OpenWeb
OpenWeb is an AI-powered community engagement and monetization platform serving 5,000+ digital publishers, combining AI-driven content moderation (Aida LLM), engagement tools, and advertising infrastructure that reaches 150 million monthly active users globally.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What OpenWeb does
OpenWeb is an AI-powered audience engagement and monetization platform serving digital publishers and advertisers globally. Founded in 2015 in Israel as Spot.IM and rebranded to OpenWeb in June 2020, the company operates from dual headquarters in New York (US) and Tel Aviv (Israel), with 350+ employees across the US, Canada, UK, Ukraine, France, and Israel. The platform unifies three product pillars: Community (conversations, reactions, topic tracking, live blogs, and Community Spotlight), Moderation (an end-to-end trust and safety system using 25+ specialized AI/ML models and the proprietary LLM-based Aida algorithm), and Monetization (In-Conversation Ads, OpenWeb Email newsletters, and OpenWeb Exchange SSP). It serves 5,000+ publishers reaching 150 million monthly active users who collectively spend 5.5 billion minutes on the network each month.
OpenWeb firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- OpenWeb
- Legal name
- Open Web Technologies Ltd.
- Website
- https://openweb.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- OpenWeb is an AI-powered community engagement and monetization platform serving 5,000+ digital publishers, combining AI-driven content moderation (Aida LLM), engagement tools, and advertising infrastructure that reaches 150 million monthly active users globally.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
OpenWeb industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Publisher Audience Engagement Platform
- NAICS
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210), Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Advertising (7310)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Creator Publishing & Membership Platforms (Writer-Centric) (MPACAIAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Creator Tipping, Donations & Micro-Payments (MPACAFAB), Creator Channel Hosting & Publishing Platforms (MPACABAC)
Keywords
Where OpenWeb is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices6 records
Markets served
OpenWeb business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Ad Monetization: OpenWeb manages ad units for publishers, offering exclusive in-conversation ads that blend into community discussions, monetized engagement units that earn revenue while readers engage, and access through the OpenWeb Exchange SSP. Revenue is generated from both programmatic and direct advertiser relationships.
- Email Newsletter Monetization: Monetization of newsletters through OpenWeb Email, leveraging audiences with first-party data and opted-in users that are sought after by advertisers.
- Direct Sales Team: OpenWeb balances programmatic and direct sales efforts with a direct sales team in the US, led by former USA Today executives, providing advertiser demand.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise Publisher Platform |
| Other | Annual | Community Exchange Platform |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
OpenWeb product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OpenWeb is an AI-powered audience engagement and monetization platform for digital publishers, combining a community-building suite, an AI/ML trust and safety moderation system (including the LLM-based Aida algorithm), and a publisher monetization stack spanning in-conversation ads, email monetization, newsreader monetization, and a proprietary supply-side platform (OpenWeb Exchange). It serves over 5,000 publishers and 150 million monthly active users, helping publishers build registered communities, fight toxicity, and monetize first-party audience data in a post-cookie environment.
Product overview
OpenWeb is an audience engagement and monetization platform for publishers, formerly known as Spot.IM (founded 2015). The platform operates as a unified ecosystem comprising three core pillars: Community (AI-powered engagement suite), Moderation (trust and safety system), and Monetization (ad and revenue solutions). These are supported by proprietary AI technology including Aida (LLM-based moderation algorithm) and OpenWeb Exchange (SSP). The platform also includes Community Exchange for turning conversations into targeted advertising segments. OpenWeb serves over 5,000 publishers with 150 million monthly active users, delivering 5.5 billion minutes of engagement monthly. Publishers see 3x more time on site and 2x more page views, while advertisers achieve 70% average viewability.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Aida: LLM-based moderation algorithm that recognizes nuance, learns context, and provides accurate content moderation for online communities. Aida is over 10x faster and up to 95% more accurate compared to industry benchmarks.
- Community Exchange
- OpenWeb Exchange
- OpenWeb Email
- OpenWebOS
Products and services
- Community AI-powered engagement suite that transforms readers into loyal, registered users through real-time conversation, reactions, topic tracking, and community building tools. Publishers using OpenWeb see 3x more time on site and 2x more page views.
- Moderation End-to-end trust and safety system that identifies and filters toxicity, hate speech, spam, and harmful content across publisher communities using 25+ AI/ML models and the Aida LLM-based moderation algorithm.
- Monetization Publisher monetization platform leveraging first-party social data to deliver exclusive ads, email monetization, and newsreader monetization while protecting CPMs in a post-cookie environment.
- OpenWeb Exchange Supply-side platform (SSP) built for publishers to maximize ad performance across 800 billion monthly bid requests, providing lightweight integration and increased ad suite performance.
- Community Exchange Audience platform launched in November 2025 that turns community conversations into targeted advertising segments across OpenWeb's network of 5,000+ publishers, enabling demand-side advertisers to target based on conversation context.
- Aida LLM-based moderation algorithm that recognizes nuance, learns context, achieves up to 95% accuracy (nearly double industry benchmarks), and operates over 10x faster than industry standards, providing written explanations for moderation decisions.
- In-Conversation Ads High-visibility ad placements that appear alongside user comments across OpenWeb's publisher network, seamlessly integrated into conversation flows to deliver contextual, brand-safe advertising.
- OpenWeb Email Newsletter monetization solution that enables publishers to monetize email inventory with personalized ads powered by first-party data and opted-in audiences.
- Exclusive Ads Premium ad inventory including In-Conversation Ads and Monetized Engagement Units designed to fit audiences while they engage, offering curated placements to the most engaged users on publisher sites.
