Discovery Inks Licensing Deal With AOL

Will provide short-form videos from its networks to The AOL On Network video library

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/24/2013 12:41:47 PM

AOL Inc. has concluded an agreement with Discovery Communications that will make short-form videos from Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Science Channel and Military Channel available on The AOL On Network's library of more than 470,000 videos.

Launched in April 2012, The AOL On Network reaches more than 68 million unique visitors per month with about 700 million video streams in December 2012, according to comScore.

The content will be included in The AOL On Network's 14 channels and will strengthen AOL's science, technology, lifestyle and history offerings. The videos will also be shared across the AOL On video hub, on AOL's owned and operated properties and on sites of publisher partners.

"Discovery Communications always has been committed to engaging audiences on all consumer distribution platforms, which are supported by a strong business model," said Rebecca Glashow, senior VP of digital distribution and partnerships at Discovery Communications, in a statement. "This partnership with The AOL Network not only introduces new audiences to our award-winning programming, but allows loyal fans access to clips from all of their favorite shows. It is a terrific complement to our current array of multi-channel video services."

The clips include excerpts many popular series from Discovery's networks as well as content from Discovery and Revision3's recently launched online video series, DNews.

"We've long been advocates of the idea that content providers need to distribute their offerings to multiple platforms in order to maximize exposure and ROI," said Ran Harnevo, senior VP of The AOL On Network, in a statement. "Over the last few months, we've seen this vision rewarded through market traction and recognition, although there's no better validation than when an industry leader like Discovery turns to us to help distribute their video content around the Web."