AOL to Pay Viewpoint for Use of Media Player
America Online will license Viewpoint Corp.'s rich media technology, AOL said.AOL, Alexandria, VA, will pay New York-based Viewpoint an undisclosed annual licensing fee to use its Viewpoint Media Player across all AOL properties, including its shopping and advertising areas.
"This builds a competitive edge for AOL to attract advertisers and provide richer content to its users without a plug-in and opens up a large number of revenue possibilities because ... rich media capabilities are all built in," said Frank DiLiberto, a representative for Viewpoint.
The player includes video, audio, interactive three-dimensional options, two-dimensional zoom views, panoramas and character animation.
"They [AOL] are throwing their weight behind Viewpoint because it is the only [technology] that can do Flash and 3-D at the same time, without plug-ins," DiLiberto said.
In addition, the multimillion-dollar deal is Viewpoint's largest account to date, DiLiberto said. Viewpoint's technology has primarily been used for product demonstrations and advertising for clients such as Dell, Nike, Eddie Bauer and Sony.
