America Online 2011 Annual Report Download - page 40

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Table of Contents
AOL INC.
PART II—ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
unique visitor numbers also include unique visitors attributable to co-branded websites owned by third parties for which certain criteria have been met,
including that the internet traffic has been assigned to us through a traffic assignment letter. For the year ended December 31, 2011, approximately 6% of our
unique visitors to AOL Properties were attributable to co-branded websites owned by third parties where the internet traffic was assigned to us.
Approximately two-thirds of the traffic assigned to AOL for the year ended December 31, 2011 relates to an agreement with a counterparty which expired on
December 31, 2011. We did not have significant monetization of this traffic, and as a result, we do not expect a significant impact on our advertising revenues
as a result of the expiration of this agreement.
The source for our unique visitor information is a third party (comScore Media Metrix, or "Media Metrix"). While we are familiar with the general
methodologies and processes that Media Metrix uses in estimating unique visitors, we have not performed independent testing or validation of Media Metrix's
data collection systems or proprietary statistical models, and therefore we can provide no assurance as to the accuracy of the information that Media Metrix
provides.
The following table presents our unique visitor metrics for the periods presented (in millions):
Years Ended December 31,
2011 2010 2009
Domestic average monthly unique visitors to AOL Properties(a) 110 111 NA
Domestic average monthly unique visitors to AOL Advertising Network 184 184 179
(a) Media Metrix announced the availability of an alternate methodology to estimate unique visitors, in order to provide a more accurate count of a
website's audience, and has continued to refine this methodology. We adopted this methodology for domestic unique visitors to AOL Properties starting
December 2009 and going forward.
Subscriber Metrics
The primary metrics we monitor for our subscription access service are monthly average churn and average paid tenure. Monthly average churn
represents on average the percentage of AOL-brand access subscribers that terminate or cancel our services each month, factoring in new and reactivated
subscribers. The domestic AOL-brand access subscriber monthly average churn was 2.3%, 2.6% and 3.4% for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and
2009, respectively. Average paid tenure represents the average period of time subscribers have paid for domestic AOL-brand internet access. The average
paid tenure of the remaining domestic AOL-brand access subscribers has been increasing, and was approximately 10.6 years, 9.1 years and 8.2 years for the
years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.
36