Slumping financials and threats of takeovers haven"t deterred search-engine Yahoo from conducting business as usual. In a press release today, the company announced it had aquired Maven Networks, an online video platform provider, to expand state-of-the-art consumer video and advertising experiences on its website network of leading premium video publishers across the web. The easy-to-use Maven video publishing platform enables publishers to deliver state-of-the-art consumer video experiences through simple media management, workflow and flexible media players. Maven also enables publishers to increase video ad inventory and revenue through a dynamic advertising insertion engine, sophisticated inventory management, reporting tools and advanced ad formats. The purchase has set Yahoo back a cool $160 million.
"Video is projected to be the fastest growing segment of the online ad market, and Maven will significantly help advance Yahoo!"s strategy, expanding the video opportunity for publishers and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness for advertisers. This is a big win for publishers, advertisers, consumers and for Yahoo!," said Hilary Schneider, EVP, Global Partner Solutions at Yahoo.