AOL ad revenue grew at an old media-like pace in the second quarter, increasing just two percent. So what's Middle America's favorite Internet property to do? Get super-sized, of course. "Beginning today," a breathless flack writes us:

Platform-A is offering advertisers the opportunity to purchase a 300x600 ad unit for AOL homepages: AOL.com, the AOL client and co-branded sites. AOL is the only portal that offers advertisers this ad unit size, which is double the size of the largest ad unit – 150x300 – that advertisers typically purchase on the other portal sites.

Samsung ad buyers at Mediaveest already took the plunge, running a 600x300 ad on AOL.com today that when "expanded," goes beyond the margins of my browser window. Annoying? Yes, but — at least long as AOL's revenue growth stays so slow — AOL's belly-buster ads are here to stay. Studies show that larger ads can lead to 4 times as many conversions as smaller button ads.

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