Success story: Juan Garcia gets AOL video internship

Finance , IT / Information Systems Success Stories | May 03, 2013 | Nicole Gesualdo

AOL wants to beat YouTube at its own video game.

Juan Gabriel Garcia (GSB ’15) has signed on to help them do it.

He has received an AOL internship for this summer and will be working on the company’s video channel, known as AOL On. The position combines analytics and operations: two areas in which Juan, an applied accounting and finance major, would like more experience.

“I will manage and observe why certain videos generate more traffic than others and monitor overall trends,” Juan said. “I will also keep track of new videos as they are added on to the site.”

The videos AOL carries come from some content streams that it owns, plus outside partners that have signed on to provide material. Combined, that hybrid roster of contributors includes the HuffingtonPost, Engadget, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal Live, BBC News and Reuters, among others.

In his day-to-day work, Juan expects to use knowledge he gained in the information systems segment of the Gabelli School’s sophomore core. The result of his work will be something called “video business intelligence” — data that AOL can use to better compete against the major players in the video marketplace.

“Video business intelligence is basically making use of the data and insights currently present to make more informed decisions for the future,” Juan explained. “For AOL On, that could mean utilizing customer information, demographics and categories of videos watched to increase site activity.”

Juan is approaching his role at AOL in the context of several past internships: at Cross Pixel Media, the Philippine Stock Exchange and AXA Advisors. He hopes to do well at AOL, because it reflects the kind of business for which he wants to work.

“I want to be part of a company whose mission is to inform, entertain and connect the world,” Juan said.

We are confident he will be a great addition.