In a move to significantly bolster video advertising business, Facebook has acquired video advertising firm LiveRail for $400m to $500m.
Established in 2007, LiveRail offers a wide-ranging platform for online video publishers to assist them in discovering the best ads possible.
LiveRail’s technology automatically matches up video ads with the videos appearing on several websites, including the sites of companies ranging from Major League Baseball to DailyMotion, and optimises their delivery on mobile and the web.
Using its real-time bidding and its proprietary market data, LiveRail offers marketers access to a premium video catalogue and the required information to decide where to show their ads.
Facebook ads product marketing VP, Brian Boland, said that the premium publishers served by both the companies will give them an opportunity to make video ads better and more relevant for the hundreds of millions of people who watch digital video every month.
"More relevant ads will be more interesting and engaging to people watching online video, and more effective for marketers too," Boland added.
During recent months, the social networking firm has been laying the foundation to cater video ads to its over billion user base.
LiveRail CEO and cofounder, Mark Trefgarne, said: "We realised that by joining forces we’d be able to draw upon our respective strengths to move even faster towards our shared vision of creating the advertising platform of the future."
The latest move is in line with Facebook’s launch of a new service in March to offer 15-second video ads from a limited number of firms on its newsfeeds section.
