“It’s a tremendous honor and opportunity to take on this new leadership role,” said Norton. “It allows me to continue to work with some of the best sales professionals in the business. It’s also a privilege to work with some of the world’s biggest brands.” He added, “We want to continue to be the preferred media partner for marketers and agencies.”

Jim joined AOL in 2009 and was SVP, AOL Advertising’s Advance Sales team, which focuses on national and regional advertisers across all categories, as well as new business. He was also VP of Product Sales working with AOL product teams on maximizing their offerings to advertisers, including MapQuest, Patch, AOL Mail, AOL Video and Mobile. He also managed AOL’s Search and Sponsored Listings business, and helped launch and manage AOL’s self service advertising platform, Ad Desk.

Jim has over 20 years of experience in the media business. Prior to joining AOL, he spent 3 years at Google most recently as National Sales Manager for Google’s Agency Activation team. Prior to that role, he was a Senior Account Executive on the National Tech B2B team servicing many of the leading global tech marketers. He’s also held a number of traditional sales and marketing roles, including four years as Sales Manager at Tribune Broadcasting’s WLVI-TV (Boston’s WB), radio ad sales at Kiss 108FM and a variety of brand marketing roles at Miller Brewing Company and GMR Marketing. He’s a life long Bostonian and graduated from Boston College with a BA in Communications and BC’s Carroll Graduate School of Business with an MBA in Marketing and Technology. He’s married with three children and splits his time between Boston and New York City.

About AOL

Having helped millions of Americans to get online, AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is on a mission to inform, entertain and connect the world. The home of a world-class collection of premium brands, AOL creates original content that engages audiences on a local and global scale. We help marketers connect with these audiences through effective and engaging digital solutions.

NEW YORK – AOL announced today that it has brokered a unique partnership with VivaKi, the strategic entity that combines the media and digital assets that sit inside of Publicis Groupe. This partnership aims to explore the online video advertising arena and continue to innovate and identify top performing ad models that are best for advertisers, publishers and consumers. This initiative will leverage the success and momentum of VivaKi’s ongoing research effort, The Pool, which has conducted extensive research and testing in the online video space. In its first three waves of research or “lanes,” the ASq was selected as the most superior online video ad model, out-performing the industry’s pre-roll standard.

To date, ASq has 15 certified publishers, including AOL, and has supported over 150 client campaigns across 35 advertisers and garnered more than 400 million impressions. This partnership between VivaKi and AOL will build on the success of this model and identify other formats that provide more personalization and social components within the online video user experience. ASq is powered by VINDICO, a leading video ad management platform, which will also serve the VivaKi-AOL partnership.

“We are excited to be partnering with VivaKi to push product innovation forward and evolve online video ad models,” said Tim Armstrong, Chairman & CEO, AOL. “We challenged the industry last year with the launch of Project Devil in display, which helped us rethink how content and advertising should be viewed on the Web, and we wanted to explore what the Devil principles and philosophies could mean for video ad formats. There is still so much opportunity for growth and innovation.”

“We know the ASq is a breakthrough idea, but there is room for more ad models that support the medium. No other platform can be sustained through simply one format, look at TV or display,” said Tracey Scheppach, VivaKi’s EVP/Innovations Director and Co-Founder of The Pool. “We gave our employees around the world, as well as our trusted partners, an opportunity to voice their ideas for the best online video ad models and we received 72 ideas in total, which we’ve narrowed down to the top three that will go into testing.”

The first model that will go into field trial testing consists of a pre-roll overlay within a video player that gives the viewer an option to click and expand the ad into a branded toolbar, which provides viewers with multiple ways to interact with the brand. The second model is a slate ad format that asks whether the viewer would like to watch a full :30 ad or a :15 ad and then answer a question immediately following the ad. The third and final model is a pre-roll overlay that provides buttons for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social platforms to enable a seamless way to interact and share ads with their social circle. To reinforce the sharing option, this model would also include a billboard at the end of the pre-roll or at the end of the content. VINDICO will handle ad serving for all three models during this process.

Since its inception in 2008, The Pool has launched nine lanes globally and logged over 35,000 hours, working with over 100 different companies while reaching 262 million consumers.

This lane will kick off in November 2011 and is open to all VivaKi clients. Results are expected in early 2012 and official names will be given to the three models during The Pool process.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a premier global media company with a suite of brands and products serving consumers, advertisers and publishers worldwide. The AOL Huffington Post Media Group is a leading source of news, opinion, entertainment, community and digital information comprising a wide range of destination websites, including AOL.com, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Moviefone, Engadget, Patch, AOL Music, StyleList and MapQuest. The AOL Advertising.com Group includes Advertising.com, ADTECH, Pictela, Video (inclusive of AOL Video, goviral and 5min Media), Content Solutions and Sponsored Listings and serves a combined content and advertising market at scale through video, brand advertising, content and ad serving. AOL is focused on engaging consumers and providing online advertising services and solutions on both AOL Huffington Post Media Group destination websites and third-party websites, in addition to serving consumer platforms including AOL Mail, AIM, about.me, and mobile experiences. AOL also operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the U.S., which serves as another distribution channel for its consumer subscription products, such as AOL TechGuru and Computer Checkup.

