Ad Revenue Helps AOL in First Quarter
AOL, the giant online portal turned media company, on Wednesday reported first-quarter revenue of $538 million, up 2 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.
The company attributed the growth largely to increasing advertising revenue. It said this revenue grew across all lines, but that combined third-party network and AOL Properties display ads were particularly strong, with revenue increasing 9 percent compared with a year earlier.
Total ad revenue grew to $359 million, from $330 million. The company also reported a 9 percent increase in search revenue, to $98 million, despite the fact that AOL subscriptions in the United States declined by 15 percent.
The company said that it had slowed the decline of subscription revenue, but it was still down 9 percent from last year, to $166 million.
AOL’s growth lagged behind the rest of the digital market. Over all, digital ad spending in the United States grew by 14.8 percent, to $9.64 billion, in the first quarter of 2013, according to eMarketer. For the full year 2013, this growth is expected to reach 14 percent, eMarketer estimates.
