Earlier this week, Ozone, the digital advertising platform built by the UK’s leading publishers, announced the addition of Newsweek to its existing publisher network.
New Digital Age spoke with Bryan Scott, Chief Marketing Officer of Ozone, about the addition of Newsweek, the Ozone platform’s evolution to date, and the future of premium web advertising…
Ozone launched in 2018. From your perspective, where does the platform stand today, and what are you offering the marketplace?
Ozone has always focused on delivering highly engaged and attentive audiences in the premium web space—places where people come to be informed, inspired, or entertained. Publishing is at the core of this premium web experience, and one of the ways we differentiate ourselves from the “long tail” content out there is by offering greater transparency in programmatic advertising.
Since our launch, we’ve expanded in three key areas: scale, data, and creativity. Our daily reach continues to grow, and we’ve heavily invested in data science to extract more value for both advertisers and publishers. Creative capabilities are also a priority, with our in-house Studiiozone team ensuring high-quality, engaging ads that fit premium environments.
You recently added Newsweek’s audience to your platform. What does this mean for Ozone?
Newsweek brings another globally respected, high-quality audience to our platform, including policymakers, C-suite executives, and other professionals. This addition enhances our reach and audience understanding. While our primary focus remains the UK market, this partnership opens the door to greater international inventory and growth opportunities.
It’s similar to our work with the Dow Jones brands in the UK, like The Wall Street Journal. These partnerships allow us to monetize their UK audiences effectively while maintaining our commitment to quality and transparency.
What are Ozone’s top priorities for 2025?
Expanding our multi-market strategies is a significant focus. While our core remains in the UK, we’re exploring opportunities in other regions, particularly in Europe and the US. Last year, we launched “Premium World,” a service designed to help international planning and buying teams easily activate premium audiences in Europe’s major markets, such as France, Germany, and Spain. Not only can this help monetize the international traffic of our existing publishers, but also brings incremental revenues to local publishers in these markets.
Internally, we’re undergoing a brand positioning project to ensure consistency in how Ozone is perceived—focusing on our audience platform positioning.. Alongside that, we’re doubling down on brand building and tailoring our marketing approach to support our agency partnerships and align more closely with their unique needs.
How are agency and client briefs evolving in the digital media landscape?
We’ve seen an increase in larger budget briefs as clients aim to make a more significant impact. This shift reflects both Ozone’s growing reputation and a broader maturity in the premium web advertising space.
We’re also observing greater interest in brand safety and fair representation of ad spend across premium environments. At a time when we’re seeing changes to brand safety approaches from the likes of Meta – you can make up your own mind about that – it’s refreshing to see agency groups like Stagwell focus on the inherent ‘brand-safeness’ of editorial-led publishers with their Future of News initiative. Premium publishers provide deeply engaged audiences, and it’s critical that this craft, whether investigative journalism or lifestyle content, is rewarded.
How does Ozone’s mission reflect your personal passion for the industry?
My career in marketing has always been rooted in the media world, but joining Ozone was particularly meaningful. The platform’s mission — to reward great content with more ad spend — resonates deeply with me. There’s immense value in supporting high-quality journalism and creating an ecosystem where premium content can thrive.
The premium web is about creating environments where both publishers and advertisers succeed. As we grow, we’ll continue to focus on transparency, scale, and creativity. We aim to provide advertisers with an easy, efficient way to connect with engaged audiences while helping publishers maximize the value of their inventory. The future lies in ensuring the value created by premium content is shared by both advertisers and publishers.
