America Online, a unit of media and Internet powerhouse AOL Time Warner, said last night worldwide membership for its AOL online service has surpassed 29 million, and is up about one million in the last month.
The company, which reports its first-quarter earnings tomorrow, said AOL members are averaging about 70 minutes online daily, up from 64 minutes a year ago. On March 8th, AOL said its membership rose to over 28 million.
AOL executives said subscriber growth was driven in part by co-marketing pacts with retailers Sears Roebuck and Co. and Circuit City Stores. AOL has announced several such deals since the completion of its $106.2 billion merger at the end of January.
AOL Time Warner said separately it introduced a new version of its AOL Mobile service to cell phones that incorporates a shopping category and content from new partners including eBay, the online auction site, and Travelocity.com, an online service for travel reservations.
The new version of its AOL Mobile service is available through Sprint PCS Wireless Web and AT&T Digital PocketNet Premium service.
Shares of AOL Time Warner closed up $1.09 at $43.31 on the New York Stock Exchange. Its shares are down about 20 per cent from year-ago levels, outperforming most Internet media shares which are down 90 per cent from year-ago levels.