The Vertical Portal
America Online is the vertical portal. Users of the service have no need to leave AOL owned entities or partners once they have logged in. This is true both on the proprietary software side (AOL 4.0) and the Internet site (aol.com). The power of this strategy is immense.
First and foremost, AOL has a virtual lock on user's time. This amounts to 47 minutes a day at current usage rates. Almost 5% of the time an AOL user is awake they are logged on. During that entire 47 minutes the user is accessible for advertising in myriad forms. Unlike TV, cable, and radio which must break programming for ads, online there is no need to break.
Second, the vertical portal allows advertising to drive ad revenues along with e-commerce. Unlike sites like CNet, which lose surfers to ads, AOL can keep the user within the AOL portal and take a commission from the sale on a partner site.
AOL keeps users within their offerings. When a subscriber logs on, they are only presented with America Online products, ads, and partners. When they open their web browser AOL.COM is the first site to open. When they log-off the service, AOL can offer the last advertisement, attempting to lure them back. A user of AOL's service readily spends an hour online without ever being tempted by a non-AOL partner advertisement.
America Online has a power unlike any other portal, that allows it unparalleled control over the users experience, and an unmatched offer for advertisers.
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