Hi Sam
I still make some great sponsor sales from the avs own internal linklist traffic so building and submitting to the avs at this point is still definately part of my day to day routines.
I don't much care about selling the avs memberships though they do tend to trickle in over time...
I do not submit to near as many as I once did and even more avs have fell by the wayside as of late. A part of a dying breed? Probably. But the income to effort ratio is good enough for me to continue for now.
Just remember it is like anything else - what works for one person doesn't always work for another. While I may see good results you may not.
Just like free sites and tgp you still have to learn what works for you in each application - then hit it hard.
I hope this helps!