Why isn't online media profitable? Rejecting the question, Tim Armstrong tells OMMA Global attendees: "I'd be very careful saying content is not profitable online." That said, the argument "works at the aggregate," but breaks down when one factors in the approach of legacy-laden media companies, according to Armstrong. They are trying to pay for "unions, printing plants, trucks driving around with gas" with online ad revenue, according to Armstrong. The "cost structure's a 100-times the size" than it should be.

Coming off of OMMA Global emcee Jeff Jarvis' opening remarks that it is relationships - not content or messaging - that really matter now, Bob Garfield asked keynote conversation interviewee Tim Armstrong if his "content strategy" maybe wasn't so wise after all?

Regarding Armstrong's rocky relationship with Wall Street (and a recent proxy fight, which aggravated that relationship), Armstrong tells OMMA Global attendees: "Our strategy is crystal clear ... You either believe in our differentiated strategy, or (you don't)." (That crystal clear strategy, in short, involves "differentiated" content complimented by deep Project Devil-led -- as well as highly programmatic, high frequency, highly-scaled -- ad opportunities.) Rare among CEOs, Armstrong is all in, reminding us that he's put tens of millions of dollars of my own money into AOL "That's unique," he says.

That's the way Bob Garfield described it when, after asking Tim Armstrong to explain Wall Street's "hot and cold" relationship with AOL, Armstrong said the cold part mainly comes from some disruntled shareholders who have been waging a proxy battle against Armstrong's strategy for the company.

Well, it wasn't that kind of a cab ride. As it turns out, Bob was simply taking a taxi to this morning's opening keynote conversation with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong when Arianna's likeness appeared on the screen in the backseat of the taxi he was riding in.

How would you describe AOL's current strategy in one word? Company head Tim Armstrong's going with "differentiated." It's all about content and brand differentiation, AOL's CEO & Chairman just told MediaPost columnist Bob Garfield at OMMA Global. "We've taking a very differentiated approach," according to Armstrong. "Our content strategy is very differentiated."

OMMA Global emcee Jeff Jarvis opened this year's show with a pretty fundamental and important question: "What business are we in?"

Kicking off OMMA Global on an uncertain note, author and journalist Jeff Jarvis is asking the audience of media and marketing experts: "What business are we really in?" As the famed media blogger recalls, Yahoo infamously proclaimed itself to be a member of the entertainment business. That "didn't work very well," according to Jarvis. Neither are publishers and marketers really in the media and messaging business, he adds. Rather, "I think we (both publishers and marketers) are in the relationship business," Jarvis insists. Content and brands, in the end, are "tools," according to Jarvis -- by which we assume he …