing guidelines

No Excessive Overlays or Pop-Ups:

A user must be able to easily close any popup advertisements or overlays that appear in connection with the landing page

No Misleading Advertising Techniques:

Fake testimonials
Fake comments
"Too good to be true" statements or unsubstantiated claims
Fake social media icons
Fake navigation or text/images that make a user think that it is a larger editorial site
Fake earned media logos
Auto refreshing date stamps to the current date
False 3rd party endorsements by celebrities or others
False rumors about any person/celebrity
Scare tactics to encourage users to take a specific action
Countdown clocks that make a user think the offer expires (when it doesn't)

Required

All landing pages should have a "Contact Us" section with an actual email address, phone number, or physical address. An empty form to email the site owners is not enough.

Financial landing pages should include an actual physical address.

Landing pages that are promoted in Germany, Austria, and/or Switzerland (D/A/CH region) must include an Impressum (imprint) as required by the German Telemediengesetz (TMD).
Landing pages that are promoted in France must comply with the ARPP Codes
Health - and finance-related advertorials may require a footer disclaimer. Here are several commonly used examples:

Health

This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Results may vary / may not be typical. Reviews or testimonials may be fictionalized.['Results may vary' or'Results may not be typical' should also be placed next to any before/after images on the landing page.]
This information does not constitute medical advice and it should not be relied upon as such. Consult with your doctor before modifying your regular medical regime.

Finance

This is not considered to be investment advice.
Testimonials/success stories may be fictionalized / should not be viewed as expected results.

Video players on landing pages should feature proper functionality (pause and mute buttons, a time bar, and a slider). The landing page should also describe the contents of the video.

Authenticity

Content cannot be copied from another site or violate copyrights. Any plagiarized content without clear disclosure of authorship will not be allowed.
Content should not include trademarks or logos that are confusingly similar in design to that of third parties
Links in content must be labeled accurately and must link to the page or pages reasonably expected by the reader

Competitor Widgets

Additional sites may also be required to display the Outbrain widget for all Outbrain referring traffic

Timeliness

Content must be current and feature up-to-date information

Headline and Source Guidelines

The following is prohibited:

Inaccurate, Misleading, or Overly Sensational Headlines

Does not accurately depict the content
Exaggerates or embellishes the content
"Too good to be true" headlines (i.e. "One weird trick that will help you lose that belly fat")

Offensive Headlines

Contains offensive words in any language
Employs sexual/violent/explicit language that sensationalizes content

Excessive or Missing Capitalization

Do not use excessive capitalization within single words, such as in "LEARN MORE." A correct replacement would be "Learn more" or "Learn More."

It is acceptable to capitalize an entire word if it is a title introducing the content type, such as "VIDEO:" or "PHOTOS:", or if it is a trademarked brand name, an acronym, or a common abbreviation, such as "NASA."

Always capitalize the first letter of the headline.

Incorrect Grammar

Observe correct verb tenses, subject-verb agreements, and spelling
Use correct spacing (e.g. no missing or excessive spaces between words or punctuation)

Excessive Punctuation & Symbols

Refrain from inappropriate, aggressive, or tasteless punctuation in headlines
Repeated punctuation (i.e. "?!?!") or symbols are not permitted
The use of emojis of any kind is prohibited in the titles.

The following is required:

Source Names

An ad source name (the branding text which appears directly beneath the headline) should accurately disclose the content found on the landing page. This allows readers to understand who is sponsoring the post.

If the advertiser owns the content landing page, the source name should state the domain name or brand name.

Example: If a brand promotes the home page from its own site, the source name could read as "BRAND NAME" or as "brandname.com" (domain name).

If the advertiser does not own the landing page, the name of the advertiser and the domain name should appear in the source name.

Example: If a brand is promoting an earned media article from CNN Money, the source name should read as follows: "BRAND NAME on CNN Money".

Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs): If the landing page hosts a list of sponsored search results, ads should disclose this in the source name. Disclosure should include one of the following: "Sponsored Listings," "Sponsored Results," or "Sponsored Links."

Example: The source name for a SERP ad showing results for dental implants could read as "Dental Implants - Sponsored Listings".

