AOL expands advertising offering, buys Pictela

AOL Inc. announced its acquisition of New York-based content marketing platform startup Pictela to bolster its advertising offering. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pictela is a platform for distributing videos, photos and applications across the Web in real time.

The Web services company's latest purchase follows other strategic acquisitions made by AOL in 2010 including StudioNow, 5min Media, TechCrunch and Thing Labs. The deal is the first for AOL Advertising since AOL became an independent, public company in December 2009.

AOL said the deal brings further scale to its suite of premium advertising tools for advertisers, agencies and publishers, including its new Project Devil display advertising format.

Since its launch in 2009 with Disney and American Idol, Pictela has experienced rapid growth with clients across retail, automotive and entertainment.

Pictela technology has been certified by premium publishers including AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Time Inc., Glam Media, Hearst, Demand Media, Undertone and The Wall Street Journal. Pictela is also approved by Facebook for sharing to its social network.

Clients of Pictela include: Macy's, Best Buy, Target Corp. and Kraft.

Pictela is an outstanding fit for AOL as we re-imagine the intersection of content, advertising and the consumer experience, said Jeff Levick, AOL’s President of Global Advertising and Strategy.

Shares of AOL ended Wednesday's trading at $25.28 on the NYSE.