AOL to Launch Up To 30 News Sites by Year End

AOL is to launch at least 12 new sites in the next six months, and between 20 and 30 new sites by the end of the year.

Bill Wilson, AOL Executive Vice President of Programming told Bloomberg that AOL wants “to be sure we are appealing to as many consumers as we can.” Ultimately it’s all about numbers; more web properties should equal more traffic and more advertising revenue.

Erick has asked twice when AOL is going to be spun of in what he calls an “advertising IPO.” The continued mass rollout of new sites, combined with the spinoff of AOL’s dying dialup business, would suggest that the company is beefing itself up for that very purpose.

MG Siegler at VentureBeat does ask an important question though: is this a strategy of quantity over quality?

While certainly there is a logic to that strategy, it’s hard to feel excited about a company that hopes to succeed simply by putting more of its product on the web rather than focusing on improving the sites they already have.

AOL sites still sit in a fairly healthy fourth place behind Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT); if improving their lot means going wide and niche to draw more people to AOL in an endeavor to sell more ads, it has the potential of working.

Comments

[Terry S]

Duncan,

I always like your commentary and read it religiously.

Regarding AOL and their struggle to keep pace. I still want to know how AOL is going to execute its online strategy icluding their Platform A advertising IPO, with one of their recent acquisitions Tacoda being a cornerstone of the company. They are being sued for patent infringement by Modavox for stealing their patented technology and fetching $275 million for it. David Morgan's, founder of Tacoda, recent departure leaves me wondering if the suit has real teeth in it and serious implications for AOL.

They better prey they don't lose that case and Modavox doesn't get injunctive relief shutting down Tacoda and AOL's use of Modavox's important patented customization of content technology. Just take a look at the current Akamai vs. Limelight case and its recent ruling.

If AOL were really on the ball, they'd scoop this little company up before Google, Yahoo or another competitor figures out that this little company owns the patented technology they all need to effectively monetize their large online audiences through online advertising. This company owns the patented technology that allows for the customization of content or advertising to end users based on behavioral data. You can own the audience, you can have the advertisers, but if you can't custom tailor the message to them, all you have is the old spray and prey method of advertising which yields little to no roi on advertisers online ad spend.

Whoever eventually acquires them, and someone will imo, gains a valuable weapon which could be leveraged against their competitors to gain important market share while securing very valuable licensing royalties.

We'll see how AOL handles this situation as it will determine whether they are focussed on the future and catching the competition, or if they are simply satisfied remaining at the back of the path in fourth place behind Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.