AOL CDs Dominated Global Production

During the 1990s, AOL flooded homes, magazines, stores, and mailboxes with free trial CDs designed to attract dial-up internet subscribers. According to former AOL chief marketing officer Jan Brandt, the campaign became so enormous that AOL discs once accounted for 50 percent of all CDs produced worldwide. AOL spent more than $300 million on the promotion and, at its peak, gained a new subscriber every six seconds.

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