App download pages: Ads that lead to a mobile app download page should not show only the name of the app store in the source name. Instead, the source name should also include either (1) the app title or (2) "Download on" (or a translation of this for the relevant language).

Example: An English-language ad for an app could use "APP NAME on App Store" or "Download on App Store". A French-language ad could use "APP NAME sur App Store" or "Téléchargez sur App Store".

Image Guidelines

Thumbnail Images (Including Cartoons or Animations) Cannot Include:

Nudity or sexual imagery
Weapons
Drugs or drug paraphernalia
Imagery that is designed to provoke, offend, or shock
Circles or Arrows placed to highlight a specific part of the image
Violence, gore, or dead bodies
Graphic images of physical deformities or health conditions
Zoomed in body parts
Profanity, offensive, or sexually suggestive text
Before/After Photos
Politicians/Celebrities for Product Endorsement
Political or Religious Symbols
Symbols or Imagery of Hate Speech

Quality & Appearance

All images must be relevant to the linked content
Images must be good quality
Images must be clear, recognizable, and properly oriented
Images that have been altered with Photoshop or other graphic editing softwares will not be permitted
Images must not include a video player icon

Misleading Images

Images cannot employ deceptive practices to entice a user to click. These include:

Images that pretend to be a system or site warning
Images that use sensational tactics that are not relevant to the source material

Additional Guidelines for Publishers

Landing Page User Experience

Publishers who use Outbrain to drive traffic to their sites may be required to host user experiences that comply with the stated Outbrain content guidelines.

Prohibited Categories:

Inflammatory Political Content
True Crime stories older than 5 years
Negative representation of celebrities
Bankruptcy
Physical Appearance
Discrimination of any kind
"Perfectly-Timed" Photos

Examples of Accepted Categories Include:

Positive Celebrity Content

15 Most Epic Celebrity Photobombs Ever Captured
'Growing Pains': 10 Things You Didn't Know
Gigantic Movies That Are All Coming Out In 2017

Positive Sports Content

20 Greatest College Football Coaches, Ranked
All Time Greatest MLB Players By Team

General Interest Content

The 12 Most Expensive Weddings In History
The 10 Best Places to Vacation in the US
Awesomely Aggressive Windshield Notes You Should Totally Steal
Guilty Dogs That Will Have You Laughing For Days
2017: Hardest Colleges to Get Into in America

Lifestyle and Beauty Content

Age Gracefully With These 21 Classy Hairstyles
17 Cheap & Healthy Dinners That Will Hit the Spot Every Time
Haircut Inspiration: 30+ Gorgeous Short Hairstyles

Headlines:

Remove sensational words such as "stuns", "reveals", "real reason", "last words", "years later", "you won't believe", "make your skin crawl", and "uncovers truth". Any phrases that are similar should not be used as well.
Remove suggestive words such as "stunning", "hottest", "trophy wives" and "attractive"
Remove negative words such as "ruined", "worst", "disturbing", "disgusting", "horrifying", and "hated"
Align headlines with the content. For example, "12 things..." when there are actually 40 slides

Images:

Should be relevant and included within the content being promoted
Should not display excessive amount of skin/cleavage
Should not display red arrows/circles that are meant to highlight something
Should not be photoshopped or simply designed to be 'shocking'

Slideshow/Gallery Guidelines:

All slideshows should implement one of the following:

Place [Gallery] at the beginning of the title
Make the titles obvious that they are a slideshow - Top 10….

News stories in slideshow format should not use headlines to insinuate recent or breaking news if it's not current
If the title mentions a specific celebrity, that celebrity must match the celebrity in the ad image.

Outbrain's Strike Policy

When running campaigns on the Outbrain network, please make sure to adhere to the above guidelines.

If you do not follow the advertiser guidelines Outbrain will assign red flag warnings (communicated to you via email). Repeat or severe violations may result in your account, content and/or campaigns being suspended or banned from the Outbrain network at any time and at Outbrain's sole discretion.

If you encounter any content that violates Outbrain's guidelines, or have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to our friendly Support team. We hope to see your content on our platform soon.