AOL Is "Breaking the Glass Ceiling" of the Video Business with Syndication Play

Buoyed by its acquisition of syndicator 5Min two years ago, and more recently Goviral, AOL Video has grown its video revenues to $100 million. AOL has focused on an online video syndication strategy - and that has helped the company boost video revenues, according to the company's third quarter earnings report. "We expect the same momentum in 2013," Ran Harnevo, SVP for Video, tells Beet.TV. "We think it's a big achievement for the whole company." In this interivew, he says that syndication is about half of AOL's video business and that the piece of the pie is going to grow. He says that video consumption on big and small sites and portals often hit a "glass ceiling" which limits the scale of consumption. Syndication is essential for the growth of the industry - and he says AOL is doubling down on this business. The next step is to scale premium content and to create more original videos, he says. Internet video would still benefit from a big programming hit to boost overall interest in the medium. "The industry still needs its Mad Men," Harnevo says. He won't disclose dollars, but says AOL is investing significantly in original content creation this year, and adds that the company has inked a deal with Martha Stewart. Also on the agenda for 2013 is more curation of video, he adds. AOL's video library has grown from 30,000 videos to 450,000 since the 5Min.com acquisition."2012 was the year AOL changed its perception on the video landscape and hopefully will finish the year as one of three major players in the video space," Harnevo says. This video is one in a series of leadership interviews with digital innovators presented by FreeWheel. Daisy Whitney

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