Yahoo Acquires Online Video Ad Company

Yahoo is acquiring Maven Networks for US$160 million. Maven, is an online video ad insertion company. Their clients include Fox News, CBS Sports, Hearst, The Financial Times and Gannett.

Maven’s technology identifies the right moment during a video to show a specific ad. Yahoo will integrate the technology in video as clickable ads, interactive ads and short clips. According to Yahoo these formats have proved far more effective than preroll ads, which are ads that appear before the content the viewer is trying to see.

“We really see this deal with Maven as creating one of the most robust video platforms in the industry,” said Hilary Schneider, an executive vice president who oversees Yahoo’s network of advertisers and publishers.

Online advertising accounted for about $US775 million of the US$20 billion spent on online advertising in the United States in 2007 reports eMarketer.