AOL Sees 41% Jump in Ad Revenue in 2006

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 31, 2007 - 11:17am.

Dulles, Va. - Despite losing a large portion of its subscriber base, AOL saw its advertising revenue jump 41% last year, Time Warner said on Wednesday.

AOL, which in August decided to give away its core Internet content for free in an effort to lure more online ads, brought in $548 million in ad revenue by increasing its display, paid-search and third-party advertising. T

hat helped to offset a 14% decrease in subscription revenue, though the unit still finished with slightly lower revenue than 2005.

Dick Parsons, the chairman and CEO of Time Warner, said that one of the media giant's main goals in 2007 will be "further developing AOL's online advertising business."

As of Dec. 31, AOL had 13.2 million subscribers, down 6.3 million from the prior year.