Dive summary:
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AOL is looking to build a mini cable empire with its live video offerings; the brand seeks to differentiate itself from HuffPost live, a production of the news site AOL owns.
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The station conducted an AOL Anchor Quest which drew in a thousand hopefuls to be anchors on AOL's live programming.
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AOL has also been experimenting with real time advertising; during last week's audition Secret's Clinical Strength ran a deodorant ad with the anchors.
From the article:
“'We’re going to be trying different forms,' added Susan Lyne, CEO of AOL's Brand Group. Lyne predicted that users will eventually get into the habit of leaving a live AOL player [or players] on in the corner of their screens at work, tuning in and out as content catches their interest. 'This is a little groundbreaking. But we don’t know [what the audience is going to take to]. We can still use this to build out a library of on-demand clips, but the live aspect people are drawn to—the idea of the unexpected—happens.'”