Similar to MTV Networks’ strategy (it created 32 sites in the last year), AOL says it plans to launch a dozen new sites in six months and as many 20 or 30 by the end of 2008. “We want to be sure we are appealing to as many consumers as we can,” said Bill Wilson, executive vice president of programming. In the last year, AOL has launched Spinner, a music site, and Asylum, a men’s lifestyle site (below). Both are designed with a TMZ-like blog format. New sites will likely follow similar models.
Meanwhile, VentureBeat has this to say about AOL’s strategy: “It’s hard to feel excited about a company that hopes to succeed simply by putting more of its product on the web rather than focusing on improving the sites they already have. It’s the old quantity versus quality argument.
