AOL’s Patch.com Set for ‘Hundreds’ of Communities

Jon Brod, EVP, AOL Ventures

Patch.com, AOL‘s hyperlocal network, will grow from its tally of 30 sites today to “hundreds” by the end of 2010, per an internal memo read by Business Insider (and that we saw on www.netnewscheck.com). The memo sites AOL’s goals to be “the global and local leader in sourcing, creating, producing and delivering high quality content,” and calls local “one of the most promising ‘white spaces’ on the Internet.”

AOL had previously said it would be investing $50 million into its local efforts during 2010. In November 2009, Patch.com President Warren Webster told us that Patch was just starting to sell advertising in the towns that it initially launched in. “We have a multi-prong revenue model, with fixed placement banners, classified ads and other products,” he said.

AOL Ventures EVP Jon Brod, the primary architect of AOL’s local strategy, is our opening keynoter at Marketplaces 2010 in San Diego March 22-24.