Quantifiable outcome
- 3x more time on site for publishers
- +13 more outcomes
Companies that use OpenWeb
Customer profileNamed customers26 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
OpenWeb technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
AI capability3 records
Feature10 records
OpenWeb partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- The Weather CompanyminorOpenWeb announced partnership with The Weather Company to transform daily weather visits into vibrant community connections.
- PatchminorOpenWeb partnered with Patch to strengthen local news communities nationwide.
- PinkNewsminorPinkNews partnered with OpenWeb to build healthy community for LGBTQ+ audience and double-down on first-party data strategy.
- JeengcoreOpenWeb acquired Jeeng, an audience management company, to support publishers' personalized content delivery amid challenges like third-party cookie decline and social media trust issues. The acquisition supports OpenWeb's strategy to build stronger individual relationships between publishers and audiences.
- ADYOULIKEcoreOpenWeb acquired ADYOULIKE, a France-based social advertising technology company, for $100 million in cash and stock. The deal connected OpenWeb's network of over 1,000 publishers with ADYOULIKE's social advertising technology, expanding its presence in the global open internet market. ADYOULIKE continues to operate as an EU entity representing OpenWeb.
- Hive Media GroupcoreOpenWeb acquired California-based Hive Media Group in a deal valued at $60 million to enhance OpenWeb's product development and audience relationship capabilities, particularly in the UK market through its London office.
Scale indicators22 records
Recent moves1 record
Expansion highlights6 records
OpenWeb competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Disqus: Disqus is a commenting platform that competes directly with OpenWeb's Community product. It serves publishers seeking commenting, moderation, and engagement tools, with overlapping customer profiles in news and media. Both companies compete for the same publisher budget line and increasingly emphasize moderation AI.
- Viafoura: Viafoura provides community engagement, commenting, and content moderation tools for digital publishers. It competes head-to-head with OpenWeb Community and Moderation products across similar publisher verticals including news, sports, and lifestyle media.
Broad incumbents
- Teads: Teads is a global ad tech platform focused on premium publisher monetization, with overlapping SSP and video advertising capabilities. OpenWeb has a strategic partnership with Teads, and the relationship between the two is both competitive and cooperative across premium publisher inventory.
- Piano: Piano is a digital media technology platform offering publisher tools spanning audience engagement, subscription, and monetization. It competes with OpenWeb across publisher engagement and first-party data strategies, particularly with larger enterprise publishers.
- Outbrain: Outbrain is a content discovery and native advertising platform operating across premium publisher networks. While its core offering is content recommendation, it competes for the same publisher monetization budget and advertiser demand that OpenWeb's SSP and monetization products target.
- Taboola: Taboola is a content discovery and performance advertising platform serving premium publishers. It competes with OpenWeb for advertiser budgets targeting engaged audiences on publisher sites and overlaps in monetization strategy discussions with mid-to-large publishers.
- Naviga: Naviga provides end-to-end software and advertising solutions for news, media, and broadcast publishers. It competes with OpenWeb at the publisher level across engagement, monetization, and content distribution workflows.
Emerging players
- Permutive: Permutive is a publisher-first data platform enabling cookie-free audience targeting and first-party data activation. It competes with OpenWeb's first-party data and Community Exchange value proposition for the same publisher audience development budgets.
- Coral (Vox Media): Coral is Vox Media's commenting and community platform developed for news publishers. It is an emerging in-house alternative to OpenWeb and Disqus, particularly relevant for publishers evaluating build-vs-buy decisions on community engagement tooling.
Regional players
- Kargo: Kargo is a mobile-first ad tech platform offering premium advertising formats and SSP capabilities. While stronger in mobile display and video, it overlaps with OpenWeb Exchange at the SSP layer and competes for premium publisher ad inventory partnerships.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
OpenWeb social profiles
Digital presenceOpenWeb compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
OpenWeb financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
OpenWeb leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles19 records
OpenWeb subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries3 records
OpenWeb funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors13 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
OpenWeb M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A4 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about OpenWeb
What does OpenWeb do?
OpenWeb is an AI-powered audience engagement and monetization platform for digital publishers, combining a community-building suite, an AI/ML trust and safety moderation system (including the LLM-based Aida algorithm), and a publisher monetization stack spanning in-conversation ads, email monetization, newsreader monetization, and a proprietary supply-side platform (OpenWeb Exchange). It serves over 5,000 publishers and 150 million monthly active users, helping publishers build registered communities, fight toxicity, and monetize first-party audience data in a post-cookie environment.
Is OpenWeb a public or private company?
OpenWeb is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was OpenWeb founded?
OpenWeb was founded in 2015. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is OpenWeb based?
OpenWeb is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does OpenWeb make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Ad Monetization is the primary driver. The others are email Newsletter Monetization and direct Sales Team.
Who are OpenWeb's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Disqus and Viafoura. Broad incumbents are Teads, Piano, Outbrain, Taboola and Naviga. Emerging players are Permutive and Coral (Vox Media). Kargo is listed as a regional player.
Does OpenWeb have an API?
Yes. OpenWeb provides developer documentation and API access for publishers and advertisers. The platform offers an SSP (Supply-Side Platform) for publishers, ad exchange capabilities processing 800B bid requests per month, and programmatic advertising integration. Developer documentation is at openwebdoc.readme.io.
What industry is OpenWeb in?
OpenWeb's product category is Publisher Audience Engagement Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAIAD, Creator Publishing & Membership Platforms (Writer-Centric), with a secondary code of MPACAFAB, Creator Tipping, Donations & Micro-Payments. Its NAICS code is 516210 and its SIC code is 7372.