Dive Brief:
- At the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Leadership Summit, AOL announced it joined six separate technologies and business units with a collective client base of 75,000 publishers to create its new One by AOL: Publishers platform.
- Previously the six different technologies all had separate sales reps talking to publishers, according to Tim Mahlman, president of publisher platforms at AOL.
- The One by AOL: Publishers platform will streamline those technologies for AOL, reducing the number of sales reps, providing publishers with one pricing model and only require a single master service agreement (MSA).
Dive Insight:
AOL’s acquisition of Millennial Media last year for $238 million was a key driver of the new platform’s creation. According to AOL, the One by AOL: Publishers platform consists largely of recent tech acquisitions made to boost its supply-side platform (SSP) offerings. Mahlman said the Millennial Media deal brought a strong mobile element to AOL’s existing programmatic stack.
Mahlman told Venture Beat, "In 2015, when working with AOL, brands had to sign seven different agreements, buy products from seven companies…we’re looking for a more consolidated story. There’s one pricing model now. When we walk into the publisher, they have one Master Service Agreement (MSA) to sign and one price that they can basically buy if they want to use all the assets."
In other AOL news, it announced buying programmatic ad platform AlephD, which will remain a standalone brand while its technology will become part of the One by AOL: Publishers platform.