Why You Can't Avoid Those AOL Ads

In a bad market for advertising, AOL Time Warner is becoming its own best customer.

The media and entertainment conglomerate, which has made no secret of its strategy to advertise on its own properties absent demand from other customers, disclosed figures Wednesday indicating that its in-house advertising continues to grow, both on an absolute dollar basis and relative to third-party ad sales.

Although in-house sales are excluded from AOL Time Warner's total reported revenue, the intersegment numbers -- included in the quarterly financials filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday -- suggest the quarterly sales figures for certain AOL Time Warner businesses may be slightly softer than they appear at first glance. ...