Third-quarter ad revenue at Time Warner's AOL increased 45%, but subscription revenue dropped 13% as users stopped paying for the service--which became available to broadband users for free at the
beginning of August. Currently, around 10 million dial-up users and 5 million broadband users in the United States continue to pay for subscriptions. At the same time, AOL's page views dropped 5%
during the quarter--a drop that appeared to concern some investors. But Time Warner chairman Dick Parsons sounded an upbeat note. "Not only are former AOL subscribers coming back, a host of new
first-time users are signing up," he told analysts. Parsons expects that AOL ad sales growth will meet or improve industry average levels next year.
