AOL (NYSE: TWX) has begun an 18-month European expansion program to solidify its transition to advertising-supported content, with the launch today of AOL.it, an Italian portal. The sale of AOL UK’s broadband business to Carphone Warehouse last year completed a restructure of the European business designed to move it from internet access to monetizing content, but, to do that, its portals need to be overhauled accordingly accordingly. Echoing the redesign given in April to the AOL.com portal in the US, the first new site, AOL.it, gets a Yahoo-esque mix of webmail, IM, photo sharing plus news, sport, entertainment and celebrity content.

Within the next 18 months, AOL plans to launch local portals in 14 different countries, including more in Europe.
AOL plans to cover over 95 percent of the European online market within the 18-month window. They’re clearly looking to capitalize on the online ads boom, citing a ZenithOptimedia forecasts of a 25 percent growth in western European web ads spending by 2009 and making clear the “huge opportunities for online advertising” on a portal that will “help us compete for both users and advertisers”. Release.