Thanks to aggressive cost cutting and asset sales, AOL on Wednesday said third-quarter earnings more than doubled. Still, that couldn't mask the fact that ad revenue fell a whopping 27% year-over-year.
Despite forceful rhetoric, "AOL had shown few signs of progress in the first half of the year," the Associated Press concluded. "The latest report underscores the work
that still lies ahead for the company."
CNet called the ad revenue decline "disconcerting."
Sounds like they partially
couldn't sell ads, and partially are removing ads from their sites," Business Insider said of AOL.
Adding insult to
injury, AP noted: AOL "competitors have been faring better: so far this quarter, Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and IAC/InterActiveCorp all reported growth in online advertising."
"Money is flowing
back into Internet advertising, but not at AOL," teased MediaMemo.
With
nowhere to hide, a candid Tim Armstrong said Wednesday: "AOL is not a great investment if you are looking for quarter over quarter results ... but we hope you stick with us."
Still, as Variety noted, AOL's CEO "said he is pushing as quickly as possible to improve operations."
According to paidContent, "Armstrong said he would be 'disappointed' if AOL's advertising did not
return industry growth rates by the second half of 2011."
It was not lost on MediaMemo, however, that "That will be more than two years after [Armstrong] took over."
AOL is a joke. I have bent over backwards to work with them and they don't even bother to return a call not even knowning what I want to talk about. Not once but many times. They don't even care. No wonder in my book and I hope someone at AOL reads this.