COLOGNE-When its deal with Yahoo closes, AOL will gain “unprecedented scale” with which to become the king of content, while Facebook and Google rule social and search. This is the worldview of Jimmy Maymann, President of Content & Consumer Brands at AOL, whose keynote address at the DMEXCO confab was appropriately titled Publishing is the New Advertising.
Among Maymann’s various roles at AOL has been CEO of the Huffington Post, where for three years he was responsible for designing and executing an international expansion strategy that saw the establishment of editions in 15 international markets. Noting that in Europe, a dismal 1% of right-hand-rail banner ads are clicked on, “It’s obviously not the most engaging format,” Maymann observes in an interview with Beet.TV. With usage of ad blocking technology up 41% year-over-year globally, “Something is broken in our model,” he adds.
What’s not broken, according to Maymann, is content creation that reaches huge audiences. AOL produces some 5,000 pieces of content each day for its audience of 500 million unique visitors. By combining with Yahoo that audience will greatly exceed 1 billion.
“That means that suddenly we have unprecedented scale,” Maymann says. “From a differentiated perspective you have a Facebook that’s all about social and a Google that’s all about search. Someone needs to go in and own the content and brand differentiator, and that’s where I think we want to play.”
Even within the world of social media, it’s no longer about people simply connecting with family and friends but about content. “In many ways it’s the social glue,” Maymann says. “We want to make sure we have an unfair advantage when it comes to that.”
This interview was taped at DMEXCO ’16. It is part of a video series of industry leaders. The series is sponsored by Videology. For more Beet.TV coverage of DMEXCO, please visit this page.
