Despite the rocky road leading to the convergence of former internet titans AOL and Yahoo, the head of Verizon’s new company Oath remains confident that the billion-plus customers visiting those sites know best.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Oath chief Tim Armstrong said the united AOL and Yahoo assets are poised for a comeback.
Armstrong acknowledged skepticism in the marketplace given Yahoo’s recent data breaches and financial woes, but said the billion consumers that visit AOL and Yahoo’s assets “can’t be wrong.” Armstrong also indicated it’s a good thing others can’t see the upside potential in combining that company with AOL and Verizon’s data on the back end. That, he indicated, gives Verizon a strategic advantage.
“Thank God you don’t see the opportunity, because if you can see it, everyone else can, and it is no longer an opportunity,” he explained.
As Armstrong has said before, Verizon is combining operations across AOL and Yahoo under the Oath name with an omnichannel business strategy. The company is also working to strengthen its advertising strategy by incorporating data from Verizon’s 114 million wireless customers, he said. The ultimate goal is to put Verizon on par with other targeted-advertising titans like Facebook and Google.
But as experts noted earlier this year, Verizon’s Oath is up against some hurdles – massive audience or not.
Back in June, Mike Kelly, CEO of Kelly Newman Ventures and former president of AOL Media Networks, and Ezra Kucharz, media veteran and former president of digital media at CBS, indicated Verizon certainly has the tools to be successful, but the determining factor will ultimately be the relevance of Oath’s products to consumers. More on their takes here.
