Dive Brief:

• Mobile advertising is a hot marketing space, and AOL improved its mobile ad reach after acquiring Millennial Media for $238 million.
• The move gives AOL access to inventory in Millennial Media’s 65,000 apps mostly in global markets in countries such as Japan, Germany and France.
• AOL itself was recently acquired by Verizon Communications for $4.4 billion.

Dive Insight:

In a move that bolsters its mobile ad tech reach, AOL bought Millennial Media and access to its about one billion active monthly users in global markets in the UK, Germany, France and Japan. The deal also includes building out a cross-screen programmatic platform called One. AOL said adding Millennial Media to its mobile ad mix will make One the “largest open and mobile-first programmatic platform” on the market.

In a statement, AOL President Bob Lord said, "AOL is well positioned as consumers spend more and more time on mobile devices, and as advertisers, agencies and publishers become more reliant on programmatic monetization tools. As we continue to invest in our platforms and technology, the acquisition of Millennial Media accelerates our competitive mobile offering in One by AOL and enhances our current publisher offering with an 'all in' monetization platform for app developers."

Lord also told The Wall Street Journal that gaining access to Millennial Media's pool of mobile ad inventory helps AOL better position itself as an alternative to Facebook or Google.

Millennial Media is expected to bring in this year $101.2 million in mobile ad revenue in the U.S., up 3.5% compared to 2014, according to eMarkter.

The acquisition comes soon after AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications in a $4.4 billion deal.