AOL sees strong quarter boosted by ad sale spike
Revenues increase from global sales; growth expected
AOL reported a strong third quarter Tuesday, helped in large part by improved ad sales.
Global advertising revenue increased 7 percent, to $ 340 million from $ 317.7 million, in the latest quarter, compared with the same period a year ago. The company had an 18 percent increase in revenue from third- party ad networks, including the company’s network, Advertising. com, and an 8 percent increase in search and contextual advertising.
“We have positioned AOL for growth in 2013 and beyond with consumer and advertiser demand growing for our premium content and innovative products, video, services and ad formats,” Tim Armstrong, AOL’s chairman and CEO , said in a statement.
Revenue from international display sales rose 18 percent, to $ 12.9 million, which reflected growth in Canada and Britain, the company said. But revenue from display advertising in the United States fell 3 percent, to $ 122.5 million.
Overall, AOL reported revenue of $ 531.7 million, which was fl at compared with the same period last year. The company’s earnings were $ 20.8 million, versus a loss of $ 2.6 million a year ago.
Stock in AOL, which is based in New York, rose on Tuesday by $ 7.89, or 22 percent, to $ 43.70 a share.
In a conference call, Armstrong said the advertising business was “an area of strategic importance” for AOL.
Armstrong said he expected programmatic buying to grow signifi cantly next year, and he added that the company had invested in technology and staff to expand that side of the business.
The use of the AOL brand advertising platform, Project Devil, which allows advertisers to occupy all the advertising spaces on a Web page, had grown at “double digit rates .”
Armstrong acknowledged that the domestic display advertising results were “not as robust as we would like.” But he said the company planned to improve traffi c across all its brands and invest in more lifestyle brands on The Huffington Post, which would allow advertisers to better target users with contextual ads.