WebProNews

AOL's publishing division MediaGlow said its sites saw record growth in January, with page views up 47 percent year-over-year to reach 7 billion and total minutes increasing 39 percent to 4.9 million.

AOL says its redesigned homepage grew 5 percent in page views, 12 percent in unique visitors, a record 33 percent in total minutes and 6 percent in total visits year-over-year.

Bill Wilson

The jump in growth could be due to AOL's efforts to become more open. It recently began allowing users to access email accounts from Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail. It also allowed users to access social networking sites from its homepage including Bebo, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

In January AOL announced the creation of MediaGlow, which aims to, centralizes the company's publishing efforts and expand its global reach. Under the MediaGlow umbrella AOL has plans to launch 30-targeted sites this year.

At the beginning of 2009 MediaGlow launched its first targeted site, FanHouse that replaced AOL Sports. Other vertical sites are slated to be rolled out with an emphasis on specialized sports fans, including one focused on Mixed Martial Arts.

"MediaGlow has started 2009 by reaching its largest audience to date and building core brands that are at scale."

"By leaning into the fragmentation of the Web, we are creating valuable brands that are driving engagement and attracting a larger audience," said Bill Wilson, President, MediaGlow.