• by February 25, 2004

Lycos today said it's overhauling itself to become a one-stop shop comprised of for-pay premium services including social networking, personals, gaming, shopping, and just abot everything else. The overhaul is much-needed -- the portal has practically dropped off the map in the last year or more, eclipsed by Yahoo!, Google, and others.

"I can't think of any segment where Lycos is number one," notes Michael Goodman, senior analyst at Yankee Group. "[In] music, no. Video, no. Personals, no," he says, referring to Lycos' profile in the U.S. Lycos is the U.S. unit of Spain's Terra Networks. Lycos Search is ranked sixth by unique visitors and Terra Lycos is ranked sixth on comScore Networks' top properties list. Yahoo! Sites rank number one in unique visitors, according to comScore.

Goodman says Lycos needs to create unique offerings through partnerships and alliances. He cites Lycos' partnership with Movielink, the movie download service, as an example of an ideal relationship. Lycos is now positioning itself as "the first Internet network specifically constructed to enable people to create and recreate relationships with the people who most enrich their lives."

Gee, I've heard that before. It sounds just about the same as every other Internet network's mission, not to mention the slew of social and career networking communities. Unless Lycos has a few more tricks up its sleeve, I don't think it has the formula to differentiate itself in a highly competitive field.

Yankee's Goodman says the real opportunity for a player like Lycos, which has practically ceded the search space to Google and others, is in broadband entertainment. "Only about 12 percent of broadband subscribers say that content is even remotely a reason for getting broadband. The majority is for speed and connectivity. This really hasn't changed significantly over the last seven years since the rise of broadband," Goodman remarks. "There is an opportunity here to create more broadband-specific services."

Just one message for Lycos: differentiate or die.