What The Ozone Project does

The Ozone Project (Ozone Project Limited, registered in England & Wales, company number 11471303) is a programmatic digital advertising marketplace that aggregates premium publisher inventory and sells it to enterprise brand advertisers and agencies. The company was founded in summer 2018 as a joint venture between four major UK publisher groups — News UK, Guardian Media Group, Telegraph Media Group, and Reach plc — to offer a publisher-owned alternative to walled-garden platform marketing. Its core product is an Audience Connection Platform that combines inventory aggregation, an in-house creative studio (Studiozone), and a suite of high-impact ad formats (Multi-Skin, Video Wrap, Interscroller, Rising Stars/Billboard/DMPU, Standard IABs, Premium Web Video), with stated viewability metrics of 95% for Multi Skin and 94% for Interscroller.

The platform reaches 50M+ UK monthly online users and a scaled US audience through 40+ publisher groups and 100+ premium, audience-first domains. Technology features include Living Audience Intelligence (data-science targeting on fully consented audience interactions), Context Responsive Creative (creative-to-context optimization), and ECOzone (campaign sustainability measurement). Ozone integrates with Lotame for DMP-based audience segmentation, Brand Metrics for brand-lift studies, and SSPs for programmatic bid requests. Compliance posture includes IAB TCF 2.2 vendor registration, UK ICO data controller registration (ZA548524), and ISO 27001-aligned ad partner operations.

Ozone serves a two-sided market: advertisers (brands such as Unilever, Vodafone, Amazon, Samsung, Disney, Audi, LEGO, TUI, Waitrose, EE, Stellantis, Jet2, Aldi, and Chester Zoo, plus holding-company agencies including WPP, Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis, and indie agencies) and publishers (founding shareholders plus Mail Metro Media, The Independent, Evening Standard, DC Thomson, Time Out, HuffPost, BuzzFeed, Mumsnet, Dow Jones, Our Media, Planet Sport, Autovia, Netmums, and others). Revenue is generated via programmatic advertising commissions on marketplace transactions and publisher services (platform access, tools, and managed services complementing publishers' direct sales). The company is privately held, with no external institutional funding disclosed, and operates from London (HQ), Manchester, and New York, with a stated Glassdoor rating of 4.8 stars and an internal employee NPS of 60.

Name

The Ozone Project

Legal name

Ozone Project Limited

Website

https://ozoneproject.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Ozone Project is a publisher-owned programmatic advertising marketplace, founded in 2018 as a joint venture of News UK, Guardian Media Group, Telegraph Media Group, and Reach plc. It aggregates 40+ premium publisher groups and 100+ domains to connect enterprise brand advertisers and agencies with brand-safe, consented audience inventory across the UK and US.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Programmatic Advertising Commission: Ozone acts as a digital marketplace enabling advertisers to buy advertising space on publisher websites. The platform takes a commission or fee from advertising transactions between publishers and brands. Revenue is generated through the sale of digital advertising inventory across premium publisher domains.
2. Publisher Services Revenue: Revenue generated from providing publishers with tools, platform access, and services to monetize their digital inventory. Ozone complements publishers' direct sales efforts and helps compete for budgets typically destined for tech and social platforms.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Ozone Project operates a programmatic Audience Connection Platform that serves as a digital advertising marketplace, connecting premium publishers with brand advertisers and agencies. The platform aggregates inventory from 40+ publisher groups and 100+ premium domains, combining audience targeting capabilities (Living Audience Intelligence), creative services (Studiozone), and high-impact premium ad formats to deliver brand-safe, consented-data digital advertising campaigns.

Product overview

The Ozone Project operates as a unified Audience Connection Platform—a programmatic advertising marketplace combining publisher inventory aggregation with advertiser targeting capabilities. The core platform is complemented by Studiozone, an in-house creative studio providing format templates and campaign design services. The product portfolio includes premium ad formats (Premium Web Video, Multi-Skin, Video Wrap, Interscroller, Rising Stars/Billboard/DMPU, Standard IABs) and audience intelligence capabilities (Living Audience Intelligence, Context Responsive Creative, ECOzone sustainability measurement). Together, these enable brands to reach audiences across premium UK publisher environments with tailored creative and data-driven targeting.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Studiozone: Ozone's in-house design studio, a full service hub built to combine bespoke creative solutions with unrivaled reach to maximize ad impact across premium publisher environments.

