Mogulus, a New York-based company that's part of the crowded pack of live-video streaming sites, has raised a new round of funding from news media conglomerate Gannett, publisher of USA Today and about two dozen other newspapers.
The two companies have had a partnership in place for the past three months, and the new investment is considered to be an extension of the partnership.
Financial terms were not formally disclosed, but a source close to the deal told us that--consistent with blog reports--the capital is about $10 million.
So far, Gannett's partnership with Mogulus has given the video site some bragging rights: when former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made some controversial remarks about the Robert Kennedy assassination in 1968, that interview had been recorded and live-streamed on Mogulus by one of the participating Gannett newspapers--the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D. Other newspapers picked up on the remark, and the rest is (recent) history.
Besides cementing the relationship with what is probably its highest-profile client, Mogulus likely could use the extra cash: live video is bandwidth-heavy, and there are plenty of competitors in the field, from Kyte to Ustream to Justin.tv. Additionally, the company is working on supplementing its ad-supported free service with a paid offering.
Gannett Co., which operates 23 television stations and 85 newspapers in the U.S. including USA Today, has signed on to AOL's Platform-A as its digital advertising partner. More specifically, it'll be using Platform-A's Adtech, marking the U.S. debut of the formerly Europe-only division.
When the deal has rolled out completely, it'll encompass all of Gannett's local news markets for both print and broadcast, USAToday.com, and other Web properties that the company owns. No target date was provided. But it's a big deal for AOL, considering the reach of USA Today as well as the opportunities for local ad targeting. According to Nielsen, Gannett's Web properties have 25 million unique visitors per month.
"We selected Adtech because their top tier technology will allow us to seamlessly execute and deliver for advertisers at both a local and national level," Chris Saridakis, Gannett's chief digital officer, said in a release from the two companies. "With the Adtech platform, advertisers of all sizes will be able to easily reach our affluent, active online audience, whether it's through broad national campaigns, audience segmentation, or locally targeted campaigns."
AOL acquired the Germany-based Adtech last year. The company has been doing business in Europe for about a decade.
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