Let’s Face It, AOL’s Not Exactly the Cartier of Web Brands

AOL’s ad revenue may be “falling off a cliff,” according to CNBC’s David Faber, but its traffic’s not half bad. AOL (TWX) said today that page views to its Web sites hit an all-time high in March, according to comScore (SCOR) Media Metrix. Page views grew 28% during the month, and are up 35% year-over-year. Unique visitors rose 11% year-over-year to 56.5 million.

AOL attributes the double-digit growth to a year-long redesign and rebranding effort, which ironically included a de-emphasizing of the AOL brand. “If I call a hip-hop site AOL Hip Hop,” said Bill Wilson, executive vice president of AOL Vertical Programming, “that just won’t resonate with consumers.”