AOL acquires Adap.tv for US$405 million

AOL has agreed to buy video advertising platform Adap.tv for US$405 million (€304 million) in a bid to target brands, agencies and publishers.

AOL said that the takeover would allow it to offer an end-to-end solution and video stack for publishers and advertisers and follows recent heavy investment by the firm in premium content in the digital video space.

“AOL is a leader in online video and the combination of AOL and Adap.tv will create the leading video platform in the industry. The Adap.tv founders and team are on a mission to make advertising as easy as e-commerce and the two companies together will aggressively pursue that vision,” said Tim Armstrong, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AOL.

Adap.tv is an video advertising platform that allows advertisers and publishers to plan, target and manage campaigns. AOL said Adap.tv has grown its global revenue by more than 100% per-year in the last three years, and in 2012 supported more than 26,000 global ad campaigns that ran on some 9,500 websites.

Adap.tv will operate independently as part of AOL’s video organisation, which is led by senior vice-president of video Ran Harnevo, and will be included as part of the overall solution offered by AOL Networks to its publisher and advertiser partners.

“Two trends are prevalent in the video space right now – the movement from linear television to online video and the shift from manual transactions to programmatic media buying. Adap.tv is positioned squarely in front of the huge opportunity these trends are presenting,” said Armstrong.

AOL agreed to pay a total of US$405 million, which includes roughly US$322 million in cash and US$83 million in AOL common stock. The deal has been approved by both boards of directors and is expected to close this quarter.