Ad Gains Help AOL Narrow Loss In 3Q

AOL this morning reported third-quarter revenue of $531.7 million, down 6% from a year ago but marking the lowest level of decline in five years. A loss of $2.6 million, or 2 cents a share, also beat Wall Street projections as the company saw year-over-year gains in global advertising revenue, which included a 28% boost in third-party ads and a 15% rise in display — it’s the second consecutive quarter of gains in global ad revenue.”We continue to build strong consumer experiences as we execute our strategy to build the premium branded media company for the Internet,” CEO Tim Armstrong said in announcing the earnings this morning. “Our share repurchases underlie our belief in the value of AOL and our strategy.” Still, search and contextual ads fell 15% year-over-year and overall ad revenue at AOL properties only increased 1% to $221.8 million despite the additions of The Huffington Post and TechCrunch. Expect Armstrong to be asked during AOL’s call with analysts about those figures as well as rumors of a tie-up with Yahoo, a move he says would save the company $1 billion-$1.5 billion and shore up its ad message to agencies.