You would think that the growth of broadband usage would take away from AOL’s business. That and the fact that they’ve been closing down services like mad. Despite these things, AOL has managed to hit an all time high when it comes to traffic numbers, and has experienced year-over-year growth for unique visitors for the 21st month in a row.
The following AOL sites reached all-time high page view numbers in October:
– AOL Webmail (.com and AIM Mail)
– AOL Tech Network
– Latino
– Lemondrop
– Television
– TheBoot
– TMZ
On top of that, when it comes to unique visitors, 12 AOL properties rank in the top three in their categories for unique visitors:
– #1 Men: Asylum
– #1 African American: BlackVoices
– #1 Maps: MapQuest
– #1 Music: Music
– #1 Style: StyleList
– #1 Television: Television
– #2 Horoscopes: Horoscopes
– #2 Latino: Latino
– #2 Business- News/Research: Money & Finance
– #2 Celebrity: TMZ
– #3 Health: Health
– #3 Movies: Moviefone
Perhaps AOL doesn’t get enough credit as it deserves sometimes, considering that it is still managing to top Google in some categories (like Maps).
“AOL has completely rebuilt each of our vertical websites as well as launched over 30 new sites over the past 24 months, and we’re seeing the results in the unprecedented growth of our audience and engagement,” said Bill Wilson, Executive Vice President, AOL Programming. “We’re making our sites more relevant to today’s online users and advertisers, both by opening them up to third-party applications content and by creating sites that target people’s passion points. As the first big portal to allow access to third-party social networks, e-mail, RSS feeds and more, we are leaning into the fragmentation of the Web and reaching and growing key audiences by creating original content and engaging online experiences.”
Third parties seem to be where it is at these days. Just ask Yahoo and Microsoft. Even Google is touting Friend Connect today.
