Metacafe Demotes CEO

Katie at GigaOM has the scoop that Metacafe CEO Arik Czerniak is stepping down. He will be replaced by Erick Hachenburg, previously of Electronic Arts. Czerniak is remaining with Metacafe “focusing on products and strategy,” but not as chief exec, and said the change “is great news for the company.”

Metacafe’s traffic appears to be declining, down to 2.95 million unique visitors in December from from 4.2 million in September, according to comScore. Katie has a lot more traffic details on GigaOM.

Now is the time to sell a video-aggregating startup. Scuttlebutt says the window is closing, with companies like eBaum’s World failing to find a buyer despite their efforts. Many had thought the window was already good and shut, unless Metacafe could close its much-rumored acquisition by Yahoo or someone else. Valuations appear to be getting lower even if traffic isn’t headed south, what with lawsuits and maneuvering by the GooTube juggernaut.

We’ve previously covered executive departures at Revver, Guba, two other online video sites struggling to gain a foothold.