DON GONYEA, Host: But as NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports, the company didn't have much choice.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: Meanwhile, online advertising took off. It's now a $10 to $11 billion a year business, and its growing at about 20 to 30 percent a year. But until very recently, says advertising executive Jeff Lanctot, AOL was stuck in the past.</s>JEFF LANCTOT: When you looked back at what many view now to be the ill-fated merger with Time Warner, it created a company that was so big that they had a difficult time responding to changes in the marketplace. AOL was a Model T in a Nascar world. They just had a very difficult time keeping up with their nimble competitors.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: Allen Weiner, research director with the Gartner Group, says that AOL's shifting focus from a subscription company to one centered on content and advertising is five years too late. Among other things, AOL has slipped to fifth place in the number of search queries.</s>ALLEN WEINER: Despite all of this, the prognosis is good.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: He says AOL and its corporate parent, Time Warner, have significant resources.</s>ALLEN WEINER: AOL wants to become the web portal for broadband media content. And with Warner Brothers content and Time content, they have a lot of weapons in their arsenal.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.
AOL will offer free e-mail — and other services — to broadband customers as it shifts its focus from subscriber revenue to advertising revenue. The changes are part of a strategy announced Wednesday that seeks to increase AOL's shrinking audience.