About VivaKi

VivaKi is part of Publicis Groupe (Euronext Paris Exchange: FR0000130577; and part of the CAC 40 index) the world’s third largest communications group. VivaKi aggregates the marketplace influence of four autonomous brands, including two global media agency networks: ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest Group; and two leading digital marketing agencies: Digitas and Razorfish. On behalf of its agency brands and their clients, VivaKi faces the market to help identify and build technology, message distribution, audience aggregation and content solutions for the future.

About The Pool

The Pool is a first of its kind industry program that unites the financial resources and thought leadership of its clients and a host of content providers to test and create industry standards for new advertising models. By “pooling” insights and resources, this initiative aims to identify future engagement models across a variety of emerging media platforms. Participating clients and content providers are given the opportunity to view and evaluate new advertising models and receive access to all proprietary research ahead of the marketplace. The following lanes have been launched and released: Lane 1: US online video – November 2008 launch, February 2010 industry release; Lane 2: US short-form online video – July 2009 launch, September 2010 industry release; Lane 3: China online video – April 2010 launch, April 2011 industry release. The following Lanes have been launched and are still in progress: Lane 4: UK online video – October 2010 launch; Lane 5: MENA display – September 2010 launch; Lane 6: Spain online video – November 2010 launch; Lane 7: Australia online video – March 2011 launch; Lane 8: China online video/cross media metrics – August 2011 launch; Lane 9: US Tablets – October 2011 launch.

CANNES, France – AOL, Inc. (NYSE: AOL) and the IPG Media Lab announced, at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the results of a new study on the effectiveness and earned attention of IAB Portrait ad units versus traditional display advertising. The initial results support the hypothesis that the newly approved IAB Portrait represents an evolution of digital branding in terms of engagement, attention, emotional connection and influence. The six week long study focused on how display advertising impacts consumers in a digital world that is inundated with marketing messages. The new approach to display advertising, represented in the IAB Portrait ad unit, delivered an entirely new stage of impact at every level of the purchase funnel vs. standard ad units.

“While our internal data proved what we knew to be true, that a larger more interactive, integrated, and visually beautiful ad would be more engaging for consumers, this research data is off the charts,” said Jeff Levick, President, AOL Advertising. “These results prove that the ad unit is probably the most effective brand ad units on the Web. All measures of interactivity, visual attention, emotive response and overall ad effective metrics increased when consumers viewed the IAB Portrait, creating an emotional connection between brands and their consumers.”

The AOL/IPG study used groundbreaking analytical tools including eye-tracking to measure the visual interaction with the advertising, facial expression analysis to record micro-expressions as a determinate of engagement, and bio-metric bracelets to collect data on skin temperature and conductance, measuring the levels of user excitement when presented with creative messaging. The first of its kind to combine facial coding, bio-metric feedback, then use eye tracking to sync that data with the exact point on a screen where the eye was fixated, the study then validated these new forms of engagement tracking with traditional engagement metrics from a live media campaign and a Brand Survey through Dynamic Logic. The study focused on the display advertising effectiveness and brand messaging of three IPG clients from very different industries: Dodge, Verizon, and Zappos.

“Everyday users are exposed to exponentially more marketing messages than were our parents. The question is how to stand out and create an engaging, interactive brand experience that cuts through the noise and connects with consumers,” said Brian Monahan, EVP, Managing Partner, IPG Media Lab. “This is the most rigorous analysis per pixel ever brought to bear on an online ad. The research shows that current metrics don’t capture the effectiveness of new formats like IAB Portrait. New industry standards are necessary to better measure branding campaign success.”

Findings

The findings show IAB Portrait strongly outperforms other options in the marketplace (300×250 & 300×600) in both Quantitative and Qualitative metrics. It also shows that these new metrics (eye tracking & bio-metrics) will inform the creation of better user experiences, better creative, and much higher rates of connection and purchase intent with the audience.

As expected, compared to a standard 300×250 unit, IAB Portrait is far superior. The ad unit attracts attention 2x faster and viewers looked at it 4x more often and 4x longer.

However, size is far from the whole story. When a 300×600 unit was also included in the testing, the Portrait ad still far exceeded performance:

- Portrait units attract attention 35 percent faster than competing units, 81 percent more attention, and 95 percent more time in length of fixation
- Live media metrics showed interaction rates rose between 4.5x – 7x
- Influence rose dramatically:
- Users that indicated they would recommend the brand or product to Friends/Family rose 46 percent
- Users that indicated they would visit the Brand site/Facebook Fan page increased 49 percent
- Purchase intent rose 263 percent
- Facial recognition analysis shows Portrait lowers negative emotions by almost 40 percent , with less frustration, and fewer frowns
- Proper Context drives fixation – relevant content drove users to view Portrait unit 35 percent faster and 30 percent longer

In addition, the findings also showed that part of the success of the IAB Portrait unit is simply its ability to cut through “banner blindness” – where users simply don’t see the ads on the page. The eye tracking portion of the study showed this rather explicitly – where eye fixation on IAB Portrait ads rivaled the content itself.

