CNET story on Don Logan, czar of Time Warner(and owner of the AOL P&L).
The reporter wants to know whether the company is going to rely on paid search advertising from Google to drive all their ad revenue growth, and why they want to expand AOL.com and Netscape.,com as businesses right now.
Logan says no way, Google isn’t going to drive all their ad revenue. He explains, “…Advertising has turned. We want as much inventory as we can possibly get to tap into this growing market, because we do have this rising tide in the market now. Advertisers are looking at the Internet more closely. And we need to serve them with as broad an audience as we possibly can, with as diverse an array of products as we can. ”
Word on the street in NY is that some agencies are still have trouble forgetting the arrogance with which they were treated for many years, but that others are applauding the new team and the effort they’re putting into restoring the ad business for AOL. The other comment I’ve heard is that alot of their pricing is higher than other sites, so price shoppers drop out, leaving big brands who were, only a few years ago, burnt by AOL…