2/25/2013

Big Data Big Ideas: Tim Armstrong CEO of AOL

Tim is a seasoned veteran of the digital industry. He frequently gets asked "are you media or technology?" and feels they are one and the same. Tim points to the fact that we have reams of data. You just have to find the relevant data. Big data is still an infant ad every second AOL produces 3x the amount of data in the congressional library. 90% of the knowledge in the world was created in the last two years.

Traversing the auto industry's timeline helps understand where the online industry is right now.The first 20 years of the auto industry saw a great deal of adoption but without massive changes to physical environment (trains transportation). in the next 20 years car transportation changed commerce. The first 20 years were game changing in terms of perception and the next 20 were game changing in terms of people's habits.

His point is that the internet is very similar. It is in the first 20 years and those are just the beginning. By 2020 there will be 50b connected devices. Add to that an explosion in connection speeds and we are facing a torrent of data that these devices will produce.

Tim claims today is the lowest in competition and highest in opportunity in our industry. He is excited about the end of mail delivery on saturdays. This is the first physical change affected by an online economy and confirms we are at the beginning of the physical impacts of the new economy.

AOL's largest partner is Verizon which does a great deal of CPA based advertising. Tim is a big believer connected the online world with the physical world and points to this relationship as case in point.

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