Products and services

• Audience Connection Platform A programmatic digital advertising marketplace connecting premium publisher inventory with brand advertisers. Combines real audience connections at scale, creative formats, and deep audience intelligence to deliver measurable business impact for brands and tailored monetization tools for publishers.
• Studiozone Ozone's in-house creative studio providing bespoke creative solutions, format templates, and technical specifications for advertising campaigns across premium publisher environments.
• Premium Web Video Video advertising formats including Pre-Roll, Outstream, In-Banner, and non-skippable Publisher YouTube placements delivered within premium digital environments at platform scale.
• Multi-Skin Desktop advertising format featuring branded skins that wrap around publisher site content. Utilizes video assets and runs exclusively across premium site-list environments with reported 95% viewability and 9.51 seconds average in-view time.
• Video Wrap Combination format mixing autoplaying video within article content with a customisable frame, delivering creative standout in contextually relevant publisher environments.
• Interscroller Mobile advertising format featuring a parallax scrolling effect that reveals branded content as users scroll through mobile web pages, supporting video, animation, interactive elements, and data feeds with reported 94% viewability.
• Rising Stars (Billboard and DMPU) High-impact online display formats including Billboards and DMPU placements that feature prominently on publisher home, index, or article pages, utilising animation, in-banner video, and interactive elements.
• Standard IABs Efficiency-driving standard online display formats including MPU, Leaderboard, and Mobile MPU, offering cross-device scale with optimization capabilities for top-performing placements.

Quantifiable outcome

• 95% viewability for Multi Skin formats
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers36 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• News UKcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2018One of four founding publisher shareholders. News UK owns titles including The Sun, The Times, and The Sunday Times. Contributed to the unprecedented collaboration that created Ozone in summer 2018. Provides premium news publisher inventory to the platform.
• Guardian Media GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2018One of four founding publisher shareholders. Guardian Media Group owns The Guardian and The Observer. Contributed to the unprecedented collaboration that created Ozone in summer 2018. Provides premium news publisher inventory to the platform.
• Telegraph Media GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2018One of four founding publisher shareholders. Telegraph Media Group owns The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph. Contributed to the unprecedented collaboration that created Ozone in summer 2018. Provides premium news publisher inventory to the platform.
• Reach plccoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2018One of four founding publisher shareholders. Reach plc is one of the UK's largest newspaper publishers with titles including the Mirror and Express. Contributed to the unprecedented collaboration that created Ozone in summer 2018. Provides premium news publisher inventory to the platform.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Magnite: Magnite is one of the largest independent supply-side platforms (SSPs), formed through the merger of Rubicon Project and Telaria. Like Ozone, it aggregates premium publisher inventory and sells programmatic advertising across multiple channels, making it a direct competitor in the same inventory-aggregation marketplace category.
• Pubmatic: Pubmatic is a programmatic advertising technology company providing a sell-side platform for premium digital publishers. It competes with Ozone in connecting publisher inventory to programmatic buyers via header bidding and real-time bidding infrastructure, with a similar focus on premium content environments.
• Index Exchange: Index Exchange is a global ad exchange and SSP that enables programmatic media buying on premium publisher inventory. It is a direct peer to Ozone given its shared focus on inventory aggregation, programmatic marketplace operations, and premium publisher relationships.
• FreeWheel: FreeWheel (Comcast) provides ad management and monetization solutions for premium publishers across digital video, CTV, and traditional TV. It is comparable to Ozone as both operate in the premium publisher advertising infrastructure space with focus on brand-safe, high-quality content environments.
• OpenX: OpenX is an independent programmatic advertising exchange focused on publisher monetization and premium inventory marketplaces. It is a direct competitor to Ozone in the SSP space, both serving publisher-side needs with programmatic infrastructure.
• Smart AdServer: Smart AdServer (now part of Equativ) provides an ad server and SSP offering for publishers, enabling direct and programmatic inventory sales. It is a direct peer to Ozone given its role as a publisher-focused programmatic monetization platform with premium customer roster.

Broad incumbents

• Google Ad Manager: Google Ad Manager is Google's unified ad platform combining an ad server and ad exchange (formerly DoubleClick). It is a broad incumbent that competes with Ozone across the entire programmatic advertising stack, particularly in publisher inventory monetization, though as part of Google's much wider portfolio rather than as a focused premium-publisher specialist.
• The Trade Desk: The Trade Desk is a leading demand-side platform (DSP) that buys programmatic advertising inventory on behalf of advertisers. While Ozone is sell-side (publisher-facing), The Trade Desk is a key buyer of premium publisher inventory including Ozone's, making it a complementary platform competitor for the same advertiser budgets.
• Xandr (Microsoft): Xandr, owned by Microsoft, operates a programmatic advertising platform combining a curated marketplace with data and identity solutions. It is comparable to Ozone as a programmatic infrastructure provider, though as part of Microsoft's broader enterprise technology portfolio.

Emerging players

• TripleLift: TripleLift is a programmatic advertising technology company specializing in native and digital video advertising across premium publisher inventory. While narrower in format focus than Ozone, it is an emerging player in the same premium-publisher programmatic space with overlapping advertiser and publisher relationships.

Market position

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-ozone-project
• Instagraminstagram.com/lifeatozone
• Xx.com/TheOzoneProject

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Ozone Project