Facebook announced today that it has acquired video advertising technology company LiveRail as part of its goal of improving its advertising revenues.
The social network currently collects user data that helps connect targeted consumers with video ads in an effort to make the ads "more relevant," to users, reported the Financial Times.
"LiveRail, Facebook, and the premium publishers it serves have an opportunity to make video ads better and more relevant for the hundreds of millions of people who watch digital video every month," said Brian Boland, vice-president of ads marketing at Facebook.
LiveRail provides ads to apps and websites for ABC, Major League Baseball, Dailymotion, A&E Networks and other major companies, Adweek reported.
"LiveRail also helps marketers by providing them with access to premium video inventory and the information that they need in order to decide where to show their ads," Facebook said in its announcement. "What LiveRail ultimately offers is a complete advertising solution for video publishers."
Video is playing a major role in the growth of the online advertising market, with research firm eMarketer estimating that it will grow by 42 percent this year in the U.S., reaching $6 billion, the Financial Times reported.
LiveRail was founded in 2007 by Mark Trefgarne, the company's chief executive, and Andrei Dunca, its chief technology officer. Trefgarne said the goal of the company was to create a new digital video platform that could compete with TV.
"We believed that over the years, television would increasingly move to the internet, and that both broadcasters and advertisers would follow viewers into this new digital TV age," he explained.
Facebook's deal with LiveRail follows Twitter's purchase of TapCommerce, a company that focuses on retargeted advertising, for $100 million earlier this week.
LiveRail stated it delivers 7 billion video ads every month, Adweek reported.
"Our platform sits at the heart of the video advertising ecosystem," Trefgarne said in the company's announcement.
