Time Warner delivered more ho-hum results in the first quarter, but the news from Dulles was particularly disappointing. In the midst of Web 2.0, AOL delivered a 7 percent year- over-year quarterly
revenue loss. What gives? Everyone else in the biz seems to be delivering steady increases. Among the major portals, AOL lags behind Yahoo, Google and MSN in audience growth and total uniques per
month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Not to mention the sizable rate at which AOL continues to bleed service subscribers. Subscriptions actually make up 77 percent of the company 's business, so a
13 percent yearly drop may tell most of the depressing story. Fact is, AOL needs to attract new users, and while new initiatives like In2TV and an alliance with Google should help, results would
indicate they've yet to have much impact. One positive takeaway for the former Web giant is the 26 percent hike in ad revenues. That's the area that needs to pick up the subscriber defection slack.
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