• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, September 29, 2014

Publicis Groupe and AOL said Monday they were expanding their partnership on multichannel marketing efforts struck in 2013 to include programmatic video and linear TV.

The companies said the move would provide VivaKi and other Publicis Groupe agencies with greater access to so-called “premium reserved and non-reserved video environments through AOL Platforms."

Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL said the expanded agreement “is the start of enabling global video advertising to scale to global consumers — offline or online.”

Armstrong said the company is “transforming as a company and a partner into a programmatic advertising platform and today’s announcement is another big step in our strategy.”

Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Levy said the expanded alliance will “further enhance our ability to better serve our clients in the very important growth area of video. Our clients will benefit first from the innovations created by AOL.”

According to eMarketer, digital video will grow 30% to 40% this year, and is forecast to reach nearly $7.8 billion in 2015. And Publicis said its video spend is “increasing accordingly as audiences continue their migration to digitally connected devices.”

Armstrong and Levy will discuss their expanded deal and other developments in the video and programmatic sectors Thursday at and Advertising Week event.