Last week, AOL announced that it would be launching a new branded content development arm called Partner Studios. This week, we learned that Partner Studios will also be launching in Canada, with its own team of content development specialists based in Toronto.
Brad Cressman, vice-president of content and marketing for AOL Canada, said the company is talking up the new offering this week at Cannes. He said it isn’t just another production house focused on storytelling, but has roots in data and technology. Content creation will be informed by extensive data on AOL’s audiences and what they engage with. For distribution, brands will not only be able to tap AOL’s media brands, but also tie into AOL properties like content recommendation network Gravity (which competes with Taboola) and nRelate, and is used by hundreds of publishers’ sites.
Partner Studios will leverage experience and content performance data the AOL team has gained from developing partner content at Huffington Post Canada, which has had an in-house branded content division since 2013 (also called Partner Studios). Cressman said the new AOL-wide Partner Studios will extend that expertise to AOL’s other brands including EnGadget, TechCrunch and AOL.ca, and will have greater access to AOL’s audience data and distribution tools.
Earlier this year, AOL Canada announced a new in-house video production studio, as well as its first slate of original Canadian video series, with IPG Mediabrands, Dentsu Aegis’ Amplifi, and Omnicom as initial sponsors.
“This is ramping up our ability to be doing new, video-driven content every day,” he said. “We have the full spectrum, with webisodic original pieces and the ability to do stuff on the fly with the new studio.”
AOL was acquired last month by Verizon for $4.4 billion, which prompted a lot of analysts to predict that a sale of Huffington Post and AOL’s other media assets was in the works.
Since then, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has repeatedly denied plans to sell off AOL’s media assets, telling CNBC that The Huffington Post and other AOL brands were “always part of the transaction” and “something [Verizon’s] excited about.” The launch of Partner Studios druing Cannes could be another signal to big-budget brands that AOL’s media business is still healthy and growing, and a safe place to make long-term bets.
