Almost three years ago, AOL started on a path towards being a "low-cost producer of high-quality content at scale" when they
purchase Weblogs, Inc. in late 2006. At the beginning of 2009,
AOL count[ed] more than 75 sites in its publishing portfolio and plans to add 30 more in the coming year, all gathered under
Media Glow. AOL currently has approximately 1,500 content-writing staff,
around 1,000 of those people are working full time for AOL, the rest are freelancing. That's twice the number from a year ago, and AOL has set the goal of doubling or tripling the total by next year. The TechCrunch article states that these writers include former journalists at BusinessWeek, New York Times, USA Today, ESPN, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Consumer Reports, Condé Nast and scores of regional and national newspapers and magazines.
In an interview, Marty Moe, SVP of AOL Media, said: "Principally, we have none of the legacy costs associated with producing print publications, for example. We don't own printing presses, or fleets of delivery trucks. We don't have the elaborate editorial structures geared to producing products over a printing press." (
via)
posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 7, 2009 -
24 comments
