Goodbye, Platform-A; Hello, AOL Advertising
Bid adieu to Platform-A -- at least in name.
AOL announced Friday that its sprawling ad unit -- encompassing premium ad sales on its owned-and-operated properties, its Advertising.com third-party ad network and its ADTECH ad-serving operations -- will be renamed AOL Advertising come September. "In talking to advertisers, marketers and agencies, we heard time and again that the AOL brand matters greatly in this space," said AOL's President of Global Advertising and Strategy, Jeff Levick.
"Harnessing the brand will help us better convey the power of what AOL has to offer advertisers with our premium content sites, third-party network and unique, data-driven consumer insights."
In turn, AOL Media will become the soon-to-be-independent company's way of presenting its premium consumer offerings -- both content and products -- to advertisers.
Time Warner recently confirmed plans to spin off AOL as a separate and publicly traded company by the end of the year.
Last week, AOL outlined a new five-point strategy, a critical part of which its ability to please advertisers. Levick -- brought on mid-April by AOL's recently named CEO, and former Google colleague, Tim Armstrong -- has been given that daunting challenge.
"We're looking at how our sales teams are organized, and deployed around groups of content," he told Online Media Daily last week. "We're reorganizing around customers and display-based advertising." Albeit in a dour ad climate, AOL continues to struggle. Ad sales dropped 20% in the first quarter of this year -- or $109 million -- surpassing the 18% decline in the fourth quarter.
In mid-May, AOL fired a reported 50 sales and marketing staffers, including many from Platform-A.
Without explicitly confirming additional layoffs, Levick told Online Media Daily: "Like any business that goes through massive change, there might be changes."
Recent Online Media Daily Articles
-
Facebook Aims To Simplify Page Analytics June 19, 5:52 p.m.
In its latest step to simplify advertising and marketing on Facebook, the company on Wednesday announced ... -
Powley Tapped As iCrossing CEO June 19, 5:32 p.m.
Catching agency watchers off guard, Don Scales is stepping down as CEO of iCrossing, effective immediately.Stepping ... -
Twitter Gets Social With Viacom June 19, 5:21 p.m.
Twitter took another step Wednesday toward supporting television. The social-media company signed a partnership with Viacom ... -
Digital, Alternative Media Revs Forecast To Hit $436B By 2017 June 19, 3:01 p.m.
Various types of mobile marketing and advertising accounted for nine of the top 10 fastest-growing digital ... -
Acquisitions Flourish, Google To Seek Equity Firm To Further Deals June 19, 1:24 p.m.
Google is considering alliances with private-equity firms to help structure acquisition deals, but the tech company ... -
Millennial Expands Video Ad Options June 19, 11:44 a.m.
Mobile ad network Millennial Media is stepping up its video ad offerings with the launch of ... -
CIMM Issues Request For Data, Cross-Platform Metrics June 19, 9:29 a.m.
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) said it has issued a request for proposals involving ... -
Heads Or Tails: Facebook Grows A Long One, Surpasses 1 Million Advertisers June 19, 7:48 a.m.
Facebook has reached an important ad industry milestone, becoming one of the few mega platforms to ... -
Consumer Action: Most Web Users Want Control Over Tracking June 18, 8:20 p.m.
Most Web users have expectations about privacy that appear to be at odds with current practices ... -
Affiliate Channels Attract Global Buying, Tailored Marketing Programs June 18, 5:54 p.m.
The Internet continues to make the world smaller for affiliate marketers, but there are physical challenges ...
Be the first to comment on "Goodbye, Platform-A; Hello, AOL Advertising"
Leave a Comment