How AOL plans to tackle the 'perfect storm' as readers move to mobile

Credit: Image by Zooey. Some rights reserved.

As audiences shift from print to desktop and then to mobile and news organisations try to adapt to new trends in online news consumption, how can publishers make sure they are able to reach more readers in the digital space while continuing to earn revenues from advertising?

Jimmy Maymann, executive vice president and president, content and consumer brands, AOL, explained the importance of finding a way of presenting advertising that appeals to readers, speaking at the FT Digital Media 2016 conference yesterday (13 April).

"We are in the middle of a perfect storm," said Maymann.

"If we are not thinking about the next frontier and how are we're going to serve the right kind of content at the right point in time, then obviously the whole industry is going to have a problem – it doesn't matter how big we are from an audience perspective.

"We as an industry have a responsibility to create new advert formats that are much more catered to users so they don't want to turn us off."

He notes that as news organisations continue to fight for readership online, those businesses who aren't in the top three of their verticals will always be playing catch up.

If we are not thinking about the next frontier... then obviously the whole industry is going to have a problem. It doesn't matter how big we are from an audience perspectiveJimmy Maymann, AOL

"It matters to be number one in the verticals because when advertisers are looking to put money against that, number one will get more of their fair share of the advertising – it is as simple as that," he said.

Over the last 18 months, AOL has gone from being a desktop focused company to having 70 per cent of its audience on mobile.

But thanks to American broadband and telecommunications company Verizon, who bought the business last year for $4.4 billion, AOL now has access to all its handset data, which it plans to use to create more relevant digital stories for readers.

"If you are not rethinking what you are doing with that audience and how you are capturing value there, that is going to be very painful – and it is the same when considering the shift off your property into Facebook and other platforms," he said.

"At any given day across our properties, we are publishing 1,700 articles and videos, but a lot of that is not being discovered, so technology needs to play a role here. Data will allow us to be relevant to the people that are showing up at our door."

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