The Devil Made Me Do It. AOL's Regrouped Advertising.com Is A $500 Million Business

Erick Schonfeld currently works at TechCrunch as Co-Editor. He joined in 2007 and is based in New York. Schonfeld oversees the editorial content of the site, selects and edits guest posts, helps to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produces some TCTV shows, and writes daily for the blog. He is also the father of three... → Learn More

AOL’s advertising platforms, which are grouped under the Advertising.com business, is now a $500 million business, the company revealed today at its Investor Day in New York City. The Advertising.com Group is a new business unit inside AOL, which includes six separate products: The Advertising.com ad-serving network (which AOl acquired in 2004) and AdTech, along with more recent acquisitions 5Min (now AOL Video), Pictela, GoViral, and the internally built Seed product. (AOL also owns TechCrunch, but we are part of the Huffington Post Media Group).

All of that, all together is a $500 million business, which is about a quarter of AOL’s total revenue. And it’s clear that AOL thinks it can become a $1 billion business. Today was the first time AOL broke out these numbers.

AOL is trying to position itself as the best place for brands to advertise next to premium content. It is trying to do this first on its own sites, primarily with its Project Devil ads. But the bigger play is to become the ad network for premium brands across the Web by extending Project Devil ads and other new ad formats to the 26,000 publishers on AOL’s ad network.

And in fact, through Pictela, AOL is going to expand its highly engaging Project Devil Ads out across what it is calling the Devil Network. Devil Ads are larger-format ads that can include video or photo galleries, maps, or other interactive elements. AOL is seeing very high engagement rates with these ads, sometimes as high as 10 percent. Devil ads are just one format. Expect AOl to move into mobile ads and other formats as well.

AOL’s entire focus is to create branded experiences for big brand marketers. That includes putting those ads next to great content, but it also means rethinking the boring, old banner ad. Ned Brody, who runs the Advertising.com group, sees the opportunity this way: “There is $50 billion sitting in a locked vault, television and print. It is hard to convince advertisers to take that to a market where they get 0.2% clickthrough rates.”

In order for this plan to work, however, other sites will have to change their designs to be able to accept the bigger Devil ads. If they in fact do perform better, they might do that. But adoption will be a challenge. (Other Devil ads fit into standard 300X250 and 300X600 ad units).

AOL is a global advertising-supported Web company, with display advertising network in the U.S., a substantial worldwide audience, and a suite of popular Web brands and products. The company’s strategy...

Learn more

View the original article here

Courtesy Of Moo, AOL's About.me Allows Users To Print Free Business Cards

Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Personal profile startup About.me, which was acquired by AOL last December, is adding a new feature today—the ability to print business cards for free from personal profiles on the platform.

In case you aren’t familiar with About.me, the site offers people free profile pages. On your dedicated profile pake, can include your name, bio and links to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites that have information about you. Users can also upload high-resolution photos to the site, making profiles look fairly sleek and professional with minimal effort.

Now, any About.me use can register to print 50 free business cards (users will need to pay for shipping) from profile information, courtesy of Moo’s nifty printing business. Moo will add your about.me profile, unique url and QR code to your cards. Users can also upload additional images; edit contact info and more.

Moo is also releasing an API that will allow other small businesses to tap into their printing capabilities. The API program has been under development for a while, but will officially be launched through About.me today.

about.me (PumpkinHead) was founded by Tony Conrad, Ryan Freitas and Tim Young in December 2009. One year later, about.me was acquired by AOL. about.me’s simple focus enables you to a)...

Learn more

Offices in Providence, Rhode Island and London, MOO.COM prints “MiniCards” and other stationery from your photos or designs which can be uploaded directly or accessed through Flickr, Picasa or...

Learn more

View the original article here

The Devil Made Me Do It. AOL's Regrouped Advertising.com Is A $500 Million Business

Erick Schonfeld currently works at TechCrunch as Co-Editor. He joined in 2007 and is based in New York. Schonfeld oversees the editorial content of the site, selects and edits guest posts, helps to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produces some TCTV shows, and writes daily for the blog. He is also the father of three... → Learn More

AOL’s advertising platforms, which are grouped under the Advertising.com business, is now a $500 million business, the company revealed today at its Investor Day in New York City. The Advertising.com Group is a new business unit inside AOL, which includes six separate products: The Advertising.com ad-serving network (which AOl acquired in 2004) and AdTech, along with more recent acquisitions 5Min (now AOL Video), Pictela, GoViral, and the internally built Seed product. (AOL also owns TechCrunch, but we are part of the Huffington Post Media Group).

All of that, all together is a $500 million business, which is about a quarter of AOL’s total revenue. And it’s clear that AOL thinks it can become a $1 billion business. Today was the first time AOL broke out these numbers.

AOL is trying to position itself as the best place for brands to advertise next to premium content. It is trying to do this first on its own sites, primarily with its Project Devil ads. But the bigger play is to become the ad network for premium brands across the Web by extending Project Devil ads and other new ad formats to the 26,000 publishers on AOL’s ad network.

And in fact, through Pictela, AOL is going to expand its highly engaging Project Devil Ads out across what it is calling the Devil Network. Devil Ads are larger-format ads that can include video or photo galleries, maps, or other interactive elements. AOL is seeing very high engagement rates with these ads, sometimes as high as 10 percent. Devil ads are just one format. Expect AOl to move into mobile ads and other formats as well.

