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.

“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…
How to change your language in Google Chrome on desktop
Chrome OS

Google Chrome supports a wide range of languages. While it'll default to English in most cases, there's nothing stopping you from changing its settings and displaying pages in Spanish, French, or dozens of other languages.

Changing your default language in Chrome takes only a few seconds, and the technique used is the same across Windows and Mac. Aside from changing your language, note that Chrome now gives you the option to automatically translate pages written in another language – making it easy to read content from around the globe.

Read more
23 of the best Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks
The Netflix home screen.

Netflix is one of the most popular streaming platforms for all things movies and TV shows. Home to an immense library of titles, the Netflix archive is constantly changing and evolving, and so are the many ways you can use your Netflix account. 

For instance, did you know you can access region-locked Netflix shows and flicks by using a VPN? Or that you can disable that pesky Autoplay feature? There are tons of Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks out there, so we’ve gone ahead and rounded up all of our favorites! 
Expand your streaming with a VPN

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more