An America Online executive says the company's online advertising revenue will grow faster than the overall industry in 2005, which is better than AOL previously had expected.
Ted Leonsis, vice chairman of the Time Warner-owned online unit, said Monday the company expects online ad revenue growth to exceed the projected 20 to 25 percent average growth for the U.S. online ad industry.
The company has previously said it expected 2005 online ad sales growth to be on par with industry averages.
"The goal for 2005 is to grow faster than the market," Leonsis told Reuters in an interview.
"Our goal is to be within the top three or four networks on the Web," added Leonsis, who also owns the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals. AOL competes with Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN Web unit.
Leonsis said that Dulles, Va.-based AOL expects to pick up half a percentage point to 1 percentage point in market share by the end of this year.
The company is hoping a boost in online ad revenue will offset a fast-declining dial-up Internet subscriber base. It lost about 2 million subscribers last year.
AOL, which generated about $1 billion in online advertising revenue in 2004, said it plans to boost ad sales from the upcoming relaunch of its AOL.com Web site--expected in the early second half of this year.
The unit was once a problem stepchild at Time Warner but is now expected to be one of the company's top growth engines, company executives have said.
The company plans to make more of its video and music programing available for free on the relaunched AOL.com site. AOL then can sell advertising around that content.
AOL partners with fast-growing Google for its Web search advertising, which contributes a healthy percentage of ad revenue at AOL.
Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
