AOL Latino Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

New York, NY – September 11, 2008 – AOL Latino, http://latino.aol.com, is launching its special coverage of Hispanic Heritage Month, the annual four-week national celebration from September 15 to October 15. Featured on AOL Latino’s dedicated Hispanic Heritage Month hub, http://tuvida.aol.com/especiales/hispanic-heritage-month, the coverage will promote Hispanic culture in a variety of ways, including “Vive en Español,” a campaign dedicated to promoting the importance of Spanish language as a cultural touchstone in bilingual households. Volkswagen is the official partner of AOL Latino's Hispanic Heritage Month coverage, secured by AOL's digital advertising business Platform-A, http://www.platform-a.com.

“Vive en Español” will offer testimonies from leading actors, musicians, athletes and executives about the importance of speaking Spanish as a connector among generations. These exclusive video interviews feature Juanes, Daddy Yankee, Carlos Mencia, Cristián de la Fuente, Emily Ríos, Esai Morales, Luis Avalos, María Canals-Barrera, Paulo Benedetti and others. In addition, former Miss Universe and life coach Bárbara Palacios will update her new section “Cuerpo, Mente y Alma,” http://tuvida.aol.com/barbara-palacios. Palacios will offer tips and advice to help users manage daily challenges while inspiring them to reach their life goals. 

“AOL Latino is proud to be partnering with Volkswagen as we roll out an engaging and comprehensive Hispanic Heritage Month package for our users,” said Miguel Ferrer, Director of Programming, AOL Latino. “As Latinos, we celebrate Hispanic heritage every month of the year, but this nationally-recognized timeframe gives us a unique opportunity to connect with each other.”

In support of Hispanic Heritage Month, AOL Latino is an official media sponsor of the 10th Annual ALMA Awards, which airs Friday, September 12 on ABC. AOL Latino’s ALMA coverage includes red-carpet interviews, one-on-one talks with the winners and past ALMA honorees and an exclusive look backstage.

AOL expanded into Latin America by launching sites in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela and Mexico earlier this year and plans to expand into Brazil. In the U.S., AOL Latino is one of the top two bilingual portals for Hispanics with more than 2.2 million unique visitors.¹

About AOL Latino
AOL Latino, http://latino.aol.com, is the bilingual portal for U.S. Hispanics that offers comprehensive Spanish language products and services including free email and instant messaging. The service also offers U.S. and Latin American news, financial tools, the latest in music and entertainment, personal finance, sports, fashion and beauty, as well as access to all the existing content available on AOL, http://www.aol.com.

About AOL
AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the U.S. and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC and its subsidiaries have operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.

¹ August 2008 comScore Media Metrix; comScore Latino category is custom built based on a self selected competitor list.