This past February, HBO and AOL collaborated to launch comedy website ThisJustIn.com. Rumor has it that the site will be shutting down by the end of August.
The site is a video blog that features daily topical comedy videos, ranging from short sketches to funny commentary. When launched, the site replaced AOL’s existing comedy property. The terms of the co-venture dictated AOL would sell advertising on the site, while HBO could cross promote content on its TV and mobile network.
The Hollywood Reporter notes the rumored shutdown follows the departure of a number of top executives tied to the site; Steve Stanford, who ran the site, was allegedly laid off from AOL a month ago. HBO also let go of some key execs who had oversight of the site, including Jim Moloshok, Carmi Zlotnik and John Penney.
“This Just In” operates in a particularly competitive vertical market, competing against the likes of CollegeHumor, the Onion, and Will Ferrel’s new project FunnyOrDie, amongst others.
We have asked ThisJustIn to comment and will update should we receive a response.
Update: Variety is confirming the site will shutdown in August.
Guess they figured out that their content really wasn’t funny.
I just clicked over to give it a looksee and I agree with doug. It’s just not funny. Amazing how smart people make really dumb choices. That site is a waste.
Unfortunately this goes to show that you can’t just slap a site together, throw ads up on it, buy keywords and think it will be successful. A successful property requires its own culture and essentially a “soul”.
I fear that veryfunnyads.com could be next…
I like http://funnyordie.com/ just because Will Ferrel helps run the site and his short sketches are hilarious. I never even heard of thisjustin.com , if they would of gotten one comedian to do one funny sketch …. it might of been a diff. story.
anything with the word AOL is born to be a part of deadpool.
TimeWarner has another actually funny comedy site called http://superdeluxe.com
Yeah, Funny Or Die has some pretty great content. So does SuperDeluxe, although the bar may be a tiny bit lower.
I also really like DotComedy. Against all odds, I’ve come across some amazing stuff there.
Although online comedy is competitive space, poor content, no matter how many dollars are behind it, cannot be dressed up and sold today. There are simply too many interesting properties out there offering truly funny content.
In addition to Jason’s suggestion, I would put a plug in for the Break.com and Fark. I also like Funny or Die. As a mom, it’s hard not to laugh at the Pearl videos. I am sorry to hear she’s retiring… but we all know what happens to child stars.
Hadn’t ever even heard of this AOL property.