Following Sale To Verizon, AOL Ups Mobile Ad Tech Game

• by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_tyler, May 18, 2015

Just one week after getting scooped up by Verizon for $4.4 billion, AOL has already taken steps to up its mobile ad tech game.

The company this morning announced it has expanded its app-focused ad tech, allowing marketers to target mobile app users and subsequently attribute how ads from other channels -- including TV, mobile and the Web -- impact mobile app campaigns.

“Mobile, particularly within the app environment, is an increasingly important piece of marketers’ media spend, and we are excited to expand the options our customers have to tap into that highly engaged audience,” stated Don Kennedy, president of advertiser platforms.

AOL has partnered with Tune and Kochava to expand its new mobile app marketing and attribution offerings.

The Verizon-AOL deal has a plethora of implications, but one of the most obvious from the outset was that the two companies, together, had the makings of a mobile advertising powerhouse.

Shortly after the acquisition was announced, Lauren Fisher, analyst at eMarketer, said to Real-Time Daily, “Advertisers are looking for better and more streamlined ways to reach their audience across screens, and coupled with Verizon's existing mobile and over-the-top (OTT) presence, the companies' combined ad offerings mean massive cross-screen reach with much richer audience data.”

Today’s announcement is Fisher’s analysis made manifest: Marketers can now use AOL’s programmatic ad platform to target mobile app users across other apps and on other connected screens.