AOL Announces Strategic Alliance with PointRoll
Wednesday, 14 March 2007
AOL has announced a two-year strategic alliance with PointRoll, the leading provider of rich media services for online advertisers, that will help AOL better serve its marketing partners with new rich media products and formats.
Under the agreement, PointRoll (http://www.pointroll.com) will work with AOL (http://www.aol.com) to create new cutting-edge rich media formats – ads that are dynamic, interactive, and that can feature video and audio elements. AOL will become PointRoll's preferred portal partner, the only major portal to have such a relationship. As such, AOL will get an exclusive window to use several new media formats, including video roll in banner ad space. PointRoll will also provide AOL with a dedicated rich media team. Specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
PointRoll, owned by Gannett Co., Inc., is the No. 1 provider of rich media services, with 60% market share, according to Nielsen's Ad Relevance. It has a large sales force and strong advertiser and agency relationships. The agreement builds on an existing relationship AOL has had with PointRoll.
“We listen closely to our marketing partners, and we know that advertisers want a choice of best-in-breed solutions to reach consumers with a wide range of traditional and rich media formats," said Kathleen Kayse, Executive Vice President of Sales and Partnership Alliances at AOL. "Working with PointRoll, AOL will continue to expand our advertising solutions to include several new types of rich media formats incorporating audio, video, and other rich media. We're proud to partner with a leader in the rich media space and look forward to continuing to meet our advertisers' needs in the expanding multimedia world."
"This partnership demonstrates the importance of rich media for AOL and the strength of PointRoll's range of rich media offerings," said Chris Saridakis, CEO, PointRoll. "By partnering with PointRoll, AOL will provide their clients with access to the most robust and dynamic advertising formats available on the web."