Publisher audiences are now matching – and in some cases surpassing – social platforms on reach, in a move which it is claimed points to a broader shift in how scaled audiences are being built and bought outside of social media.
That is according to new data from digital ad business Ozone,which was forged through an historic collaboration between four of the UK’s biggest publishers, News UK, The Guardian, The Telegraph and Reach in 2018 before expanding globally.
It claims its platform now reaches 42% of the UK population every week, compared to 43% for Instagram and 21% for TikTok, while in the US, Ozone reaches 66% of the population monthly, compared to 58% for Instagram and 55% for TikTok.
Ozone, whose partners now include some of the biggest publishing brands on both sides of the Atlantic, insists its proposition is centred on the impact of reaching this scaled audience in the right places, combined with rich data signals and compelling creative, as being key to delivering the outcomes brands need.
Premium publishers are moving from fragmented inventory to scaled, audience-led platforms, with Ozone now boasting 228 million global monthly users. It also claims that advertising campaigns deliver over 50% in incremental reach on top of social platforms,
The platform insists the figures reflect a wider trend as advertisers look beyond walled gardens, scaled, high-quality publisher environments are becoming a more central part of media plans. Premium publishers are moving from fragmented inventory to scaled, audience-led platforms that can rival – as well as complement – social media in media plans.
Ozone’s audience-led positioning has been critical in creating an alternative activation route for brands.
A core focus for Ozone has been to attract platform-scale briefs valued at six figures and above. Through 2025, the team responded to 23% more of these high value briefs, and when converting, saw the average order value increase by 8% year on year.
In addition, the success of its Premium World offering has seen Ozone engage with 34 multi-region advertisers across 56 campaigns to deliver £2.6m worth of incremental revenue into the publishing sector.
Supporting this growth, Ozone increased its headcount by 26% in its bases in London, Manchester, New York and Chicago, alongside further investment in its AI, engineering and data capabilities.
Ozone chief executive Damon Reeve said: “Following a year of exciting growth and transformation, and a strong start to this one, we’re looking forward to what the rest of 2026 holds. We expect our addressable audience to expand and engagement deepen. As we continue building our US and UK platforms, we will also reach audiences in new formats and channels such as YouTube and Apple News, while extending our multi-market offering Premium World further into EMEA and APAC.
“With many hands readying our business for the evolving AI landscape, our growth will be supported by a packed product pipeline designed to help uncover deeper audience insights for our customers, while delivering the campaign outcomes they need.”
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