AOL Launches Online Video Platform, AOL On, Announces 7 New Shows

AOL will launch video channels for food, business, entertainment and other topics

AOL on Tuesday launched AOL On, a hub for online video content that will feature 14 content channels and centralize all AOL video in one place.

The company made the announcement at the Digital Content NewFront, the equivalent of the television upfronts for online video companies.

AOL will launch channels for food, business, entertainment and other topics, hoping to draw millions of viewers and lure the extra advertising dollars one gets for video content.

“AOL is a brand company,” CEO Tim Armstrong said in a statement. “With the launch of AOL On we are bringing people closer to the things that matter while helping them discover and share the stories and information that color their lives.”

While making the announcement, AOL also unveiled seven original shows, including “Fetching” from Amy Harris (“Sex and the City”) and “Digital Justice,” a weekly reality show about Internet crimes.

Also read: Top Editor of AOL's Patch Venture Resigns 

In addition to those shows, celebrities like Heidi Klum and Rachel Roy will curate playlists.

The growth of online video is irrefutable. The very existence of the NewFront demonstrates as much, with companies like Yahoo and Hulu pitching advertisers that they represent the future.

That puts the onus on AOL to play some catch up and convince viewers and advertisers that their content is not only different but of a higher or equivalent quality.

Ran Hernveo, SVP for Video at AOL, said in a statement that AOL On "goes beyond the traditional online video experience and delivers premium, curated video in the right context at the right time."

It remains unclear what this means for the Huffington Post Streaming Network. The Huffington Post’s foray into online news video is set to bow this summer. The Huffington Post is owned by AOL.

If Huffington Post's network remains separate from AOL On, that would suggest a continued division between the two parts of the business.

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