Strategic Marketing Alliance to Enable Wide Range of Rich Media Advertising Opportunities
SAN FRANCISCO, June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK), the recognized leader in streaming media, and 24/7 Media, Internet media company today announced a strategic marketing alliance. Together, the companies will create an Internet advertising network of rich media enabled content sites. 24/7 Media will promote rich media ad placement utilizing RealNetworks streaming technology on their network of sites. The alliance expands the selection of online properties and campaign reach for advertisers placing rich media advertising, while providing the convenience of a network buy. Examples of rich media advertising can be found at http://www.real.com/company/advertising.
"We are very pleased to be working with 24/7 Media to further establish the rich media market for advertisers, their agencies, and the sites on which they advertise," said Jeff Lehman, vice president, Ad Sales, RealNetworks Inc. "By adding streaming media technology to advertising, advertisers create a much more memorable and responsive message. With the formation of this alliance, advertisers now have more places to run this type of creative."
Rich media advertising has proven to generate significantly higher brand awareness and response. In a one-year analysis of 52 different audio-enhanced banner ads and 5 different streaming media campaigns which ran across the RealNetworks RealSites(TM) portfolio, the average click through rates for audio-enhanced banners and streaming AV ads were 5% and 5.89% respectively, with some audio-enhanced banners reaching daily highs of 30% clickthrough rates. On average, this is 5 to 6 times higher than the industry average response rate for banner ads.
"We've been running streaming media advertising on AEN's site for more than five months since the launch of our "Live Channel" and have experienced excellent response rates," said Drew Cummings, president, AEN. "Our advertisers experience on average 4-5% click-through rates, which is considerably higher than the industry average. We are currently adding streaming media advertising on our additional ten channels of programming as well."
Marketing Alliance
24/7 Media will create a network channel of sites from its portfolio that will accept rich media advertising in areas where content utilizes streaming media technology. Additionally, 24/7 Media will sell streaming media ads that run in the content of participating sites. RealNetworks will promote 24/7 Media's rich media channel to its customers and advertising agency affiliates. RealNetworks will continue to represent its own sites in the RealSites Portfolio as rich media advertising opportunities.
"We're very excited to be working with RealNetworks to introduce advertisers to this significant opportunity," said Mark Burchill, senior vice president, Business Development and Marketing, 24/7 Media. "We have a vested interest in the success of our clients' campaigns, so we're very excited to be able to offer advertisers the opportunity to deploy rich media campaigns on a broad basis."
About 24/7 Media
24/7 Media, Inc. provides Internet advertising solutions for advertisers and Web publishers. The Company operates the 24/7 Network(TM) of more than 80 high-profile Web sites, the ContentZone network of more than 2,000 small to medium-sized Web sites, and the CLIQNOW!(TM) brand networks comprising more than 75 medium to large Web sites. In addition, 24/7 Media licenses its underlying Adfinity ad-serving technology to independent Web sites. Based in New York, 24/7 Media, Inc., is a privately held, venture-backed company with offices in Virginia, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. More information about 24/7 Media, Inc. can be found on its Web site located at http://www.247media.com.
About RealNetworks RealNetworks, (Nasdaq: RNWK) based in Seattle, WA, is the recognized leader in the streaming media market. It develops and markets software products and services designed to enable users of personal computers and other consumer electronic devices to send and receive audio, video and other multimedia services using the Web. RealNetworks can be found on the World Wide Web at www.real.com.
24/7 Media, 24/7 Networks, CLIQNOW!, and Adfinity are trademarks of 24/7 Media, Inc.
RealSites is a trademark of RealNetworks, Inc. All other companies or products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE RealNetworks, Inc. -0- 06/17/98
/CONTACT: Press Only: Jenny Sorensen, RealNetworks, 206-674-2374, jenny@real.com, or Leslie Howard, 24/7 Media, Inc., 212-603-5384, lhoward@247media.com/
/Web site: http://www.247media.com/ /Web site: http://www.real.com/ (RNWK) CO: RealNetworks, Inc.; 24/7 Media, Inc. ST: Washington, California, New York IN: CPR MLM ADV SU: JVN JC-CC -- LAW034 -- 6622 06/17/98 06:01 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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