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AOL Canada Ignites Launch Sequence

AOL Canada [1]AOL Canada has announced the launch of its next generation homepage, AOL.ca [2]. The new homepage features original, premium content with more emphasis on relevant, Canadian news and more of the video format Canadians love. The new site will feature breaking news, entertainment updates and relevant articles and stories in a new sleek design while providing advertisers with prominent ad opportunities, including AOL’s new innovative advertising format, IAB Portrait (formerly known as Project Devil).

“The new AOL.ca delivers on our promise to inform, entertain and connect with Canadians,” says Brad Cressman, head of content, AOL Canada. “The new site is aligned with our strategy of creating a ‘wow’ experience at scale by marrying our high quality content with an improved design to increase discoverability.”

With the addition of the Huffington Post, AOL premium properties reach 9.8 million Canadians monthly and have the highest concentration of HHI of $100k+ among the Top 5 Portal Sites in Canada. (Source: comScore Inc. Total Canada. All Locations. March 2011)

Media Experts is the first to take advantage of the AOL.ca homepage with their client, BMW Canada. The campaign features the new X1, and will engage and excite consumers using the IAB Portrait ad format.

“While many other homepages offer standard big box and leaderboard placements, AOL.ca provides new ad opportunities, including Project Devil,” says Karel Wegert, Director, Digital Solutions, Media Experts. “From a media perspective, we were able to better communicate our customer’s messages to an unduplicated audience while efficiently reaching the target audience for the BMW X1 launch.”

BMW Canada expressed immediate interest to be involved with the launch and their opportunity to showcase their X1 campaign in a creative new format.

“The IAB Portrait ad unit is quite unique and impactful, allowing maximum brand interaction within the page, and also the ability to get our message about the new BMW X1 out there loud and clear.” says Marianne MacNeil, Brand Communications Specialist, BMW Group Canada.

New AOL.ca Features:

Placing compelling video front and centre is an instrumental component of the new AOL.ca homepage. The new homepage will not only feature the “You’ve Got…” video franchise but will also showcase other premium video prominently, providing additional video advertising opportunities.

With the combination of AOL’s ad network, Advertising.com, and recent acquisition of 5Min Media, AOL reaches more than 9 million total video viewers monthly and offers advertisers access to over 114 million premium quality video streams monthly; more viewers than the three Canadian broadcast networks combined (Source: comScore Inc. Total Canada. All Locations. March 2011. Video Metrix. Advertising.com Video Network + 5Min). This ranks AOL as one of the top video networks in Canada, reaching over 40 percent of the video viewing audience in Canada.