AOL wants TechCrunch and Engadget to move past tech readers

Jessica Davies of Digiday interviewed Jimmy Maymann, president of content and consumer brands at AOL, about its tech news sites, which it wants to expand.

Davies writes, “Engadget recently got a digital makeover as part of a plan to expand its coverage to topics including science, culture, lifestyle and entertainment. Maymann said this was a natural move given technology has become so important to businesses and people, and he plans to monetize Engadget through native advertising.

“Sister title TechCrunch has already attracted non-tech advertisers, helped by HBO’s recognition of its startup competition event, TechCrunch Disrupt, which the cable network then recreated for its own ‘Silicon Valley’ series in 2014.

“That kind of mainstream advertiser recognition helped open up a wider choice of partners that wouldn’t previously have been natural bedfellows when TechCrunch was a pure tech play, said Maymann.

“For example, recently it partnered with NFL and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, on a sports-centric start-up competition, one of whose categories was ‘The Future Stadium.’ Start-ups were tasked with presenting a technology that would advance the ‘stadium experience of tomorrow.'”

Read more here.