Branded Content, Content Brands

Tom Armstrong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AOL, kicks off this mornings session on branded content. Tim is talking about why content matters and will be interviewed by Jacob Weisberg from Slate. The 1st thing that Tim talked about was the creation of super networks, the gathering of many pieces of content into fewer channels. First you need to start with what the consumers want. You now have person to person sharing and there's an opportunity there.

How do you bring opportunities for the journalists? How do you "scale" journalists. By taking other peoples content, you may not have all of the rights to share those stories. By creating their own content, they have more opportunity to share the content that they are creating with an AOL voice. AOL is adding on-scene reporters to their mix. They are also making one of the largest investments in local communities and local journalism. This is a big opportunity and Tom believes that more people should be making investments in journalism today.

Tim -- It's going to take another decade for online ad sales to equal the offline ad sales. While brands are talking about synergy between online & offline, Tim said not sure the synergies with print worked all that well.

Interestingly, Tim believes that HTML5 will tip things away from apps towards browser experience. Apps will be better for phone vs browser for tablet experience. Right now, paying for content online is harder then it should be and that hurts the content experience.

Why are journalists down on a future of journalism while people like Jacob and Tim so high on it? Jacob believes that journalists were not as entrepreneurial as they looked at the changes occurring in the journalism business.

Good talk from Tim who has a huge challenge ahead of him with AOL.

Branded Content, Content Brands

Recent acquisition activity and heavy coverage in the trades make it clear that everyone is jumping into the content game. AOL was a first mover in identifying content as the centerpiece of the next iteration of the web, setting the stage for the reinvention of the online content industry through acquisitions like StudioNow and large investments in journalistic talent and platforms like Seed. AOL Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tim Armstrong, is here to tell us why content matters–to users, to advertisers and to his competition.

IAB Innovation Days.