Advertising Age reports that AOL is planning to hire hundreds of journalists, editors and videographers in the coming year as it builds out its content-first business model.
David Eun, president of AOL’s media and studios division, is expected to announce the push in an all-hands meeting of the group in New York today when he lays out his strategy for the unit that will include grouping all the sites into 17 “super-networks.”
In an interview, Mr. Eun said he had not only familiarized himself with all of AOL’s far-flung content operations in his first 90 days on the job, but also visited many of them personally, studied the economics and data from traffic across AOL’s properties and search, and come to one overarching conclusion: produce more content, faster.
“Our mission at this company is to be the world’s largest producer of high-quality content, period,” he said. “The content driving our traffic is home-grown, and 80% of it is now produced by folks on the AOL payroll.”
AOL employs about 500 full-time editorial employees. And while Mr. Eun said the marketplace will determine the pace of new hires, it is conceivable that number could double in the coming year. “We are going to be the largest net hirer of journalists in the world next year,” he said.