AOL’s entire focus is to create branded experiences for big brand marketers. That includes putting those ads next to great content, but it also means rethinking the boring, old banner ad. Ned Brody, who runs the Advertising.com group, sees the opportunity this way: “There is $50 billion sitting in a locked vault, television and print. It is hard to convince advertisers to take that to a market where they get 0.2% clickthrough rates.”

In order for this plan to work, however, other sites will have to change their designs to be able to accept the bigger Devil ads. If they in fact do perform better, they might do that. But adoption will be a challenge. (Other Devil ads fit into standard 300X250 and 300X600 ad units).

AOL is a global advertising-supported Web company, with display advertising network in the U.S., a substantial worldwide audience, and a suite of popular Web brands and products. The company’s strategy...

Learn more

View the original article here

Courtesy Of Moo, AOL's About.me Allows Users To Print Free Business Cards

Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Personal profile startup About.me, which was acquired by AOL last December, is adding a new feature today—the ability to print business cards for free from personal profiles on the platform.

In case you aren’t familiar with About.me, the site offers people free profile pages. On your dedicated profile pake, can include your name, bio and links to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites that have information about you. Users can also upload high-resolution photos to the site, making profiles look fairly sleek and professional with minimal effort.

Now, any About.me use can register to print 50 free business cards (users will need to pay for shipping) from profile information, courtesy of Moo’s nifty printing business. Moo will add your about.me profile, unique url and QR code to your cards. Users can also upload additional images; edit contact info and more.

Moo is also releasing an API that will allow other small businesses to tap into their printing capabilities. The API program has been under development for a while, but will officially be launched through About.me today.

about.me (PumpkinHead) was founded by Tony Conrad, Ryan Freitas and Tim Young in December 2009. One year later, about.me was acquired by AOL. about.me’s simple focus enables you to a)...

Learn more

Offices in Providence, Rhode Island and London, MOO.COM prints “MiniCards” and other stationery from your photos or designs which can be uploaded directly or accessed through Flickr, Picasa or...

Learn more

View the original article here

The Devil Made Me Do It. AOL's Regrouped Advertising.com Is A $500 Million Business

Erick Schonfeld currently works at TechCrunch as Co-Editor. He joined in 2007 and is based in New York. Schonfeld oversees the editorial content of the site, selects and edits guest posts, helps to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produces some TCTV shows, and writes daily for the blog. He is also the father of three... → Learn More

AOL’s advertising platforms, which are grouped under the Advertising.com business, is now a $500 million business, the company revealed today at its Investor Day in New York City. The Advertising.com Group is a new business unit inside AOL, which includes six separate products: The Advertising.com ad-serving network (which AOl acquired in 2004) and AdTech, along with more recent acquisitions 5Min (now AOL Video), Pictela, GoViral, and the internally built Seed product. (AOL also owns TechCrunch, but we are part of the Huffington Post Media Group).

All of that, all together is a $500 million business, which is about a quarter of AOL’s total revenue. And it’s clear that AOL thinks it can become a $1 billion business. Today was the first time AOL broke out these numbers.

AOL is trying to position itself as the best place for brands to advertise next to premium content. It is trying to do this first on its own sites, primarily with its Project Devil ads. But the bigger play is to become the ad network for premium brands across the Web by extending Project Devil ads and other new ad formats to the 26,000 publishers on AOL’s ad network.

And in fact, through Pictela, AOL is going to expand its highly engaging Project Devil Ads out across what it is calling the Devil Network. Devil Ads are larger-format ads that can include video or photo galleries, maps, or other interactive elements. AOL is seeing very high engagement rates with these ads, sometimes as high as 10 percent. Devil ads are just one format. Expect AOl to move into mobile ads and other formats as well.

AOL’s entire focus is to create branded experiences for big brand marketers. That includes putting those ads next to great content, but it also means rethinking the boring, old banner ad. Ned Brody, who runs the Advertising.com group, sees the opportunity this way: “There is $50 billion sitting in a locked vault, television and print. It is hard to convince advertisers to take that to a market where they get 0.2% clickthrough rates.”

In order for this plan to work, however, other sites will have to change their designs to be able to accept the bigger Devil ads. If they in fact do perform better, they might do that. But adoption will be a challenge. (Other Devil ads fit into standard 300X250 and 300X600 ad units).

AOL is a global advertising-supported Web company, with display advertising network in the U.S., a substantial worldwide audience, and a suite of popular Web brands and products. The company’s strategy...

Learn more

View the original article here

Courtesy Of Moo, AOL's About.me Allows Users To Print Free Business Cards

Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Personal profile startup About.me, which was acquired by AOL last December, is adding a new feature today—the ability to print business cards for free from personal profiles on the platform.

In case you aren’t familiar with About.me, the site offers people free profile pages. On your dedicated profile pake, can include your name, bio and links to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites that have information about you. Users can also upload high-resolution photos to the site, making profiles look fairly sleek and professional with minimal effort.

Now, any About.me use can register to print 50 free business cards (users will need to pay for shipping) from profile information, courtesy of Moo’s nifty printing business. Moo will add your about.me profile, unique url and QR code to your cards. Users can also upload additional images; edit contact info and more.

Moo is also releasing an API that will allow other small businesses to tap into their printing capabilities. The API program has been under development for a while, but will officially be launched through About.me today.

about.me (PumpkinHead) was founded by Tony Conrad, Ryan Freitas and Tim Young in December 2009. One year later, about.me was acquired by AOL. about.me’s simple focus enables you to a)...

Learn more

Offices in Providence, Rhode Island and London, MOO.COM prints “MiniCards” and other stationery from your photos or designs which can be uploaded directly or accessed through Flickr, Picasa or...

Learn more

View the original article here