In addition to unveiling its upcoming broadband entertainment offerings at its First Look upfront, AOL also demonstrated some new ad-related initiatives. In an interview before the big event Mike Kelly, president of AOL Media Networks, told me that the company doesn’t see itself in competition with the broadcast and cable networks. As those networks prepare their upfront presentations, AOL has crafted a marketing program called “Amplify Your Buy,” which gives advertisers the opportunity to partner with the internet company on digital programming and advertising fare. Kelly: “When an advertiser is doing business with the broadcast networks or cable companies, and they like a particular digital programming idea, they can work with us to blow those ideas out. So, far from than challenging TV, we’re doing this here to help the customers.” Despite those sentiments, a press release sent out following the event was headlined TV May Have New Competitor in New AOL Online Programs. Another small blow to the notion of peaceful coexistence was struck when Randy Falco, AOL’s chairman and CEO - and former NBC TV exec - noted during his presentation he recognized the faces of media buyers and marketers from past broadcast fall previews. “I know that you’re going to be attending the network upfronts soon, that’s why we want to get your attention now.” Getting back to Kelly, he elaborated on the goals of First Look earlier:

-- From ISP to ad-supported media company: ”We ended last year with almost $2 billion in ad revenue, which makes us the third biggest interactive ad business in the world. So we haven’t just started this.  This gathering does represent an interesting benchmark. We have a huge number of advertisers that are participating in helping us build online programming opportunities.”

-- On the game-show domination: “What we’ve found with Gold Rush last year was that the more you involve the consumer, the more they can shape the experience, you have a better product and a more engaged audience. The elements of interactivity, such as messaging and search and blogging, and you put that against programming like this, it really sucks the consumer in and gets them involved and enthusiastic. It keeps them coming back and it gives the marketers a chance to integrate in a way that is natural to the consumer in terms of moving the program along.”

--The reason behind First Look: “The upfront has two purposes – one is the event itself, where the networks trot out the new shows. The second part is the sales process. On the internet side of the world, we’re in a perpetual scatter market. And we’re developing ideas and programs constantly. That’s what advertisers like about it, they can always move money into online more quickly. But the purpose of First Look is to bring our customers in on the dialogue early.”

-- First Look Update: During the presentation, Ron Grant, AOL’s president and COO, said that starting next month, AOL will have a redesigned portal and revamped content channels for auto, health, commerce, finance, sports and shopping, as well as a new video player. Afterward, Grant said that the sites would have a mixture of new original content and aggregated material from other sites. He also said the redesign will be something of a work in progress, with features being added all the time. A screen shot of the site’s new look seemed to resemble Yahoo’s main page, with current block of white space filled up with a vertical listing of channels.

-- Kathleen Kayse, EVP of Sales and Partnership Alliances, AOL Media Networks, discussed the Amplify Your Buy initiative, expanding on Kelly’s comments that “broadcast and online can work together.” Still, the underlying tone was how TV needs AOL and its Advertising.com unit. Kayse, along with Lynda Clarizio, president of Advertising.com, said how the company’s provided addition reach to advertisers of shows such as American Idol, through AOL’s targeting methods. Clarizio added, “TV is great at providing mass, but it’s hard to target with precision. We can help bring additional audiences together for marketers and broadcasters through the use of contextual advertising. We can target people who watch Grey’s Anatomy, which reaches 9 million women between the ages of 25-54. On an average day, AOL reaches 16 million women in that age category. That allows us to enhance the TV advertising and benefit all sides.”