AOL hits 1 million abroad
The No. 1 online service in the United States reaches the 1-million mark overseas, with 80 percent in Europe.
After racing with former competitor and soon-to-be subsidiary CompuServe for American domination overseas, AOL can now say that with 1 million overseas members, at least 80 percent of which are in Europe, it has reached some sort of critical mass. (The numbers do not include CompuServe customers.)
While it took AOL nine years to hit its million marker in the United States, it took only two years to do so in Europe, said Rich D'Amato, an AOL spokesman.
"I think it shows the birth of the growth of the international mass medium," he said.
Broken down by country, AOL has 400,000 members in Germany; 300,000 in the United Kingdom; and 100,000 each in Canada and France. D'Amato would not disclose numbers for Japan; however, based on the other numbers given, there could be up to 100,000 members there, depending on how AOL rounded off numbers in other countries.
AOL's strategy has been to export its American product with a heavy push for localization. All products are marketed and created locally. In AOL's next software upgrade, due to be rolled out starting this month, all except the Japanese system will be available to all members. D'Amato said the rapid growth overseas proves that strategy has been working.
Emily Green, an analyst with Forrester Research, said she is impressed by how rapidly AOL has been able to build its overseas market. But how AOL leverages those eyeballs remains to be seen.
"A pair of eyeballs in Europe is not as valuable as a pair in the U.S., " she said.
Separately, AOL today announced that it has reached an agreement with online auction site eBay to offer the service to AOL members.