Skip to main content

AOL posts double-digit display ad growth in Q2

AOL-Tim-Armstrong
Image used with permission by copyright holder

AOL announced today its earnings for the second quarter of 2011. The Internet giant beat the Street’s expectations, raking up double-digit earnings with the help of strong advertising sales and cost cutting measures.

A complete turnaround in display advertising played a major role in AOL’s good fortunes, with a 14 percent total increase in that category. That’s up from a 4 percent increase in the previous quarter. Total advertising revenue jumped 5 percent to $319 million, a welcome change from the nearly nonexistent rise in the first quarter.

Recommended Videos

“AOL’s return to global advertising growth for the first time since 2008 reflects the hard work of our team and another meaningful step forward in the comeback of the AOL brand,” said Tim Armstrong, AOL’s Chairman and CEO, in a statement. “AOL is singularly focused on becoming the next great media company for the digital age and we have positioned the company’s best people, technology and assets in front of some of the largest opportunities on the internet.”

Armstrong took over AOL after 10 disastrous years under the ownership of Time Warner.

Despite gains in advertising dollars, the company still suffered a loss of $11.8 million, or eight percent, bringing total revenue to $542.2 million. This was partially due to a 23 percent loss in subscription sales. But the drop in this year’s second quarter revenue is still far better than its earnings a year ago, when the company lost $1 billion.

Another factor in the lost revenue was a $17.6 million decline in search and contextual revenue.

Adding to the boost in advertising revenue was AOL’s purchase of the Huffington Post in February, which the company bought for $315 million. During the month of May, the Huffington Post brought in 30 million unique visitors, which pushed the news site’s traffic above that of The New York Times‘ website. The earnings report also gives credit to its flagship technology property, TechCrunch for helping to fuel the upswing in ad dollars.

[Image via]

Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
PayPal vs. Venmo vs. Cash App vs. Apple Cash: which app should you use?
PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, and Apple Wallet apps on an iPhone.

We’re getting closer every day to an entirely cashless society. While some folks may still carry around a few bucks for emergencies, electronic payments are accepted nearly everywhere, and as mobile wallets expand, even traditional credit and debit cards are starting to fall by the wayside.

That means many of us are past the days of tossing a few bills onto the table to pay our share of a restaurant tab or slipping our pal a couple of bucks to help them out. Now, even those things are more easily doable from our smartphones than our physical wallets.

Read more
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more