AOL's Ad Tech Unit Accounts For Nearly Half Of Q4 Revenue

AOL reported its fourth quarter 2014 earnings this morning, and noted that its programmatic revenue grew 250% on the year as a whole, accounting for 39% of the company’s non-search and other revenue during the final quarter.

AOL reported total revenue of $710.3 on the quarter, missing estimates by just over $11 million. Its stock price has taken a sharp decline as a result -- shares of AOL were down over 11% on the day at press time.

The company’s Platforms unit -- which houses a growing ad tech stack -- became profitable in 2014 after pulling in over $1 billion in revenue, AOL reported.

The Platforms unit pulled in $330.6 million in revenue last quarter, up 20% (from $275 million) over the previous quarter. The Platforms unit alone accounted for nearly 47% of all AOL ad revenues on the quarter. With the company’s subscription revenue declining -- it dropped 5% year-over-year -- AOL will likely continue to lean on its ad tech.

“AOL is building leading assets in the fastest growing areas of media technology and we are aggressively moving the company forward in 2015," stated Tim Armstrong, AOL chairman and CEO.

AOL is expected to launch it’s “One by AOL” platform before the first quarter of 2014 is out. The “One” platform will be AOL’s one stop shop for programmatic advertising; it will be a single platform comprised of AOL’s existing ad tech properties. AOL is hoping to make the “One” platform the crown jewel of its Platforms unit.

The push toward automation at AOL has had an impact on the people side of things, as well. Earlier this month it was reported that AOL is laying off around 150 people, “with the majority in sales,” per TechCrunch.

AOL's earnings report can be found here.

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