AOL announced this week that it would restructure its commercial operations to revolve around its ad-targeting business Platform A. Created last year to house ad sales for all its sites, ad network properties and supporting technologies, Platform A integrates sales for Advertising.com, AOL-run sites, Third Screen Media, AdTech and Tacoda. The most high-profile reshuffle of staff sees Platform A's UK business headed by Michael Steckler, currently managing director of AOL UK. All of AOL UK's ad staff will be moved to Platform A and Steckler's previous role of managing director of AOL UK will not be replaced. All AOL UK staff, who will primarily work on content, will now report to Dana Dunne, chief executive of AOL Europe.
Other structural changes at the online publisher, outlined in an internal memo distributed by Brendan Condon, head of Platform A's international operations, reflects a three-division structure incorporating the ad platform, the publishing platform and the people network, following its recent acquisition of social networking site Bebo for a reported $850m.
In an attempt to attract developers to the ad platform, AOL announced that it will guarantee CPM revenues to developers on Facebook and Bebo's platforms if they opt to use its Platform A ad technology, claiming the CPM rate is one of the highest in the industry. CPM is a term for cost per thousand page impressions (with M representing the Roman numeral of 1000).
As David Jacobs, Senior VP of Publisher Services at Platform A, put it: "Advertiser interest in social networks is rising at a steady rate, and Platform-A is making an unprecedented flat-fee commitment to help application developers generate revenue and guarantee monetization of their applications."
The currently undisclosed guaranteed rates apply to the first three ad impressions for each unique U.S. visitor. As ardent bigmouthmedia readers will know, CPM rates on social networking sites are notoriously low - generally measured in pennies - and Google is having trouble monetising the social web.
Applications, however, may fetch a few more pennies, leading some industry experts to believe that Platform A's guaranteed CPM is in the 70 cent or so range.
Ultimately, this move is hoped to increase interest in Platform A's WidgNet publisher network, which puts ads on widgets and other social network applications. The company said that there are currently more than 30,000 applications across the Bebo and Facebook directories.
