AOL has plans to launch a new women's lifestyle Web site which will target a younger demo than its current AOL Living offering.
It looks like the site is being built as a counterpart to its existing men's site which has had significant growth: Asylum, which has grown to 3.1 million users since March, according to comScore.
In other words, they seem to be using Asylum as a template for the female-focused site.
The reason for AOL and others starting to focus on more niche sites is the market share of portals has been declining in viewers and advertising, as vertical (niche) properties become the flavor of the day. (Niche is far more than simply a fad though; it is where content and entertainment is going.)
From 2006 to 2007, online ad revenue for portals dropped from 24 percent share to a 19 percent share, said Avenue A/Razorfish. Much of that is attributed to vertical properties.
AOL has a goal of launching 12 niche sites by August. By the end of the year they expect to have between 20 to 30 vertical sites operating which were started in 2007.
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