Yahoo + AOL = Verizon’s online media now has more eyeballs than Google
There are now more users heading to online media owned by Verizon than Google.
That's the surprising fact following the US carrier's deal for Yahoo's internet business for $4.83bn.
Yahoo combined with the various parts of AOL such as the Huffington Post,TechCrunch and more, mean Verizon's digital media audience is now bigger than that of Google's sites.
According to the latest figures from Comscore, the combined audience of Yahoo and AOL would be nearing 400m unique visitors per month in the US. The audience, both on desktop and mobile, for Google sites stands at 245m.
Of course, eyeballs mean nothing if you can't make money from it. According to research from eMarketer, Verizon's Yahoo/AOL would overtake Microsoft to account for 4.4 per cent of the US digital advertising market. But it would still lag behind Facebook with a 17.2 per cent share and Google, with a massive 35.7 per cent.
Read more: Veri-hoo? The $4.83bn Verizon Yahoo deal is go
"Verizon will increase its projected digital ad revenues in the US from 1.8 per cent to 5.2 per cent," estimates Linda Sullivan of M&A advisory firm Cavendish Corporate Finance.
"Online advertising is a key area that Verizon is trying to enter, and its move to enhance its online content operation through Yahoo’s acquisition, will inevitably unsettle Verizon’s two competitors dominating the online advertising space: Google and Facebook."