AOL Sees Q1 Display Ad Revs Down From Yr Ago

AOL disclosed in a 10-K filing today with the SEC that display advertising revenue in the first quarter will be down from a year ago. Contributing to the drop, the company said, is an ad sales reorg that reassigned most of its accounts, among other factors. AOL also said ad revenue in 2010 from both AOL-owned properties and on third-party sites will be down “significantly in 2010″ from 2009. Ad revenue on AOL’s own sites for the year will be hurt by a decline in AOL access subscribers, as well as the planned shutdown of operations in some countries, according to the filing.

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Web Publishers Left With Little After Middlemen Split Ad Spoils

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Publishers fighting hard to squeeze every last dollar out of their online-ad inventories have turned to a variety of players to help them make the most of that space. But in doing so, they’ve let a lot of hands into the cookie jar and may find that the increasing complexity — and the crumbs they’re left with — aren’t worth the effort. It’s not just publishers turning to middlemen but advertisers, too, hoping to boost targeting and effectiveness of their buys. The space between advertiser and publisher has become jam-packed over the last decade, with literally hundreds of ad networks, data companies, yield managers, ad servers and exchanges all purporting to serve advertisers or publishers in some unique way; but all have their own business models that may or may not be adding value to either. And they’re all dipping into the display-ad revenue stream.

Read More: AdAge