Events | Previous Events
March 14, 2001 Event
The AOL/Time Warner Union: Convergent Beauty or Cutthroat Beast?
The era of integrated marketing has begun. Like interlocking Lego
pieces, America Online's merger with Time Warner combines the
extensive network of TW content with AOL's broad distribution channel.
This $110 billion merger will result in 85,000 employees and reach one
out of every five U.S. homes. The synergy possibilities truly are
endless, assuming they are well executed. If the powerful union is
leveraged, there is no doubt that both technology and media landscapes
never will be the same. But what does the marriage of these two
behemoths portend for its customers? Does AOL/TW represent an idyllic
combination of rich content and broad distribution or the creation of
a mega behemoth that dominates all of entertainment, and ultimately,
the mind of the consumer?
Most everyone believes that the result of the AOL/TW merger will be
greater than the sum of its parts. The combined assets are staggering:
an estimated reach of 100 million people and a glut of communication
and distribution opportunities at its disposal spanning television,
cable, film studios, music studios, magazines, instant messaging,
online properties, set-top boxes, and much more. The unmatched
advantage of this partnership is its ability to integrate marketing
messages across more properties and with more distribution than any
other content play in existence. From product placements in movies, to
magazine subscription ads on Moviefone, to television advertisements
for AOL 9.0 on CNN, the merger allows AOL to reach out to the physical
world while Time Warner woos the online one.
But will the combined entity be effective in its cross-media marketing
pursuits? There is a chance that AOL/TW simply will be too big to
maintain the focus necessary to corner the world. Consumers' distaste
for giant impersonal corporate marketing agendas is growing and AOL/TW
is positioned to become the king of this dubiously impersonal realm.
More importantly, will there be room for others without the massive
reach and influence owned by AOL/TW? Or does the mega merger further
limit consumer choice? Rather than representing a positive paradigm
shift for convergence, this merger may well spell the end of the
democratic Internet that has flourished to date. Only time will tell,
as AOL/TW takes its first steps into a new world where media, and the
Internet fuse into one.
AOL Time Warner - A Map of the Future
