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AOL CEO Goes for Niche Content

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AOL CEO Tim Armstrong
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong
The portal strategy is a relic of the late nineties, a leftover from newspapers blending content for mass audiences. Companies who continued to pursue that strategy, most notably Yahoo and AOL, have rightfully been labelled relics as well.

That’s why I’m happy to hear that AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, who jumped to the troubled tech titan from Google just over a hundred days ago, sees the folly of the portal strategy. Acknowledging the fragmentation of media, the very phenomenon that makes Google search so valuable, Armstrong is pushing two very modern ideas within the company: niche content and superdistribution. He properly positions the former to provide depth, and the latter to provide speed.

If that strategy sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the strategy of a good blog network. AOL is about to spin off from Time Warner through an IPO; the company needs a conrete direction and a fresh perspective to attract investors and survive the spinoff. You know the portal strategy is dead when your grandmother’s dialup ISP abandons it.

(Photo via John Batelle.)

Originally posted on July 20, 2009 @ 1:09 pm

AOL launches gaming resource for parents

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AOL announced the launch of PlaySavvy.com, a site that targets parents of children ages 5-17 and helps them decipher the world of games, both PC and console. PlaySavvy also helps parents stay aware of their kids’ entertainment choices including assisting them in making informed decisions about buying games for their children.

The PlaySavvy.com launch is a continuation of AOL’s overall programming goal to offer consumers interactive and engaging experiences with relevant sites that target people’s passion points. This year, AOL launched several targeted sites including ParentDish.com, Lemondrop.com, WalletPop.com, and Holidash.com.

“Playing video games is one of the top pastimes for children these days, almost more than watching TV. We created AOL PlaySavvy to help parents navigate through all the gaming information out there in order to decide what’s appropriate for their children,” said Libe Goad, Editor-in-Chief, AOL PlaySavvy. “In addition, PlaySavvy provides advertisers the opportunity to reach this targeted user base by creating appealing campaigns around the content.”

Originally posted on December 1, 2008 @ 1:56 pm