AOL Video debuts in India, Canada, and Taiwan

Following the general shift among content providers toward more vertical and geographical content, AOL is expanding its video presence outside of the United States.

AOL Video is already quite successful here in the US: the site averages about 17 million unique visitors per month, and over 96 million page views.

New video portals will debut in India, Canada and Taiwan over the next month, it said on Thursday. This will be followed by launches in the UK, France, and Germany by the end of the year.

The moves are part of a larger effort to expand AOL's overall global reach. While it is available in 21 markets as of Thursday, by the end of the year the company hopes to have AOL sites in 30 countries.

Content providers have increasingly begun to focus on international online distribution as the US market for Web video continues maturation.

While global videos are included on the site, those which may have more relevance to users in the country are given greater weight. AOL has already been serving videos in India, but through its main portal.

These videos earn their own separate "local" site, much like the US version. While videos are still accessible from the main site, AOL said it plans to market both as individual sites from this point onward.

All the localized portals are built upon technology developed for Truveo, AOL's video search engine. That site has already been localized and is available in more than a dozen countries.