Two To 'One,' AOL Platform Now Targets Facebook And Twitter Users

AOL plans to announce Thursday a global partnership with Kenshoo that will provide technology that allows brands to advertise across its network to target audiences on Facebook and Twitter.

The first campaigns will begin running by next week.

While the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, the deal is not exclusive. Brands can expect a variety of companies to plug into the One platform when it officially launches in the coming weeks, per Chad Gallagher, global director of mobile at AOL. The platform signals a move toward the destruction of silos and integration of data.

The partnership with Kenshoo means that AOL advertisers gain access to proprietary predictive and first-party audience segments for targeting Twitter inventory on desktop and mobile, native and video ad inventory on Facebook. AOL's predictive analytics engine ONE will provide insights -- including attribution -- on metrics such as reach, frequency and performance across all screens and formats.

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Facebook and Twitter represent 11% of time spent in mobile, according to Forrester Research. When other social API channels are added into the mix, the time spent jumps to 20%.  

The deal opens new opportunities for brands to target content -- such as video in social channels -- to specific audience segments. Imagine a banking brand that creates a video series on unique ways that people can save money. The series might live on Huffington Post, but the deal with Kenshoo allows brands working with AOL to promote the videos across Facebook and Twitter to a target audience.

Kenshoo also intends to access inventory other than Facebook and Twitter, Gallagher said. "They plan to make more ad inventory available in the coming quarters," he said.

In the future, AOL brands also could have an option to buy search ads through the network, although Gallagher declined to comment. One thing is certain -- Google runs search advertising across AOL's network, which Kenshoo supports. "While today this announcement is around social inventory, one of the things we like about Kenshoo is the different assets they bring to the table," he said. "We will look into more ways to integrate services."

One by AOL, an open data-driven programmatic platform for display and video on desktop and mobile, includes Advertising.com, which has its own demand-side platform (DSP), Adapt.tv and an attribution layer from Convertro. "We've easily invested about $100 million into machine learning and continue to invest more," Gallagher said.

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