AOL Pictures is going the way of Yahoo! Photos. According to
an internal memo that made its way onto the Internet last week, the company is shutting down the service alongside other products that have not gained sufficient traction or brought in enough money to offset operating costs.
Shedding light on some of the reasoning behind its recent launch of Pixcetera, AOL executive vice president Kevin Conroy wrote on July 14: "We have found that building media management applications within the context of a social experience is a more rapid and effective way to grow the business."
Also indicative of the state of the industry is AOL's increasing focus on video. Conroy alludes to significant success of the AOL Video Portal, which is being merged with a related AOL video property. Another key goal is to monetize the over 50 million monthly impressions of video search-engine Truveo through advertising and API monetization.
Analysts love to discuss AOL's woes, often omitting that the company's online advertising network Platform-A is a top market player. According to ComScore, Platform-A surpasses Yahoo! and Google in reach of U.S. Internet users. Given the network's focus on graphically heavy, pay-for-placement display ads, many warn that even this market-leading property is destined for a fall in tough economic times.