Verizon has announced it will purchase AOL for $4.4 billion. Analysts say Verizon was particularly attracted to AOL's ad-delivery business.

While AOL is probably still best known as the company you turned to in the 1990s to go online, the company has recently reinvented itself as a sophisticated seller of targeted ads, or programmatic advertising. The term describes new ways of using computers and data to put the right ad in front of the right potential consumer.

"Have they just visited a retail site where they're looking to purchase shoes? We can effectively target them with messages around shoes," said Alan Smith of Media Assembly, an ad agency, which sometimes works with AOL.

So what’s Verizon’s interest in programmatic ads?

Roger Entner, an analyst with Recon Analytics, believes the nation’s largest mobile phone carrier has big plans to establish its own video network, including targeted ads. Americans are spending more and more time watching videos on their mobile devices, and Verizon executives an opportunity.

"Why should Google with YouTube, why should Netflix make all the money over these connections?” Entner said.