The recent news around AOL acquisition of Buy.at was very intriguing. AOL have been trying to acquire a European affiliate network for some time, after a failed attempt to acquire TradeDoubler. I got hold of a mate of mine, Malcolm Cowley, who is the President of Buy.at, USA, (which is a subsidiary of the UK holding company) to discuss the deal and it’s impact on AOL.
Malcolm basically told me that the deal will create new monetization opportunities for his affiliates across video, mobile and display and that by leveraging the reach of advertising.com, they can bring new and exciting advertiser opportunities to the table for their affiliates. He also said that there is a plan to invest both in staff and technology to support the growth in the US.
I really thought that this was an interesting move for AOL, in terms of creating new monetization streams. ISP’s are constantly having their margins eroded, and they need to find ways to monetize their portal’s and other properties. I believe that the future for ISP’s will be in providing web applications to their users as part of the monthly subscriptions they charge for Internet access.
I said this a long time ago, and I’m reiterating it. ISP’s cannot afford to play purely in the commoditized subscriber game anymore.
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Comments On This Post
February 24, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Vinny is AOL hoping to get a better hold on search engine users through this or are they just hoping to gain more money through different or more profitable forms of advertising?
February 24, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Vinny is AOL hoping to get a better hold on search engine users through this or are they just hoping to gain more money through different or more profitable forms of advertising?
May 26, 2009 at 6:43 am
Yes, successful affiliate programs require significant work and maintenance. Having a successful affiliate program is more difficult than when such programs were just emerging.
June 16, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Thanks….
June 29, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I think AOL is trying desperately to find something of value for them to be able to charge their extremely high fees (in my view). I don't know how well this will help them though.
July 14, 2009 at 8:57 am
Always been interested in what they’re doing/up to…it is very good to use AOL…
July 20, 2009 at 10:22 am
AOL is still popular but only in US and UK i think. Many people now consider msn, google or yahoo.
nice info. thanks
August 16, 2009 at 10:29 pm
thank you for sharing
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