Interesting move today as AOL has decided to junk “AOL Sports” in favor of calling the online portal’s entire sports area “Fanhouse“. From Eric Fisher of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL:
(Fanhouse Fantasy Comes True: Goodbye AOL Sports!)
AOL Sports today will relaunch a new site design, completing a previously announced transition to Fanhouse.com in which the AOL moniker will be removed. The shift is part of a broader corporate strategy in which AOL moves away from an Internet portal to become an online publisher of content sites. AOL Senior VP Marty Moe said, “We’re retiring the AOL brand, and we’re not a sports portal. This is about providing content with our own voice. Our competition is now any publisher and less directly the Yahoos and MSNs of the world.”
When everyone went crazy over “AOL Fanhouse” hiring Jay Mariotti, I didn’t get it, because Mariotti’s initial pieces were published at “AOL Sports”, not featured in the Fanhouse area. Now, I suppose, the initial announcement and reax make a little more sense.
(Quiz: New Logo For Fanhouse Or 2012 Winter Olympics in Sochi?)
AOL’s move is a nod to just how much power the sports blog format, independent or otherwise, wields.
AOL’s Fanhouse is an indirect descendant of this blog, DEADSPIN, PRO FOOTBALL TALK, THE BIG LEAD, WITH LEATHER, and others. And now, by adopting Fanhouse as its overarching sports brand, AOL is acknowledging the success of the concept. The move also is a feather in the cap of Jamie Mottram, who came up with the Fanhouse concept. Mottram now runs Yahoo’s sports blogs, but it should be noted that he was truly the architect of Fanhouse and deserves most of the credit for its success.
Meanwhile Mottram has now built a powerhouse over at Yahoo Sports, and you wonder how long it will be before Yahoo Sports goes the way of AOL Sports. Mottram has assembled some mind-numbing talent in the blog area there, and now the front page of Yahoo.com is linking those sports blogs directly - in many cases skipping over the staid sports coverage of Yahoo Sports.
I’ve been saying for some time that sports blogs are rapidly changing the face of sports journalism. Web visitors now want breaking news, something they haven’t seen before, coupled with clever writing and sometimes witty images. The days of compartmentalizing straight sports opinion pieces and breaking news are rapidly coming to a close. That’s why I thought AOL hiring Jay Mariotti was a little self-defeating. Does anyone besides AOL execs think Mariotti is going to be a needle-mover there? Is it really worth it to pay him well into six figures, when the days of his sort of opinion-based, rabble-rousing are petering out?
Yes, Yahoo Sports and ESPN.com still have mammoth audiences, and I’m not suggesting either will make a radical change like AOL overnight. But the Fanhouse revelation today is certainly a sign that sports blogs like SbB are here to stay. And this is only the beginning.
5:32 pm on January 15th, 2009
Today Jay Mariotti, tomorrow the world!!!!!
8:43 pm on January 15th, 2009
Nice job failing to mention former AOL sports chief Neal Scarbrough, who named and greenlighted the Fanhouse. Without him the fanhouse would have gone the way of sports bloggers live … The first and only portal Sports GM to see blogs as a front page difference maker …
Those of us who were laid off with him know AOL Sports has been riding his impact since. It’s apparent AOL can’t admit that.
9:15 pm on January 15th, 2009
ms,
point well taken.
11:02 pm on January 15th, 2009
Just checked out the new Fanhouse. Like you say Brooks, web visitors want more than just the plain vanilla offerings that newspaper-style has been providing for decades. Blogs are using newly available technology to give visitors the news they want packaged quickly and in an entertaining way. And writers like blogs because there's more freedom and they can finally show some personality. It's interesting to watch the market forcing changes in journalism that are providing more voices and fresher perspectives to stories. It's about damn time somebody woke up the groggy Fourth Estate.
11:03 am on January 16th, 2009
Thanks for the kind words, Brooks.
With regard to comment No. 2, the FanHouse project was underway when Neal came to AOL in the summer of '06, and, though I never loved the name FanHouse, it was I who named it nonetheless. Also, thanks for bringing up Sports Bloggers Live. That helped pave the way, and was so much fun.
11:07 am on January 16th, 2009
"Without him the fanhouse would have gone the way of sports bloggers live."
Neal was the one who killed Sports Bloggers Live. Sure, he "greenlighted" FanHouse, insomuch as he recognized Jamie's idea was a great one. That's pretty much the extent of the credit he deserves: He said yes to a brilliant plan. Kudos for that.
/Mottrams piling on