The new ad format is part of CEO Tim Armstrong’s plan to “to redesign the internet,” which means decreasing the sheer number of ads blasted at readers and selling them for higher rates. The company has over the past year shaved away many of the ad banners and boxes that are on many of its pages, resulting in a 25% drop in revenues from 2009 to $2.41 billion last year. Devil is a way to supplant those cluttered ads with premium, higher priced placements, drawing in more brand-focused companies.
AOL’s First Big Change for Huffington Post: Bigger Ads: News Aggregation Site Will Get ‘Project Devil’ Ads, but Will Anyone Else?
I’ve seen this bigger ad size with other publishers, but this quote is the new interesting overall strategy – fewer ads that are bigger sold at a premium. And it looks like this plan causes a sharp decrease in revenue and then enables an increase in revenue. Well, the first part has been confirmed, at least.
The code name for this plan is “Project Devil”, btw. Hm.