AOL Europe Acquires Video Distribution Network

LONDON: AOL Europe has purchased the video distribution network goviral for $74.1 million.

goviral distributes branded video content across the Internet for a number of brands, media agencies, creative agencies and content producers. The company retains its offices in the U.K., Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden and Spain, with further global expansion planned. The current distribution network includes more than 18,000 publishers across 24 verticals. It specializes in the distribution of viewer-activated videos.

The purchase price of $74.1 million also has $22.6 million of consideration that will be deferred and paid over two years following completion. goviral is set to join other acquisitions made by AOL in 2010, including StudioNow, 5min Media, TechCrunch, Thing Labs, Pictela and most recently, about.me.

"Video is core to AOL’s consumer programming strategy and goviral has created an incredibly compelling platform that delivers highly measureable and cost effective solutions to publishers and advertisers," said Kate Burns, the senior VP of AOL Europe. "We believe that goviral offers a unique proposition in today’s market, and allows us to match our ambition for premium content creation and engaging advertising, with highly targeted distribution at scale. We look forward to welcoming this truly talented and innovative team."

"We’re excited to be joining AOL, a company with vision, that truly understands the shifting dynamics of the Internet. AOL has made a clear commitment to deliver great original content, and with their strong US position, it is a great accelerator for us to grow internationally and realize the potential of video," added Ren Rechtman, the CEO of goviral. "We simply believe and have experienced that good content is a key driver to reach and engage audiences globally. Working with a strong global brand such as AOL we are able to bridge the best of both worlds; scale and quality content that has relevance and resonance for users, advertisers and publishers."