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Parsons: Time Warner to hold on to AOL
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Currently, the U.S. online ad market has been growing its spending between 25 percent and 35 percent, according to reports from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
Still, Parsons is optimistic about his Internet subsidiary, which this week announced that it plans to move its headquarters to New York City and that it has integrated its various ad networks into a single platform.
This platform, called Platform A, meshes Advertising.com, behavioral targeting specialist Tacoda, mobile ad unit Third Screen Media, video ad specialist Lightningcast and ad serving unit AdTech.
"Everything we're doing in AOL is around trying to create a platform that has broad reach, increase the amount of our own inventory and then have [the tools] to optimize [the ads]," Parsons said.
Although it's actively de-emphasizing the AOL Internet access busines, Time Warner isn't in any hurry to sell it, he said. Time Warner is unlikely to make a move regarding that unit for at least the next 12 months to 18 months, for two main reasons, he said.
First, the access business, although shrinking, is still good for AOL as a whole. Specifically, a substantial portion of the traffic on the AOL network of Web sites still comes from access subscribers, he said, adding that the access business also accounts for a majority of AOL's profits.
Second, it would be hard to find a buyer for this business while it is still shedding subscribers, he said. He expects that it will take a year to a year and a half for the subscriber "runoff" to stabilize. By then, he expects AOL's online ad business to be more mature and solid as well.
"If you're getting real and full value for that asset, it's probably better done at a time when you've reached a more predictable [stage] and you know where you are, and the rest of the ship is in shape," Parsons said.
While Parsons acknowledged Time Warner will probably at some point divest itself of the AOL access business, he didn't fully commit to doing so, saying that many things can happen and change in the Internet market in the near future.
"You never want to set your sails and say 'I don't care what's happening in 12 to 18 months down the road,'" he said, reiterating that, at the moment, Time Warner has good reasons to hold on to that access business.
