AOL's Platform-A Lands In Europe
This story was written by David Kaplan.
Having recently completed its purchase of UK social net Bebo, AOL (NYSE: TWX) is finally ready to bring Platform-A, its collection of ad units, to Europe. Time Warner vet Brendan Condon has been named head of Platform-A's International operations. He was already head of Platform-A flagship Advertising.com's international business. He'll based in London, reporting to Platform-A President Lynda Clarizio. Although its dominance has been limited to the U.S., Platform-A has not been without a European presence before, by dint of its ownership of Frankfurt-based AdTech and UK-based affiliate network buy.at. Also, Ad.com has nine offices throughout Europe.
The move is part of the larger integration that Platform-A has been going through the past few months, which entails aligning the half-dozen agencies AOL bought in the past year in a more complementary fashion. In addition, the European expansion follows AOL's launch of its People Networks business unit, which combines Bebo with AIM, ICQ, and other AOL community properties; AOL claims that this unit has a global audience of about 80 million. Release
By David Kaplan