This past May the web video industry invested in upfronts (only they call them NewFronts) more than ever before. The glitz and glamour that has helped the TV industry hold onto billions is creeping into the established video players who are looking to capitalize on the cord-cutting, device-agnostic viewer. Aol recently had the most glossy of them all, even giving away a Ford car. The company that now owns 5min, Huffington Post and TechCrunch launched Aol On...

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At Advertising Week, AOL Video announced they would be developing 15 original web series, including one with celeb Jennifer Lopez. The saga of AOL continues to stay interesting and it has nothing to do with their acquisition of TechCrunch and Huffington Post. Last fall AOL bought Israeli startup 5min.com for $65 million. A year later, the startup is now running AOL Video and has implemented their successful strategy under the leadership of Ran Harnevo (whose education section on LinkedIn reads, "didn't graduate but had some fun digging in"), 5min CEO/founder and now SVP of Aol Video. Harnevo's mission - to define and create a new kind of primetime for online video with premium content that will start driving advertisers away from the TV.

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