Save 50% on a 3-month Digiday+ membership. Ends Dec 5.
Over the summer, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong bounced his sales chief Jeff Levick, who is now at Spotify, and replaced him with a former Advertising.com executive Ned Brody, who was named AOL’s new chief revenue officer. At that time, a sales executive named Jim Norton was promoted to svp. Now, just five months later, as AOL’s ad sales show some signs of life, Norton is now AOL’s new head of sales.
Good for Norton, of course. But the move begs the question: What changed in the last five months? Armstrong strongly implied at the time that he was reorganizing sales to get the formula right for AOL’s next phase. At the time of the Levick ouster, Armstrong defended installing an ex Ad.com executive (given AOL’s Platform-A history) comparing Brody to “a general manager.”
It could be that Norton is the traditional brand-oriented sales guy AOL needed to complement Brody? Turns out Norton’s previous job was at Google. But prior to that role Norton logged stints at TV and radio stations, and even in brand marketing at Miller Brewing Company. No matter what, Norton has what’s probably an underrated asset of AOL’s: a large, experienced sales team with relationships at top brands. It’s not something to be discounted, even in this seeming age of automation.
More in Media
Digiday+ Research Subscription Index 2025: Subscription strategies from Bloomberg, The New York Times, Vox and others
Digiday’s third annual Subscription Index examines and measures publishers’ subscription strategies to identify common approaches and key tactics among Bloomberg, The New York Times, Vox and others.
From lawsuits to lobbying: How publishers are fighting AI
We may be closing out 2025, but publishers aren’t retreating from the battle of AI search — some are escalating it, and they expect the fight to stretch deep into 2026.
Media Briefing: Publishers turn to vertical video to compete with creators and grow ad revenue in 2026
Publishers add vertical video feeds to their sites to boost engagement, attract video ad spend and compete with news creators.
Ad position: web_bfu