• by Masha Geller , October 7, 2002

It’s official. Dayparts are a legitimate online targeting practice. Why? AOL is finally on board. The latest from the beleaguered online giant is that they’re going to start selling ads by matching key programming areas on both its dial-up and high-speed services to specific time periods. Just like in broadcast.

The move coincides with the launch of the company’s latest software, AOL 8.0, which is scheduled for official release next Tuesday, Oct. 15, at New York City's Lincoln Center. (Among the invited to the bash, according to CBSMW, are several thousand AOL subscribers, Chairman Steve Case, and Alanis Morisette.)

As Michael Barrett, senior VP of national sales at AOL, told AdAge.com, advertisers would buy specific spots that would air on a program at a specific time. "It's a reach and frequency model vs. the [ad] impression model."

AOL's dayparts break down to 6 a.m. to noon and noon to 6 p.m. It will also match programming to prime-time hours, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Reportedly, the company also plans a late-night component with AOL Music programming from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

All of this can be traced to a groundbreaking study done by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) in January, which investigated the overall media usage of at-work users and revealed that this group now spends more time on the web (34% of total media minutes) on a typical Monday-Friday than they spend watching TV (30%). Even among non-work users, the amount of time spent on the Internet during the workweek is second only to TV.

Not surprisingly, the study confirmed that daytime is prime time for the Internet. While Internet usage is notably strong throughout the day in comparison to other media, the Internet completely dominates daytime media use in the same way that television dominates evenings.

Incidentally, Yahoo! has sold by daypart across the network and on its home page for more than a year. MSN currently does not, but reportedly “plans to address the issue.”