Google and AOL said Thursday that they have renewed their search partnership for another five years.
Under the arrangement, Google provides search for AOL and the companies share revenue. The AOL-Google search pact now includes mobile search and YouTube.
The basics of the deal (statement):
- Google will provide AOL search and enhancements;
- Google will give AOL ad formats;
- The companies will work together on mobile apps and content;
- AOL video will run on YouTube in a content partnership;
- The alliance is international.
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has said previously that the company was examining other search options such as Bing. In the end, AOL stuck with Google. “After nearly a decade-long partnership in search, we’re looking forward to expanding our global relationship to mobile search and YouTube. All aspects of our partnership will be improved by this deal,” said Armstrong.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the expansion into mobile and video is promising.
There is symmetry to the AOL-Google deal. Microsoft’s Bing has Yahoo as a search outlet. And Google has AOL, which is essentially a mirror image of Yahoo in both approach, content and size. The four players represent four of the top five Web properties on the Web (Facebook is the other one).
