Verizon barges into online video, buying AOL for $4.4B

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon is buying AOL for about $4.4 billion, advancing the telecom's push in both mobile and advertising fields.

The acquisition gives Verizon an entry into increasingly competitive online and mobile video. The New York company is the country's largest wireless carrier as well as an Internet and TV provider — and wireless video and targeted advertising is seen as the next battleground for customers.

The move comes as the media landscape is increasingly being disrupted on several fronts as more TV watchers stream shows online and through their smartphones and tablets. AOL offers an advertising sales and display network that made it an acquisition target.

"AOL's focus on unifying the advertising experience across display, video, mobile and TV makes it an attractive asset because advertisers are looking for better ways to reach their audience across screens," said Lauren Fisher, analyst at eMarketer. "Coupled with Verizon's existing mobile [and streaming video] presence, the companies' combined ad offerings mean massive cross-screen reach with much richer audience data."

Increasingly, companies like Verizon and Google are looking to connect together the video and other content viewers want, the digital "pipes" that deliver the content and the advertising networks that support it.