Clients

Clients involved with the study were pleased with the outcome and are excited to be partnering on moving the industry ahead.

“At Chrysler Group we consistently look at how we can engage our consumers in a unique and interesting manner which can be a challenge in the digital space where the customer is flooded with information,” said Susan Thomson, Head of Media, Chrysler Group LLC. “The information gathered from the AOL/IPG study enables our media team to better understand how we can interact with our consumers in ways that captures their attention quickly and provides them with the key information they want on our products.”

“We were impressed with how insightful the results of the AOL/IPG study were and while we have always known that not all ads are created equal, this study arms us with the information we need to create more effective branding ads in the future,” explains Michelle Thomas, Senior Brand Marketing Manager, Zappos.com. “This particular ad unit allows us to tell a story as well as create an opportunity for customers to engage with our brand the way that they want to engage {video, social, product information}. Even better, we are gaining consumer insights into what messages are resonating so that our messaging remains viable versus extinct.”

Of course creative plays a major role in the ultimate success of the ad unit, and the flexibility of the unit enables clients to achieve multiples goals.

“In the digital age, it’s no longer just about the ‘big idea,’ but rather how you can create more meaningful and immersive brand experiences with customers that drive actual business results,” said Alejandro Mendoza, associate creative director at SapientNitro. “It’s exciting to have more compelling ways to tell brand stories online, and with the multi-faceted IAB Portrait ad unit we have not only a larger canvas to draw attention to unique product attributes and brand messages, but also a way to do so in a more dynamic and engaging context to drive stronger brand connections.” Mendoza was one of the creatives that worked on the IAB Portrait ad unit for Dodge for this research study.

“IAB Portrait provides a superior canvas to capture attention and elicit brand building interaction than standard units,” said Tim McAtee, Research Director, IPG Media Lab. “However, it is up to the advertiser to build an execution that gets the most from the real estate.”

For the full results visit http://advertising.aol.com/research/research-reports/iab-portrait-ads.

About the IPG Media Lab

At the center of Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands network, the IPG Media Lab helps clients and agencies put innovation into action. By creating opportunities for marketers to identify, formulate and test new approaches, the Lab mitigates risk through a process outside the normal campaign methodology. Employing creative thinking and a suite of proprietary research tools to understand how emerging media impacts purchase decisions, the Lab provides hands-on guidance, digital media insight and measurable results to clients. Our product framework is built around three fundamental pillars: Diagnosing Opportunity, Prioritization and Deployment. www.ipglab.com

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a premier global media company with a suite of brands and products serving consumers, advertisers and publishers worldwide. The AOL Huffington Post Media Group is a leading source of news, opinion, entertainment, community and digital information comprised of a wide range of destination websites, including AOL.com, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Moviefone, Engadget, Patch, AOL Music, StyleList and MapQuest. The AOL Advertising.com Group includes Advertising.com, ADTECH, Pictela, Video, inclusive of AOL Video, goviral and 5min Media, Content Solutions and Sponsored Listings and serves a combined content and advertising market at scale through video, brand advertising, content and ad serving. AOL is focused on engaging consumers and providing online advertising services and solutions on both AOL Huffington Post Media Group destination websites and third party websites, in addition to serving consumer platforms including AOL Mail, AIM, about.me, and mobile experiences. AOL also operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as another distribution channel for its consumer offerings.

NEW YORK – AOL (NYSE: AOL) announced Advertising.com is leveraging the Pictela technology across its network enabling advertisers to deliver premium advertising formats at scale across premium publishers. Additionally, a select group of publishers within AOL’s Super Channels — over 20 content specific verticals including women, technology, retail, travel, multicultural and more – will also be able to leverage the power of the Pictela platform. As AOL continues to focus on premium experiences for consumers, advertisers and publishers, this announcement aligns with the company strategy and shows its continued commitment to creating a more premium network offering.

“Advertising.com invented the network business model over a decade ago. Now we are trying to reinvent it. By combining the power of Pictela and Ad.com, we are evolving and redefining ad network solutions, and in doing so are increasing its value to both publishers and advertisers,” said Ned Brody, President, AOL Advertising.com Group. “The powerful combination of premium formats powered by Pictela, comprehensive data, unmatched inventory and deep client relationships, truly positions Advertising.com in the marketplace as the premium ad network at scale.”

Advertising.com has access to some of the best impressions on the Web with more than 4,500 publisher relationships including 70 of comScore’s top 100 sites as well as premium, reserved inventory on the Huffington Post Media Group properties. Super Channels provide advertisers top quality sites in key verticals, with non-user generated content, above the-fold placement, ad verification, and when applicable, site transparency and rich media. Advertising.com is currently running two Pictela units, the 300×250 and the 300×600, and powers an additional four which are all IAB standard units delivering video, photos and applications in real time across the Web.

“Advertising.com has been a leader in the network space for more than 10 years with our powerful reach and unparalleled inventory,” said David Jacobs, senior vice president, publisher services, Advertising.com. “Enabling Pictela technology across the ad network aligns to our goal of continually innovating in the space and providing our partners a more premium experience.”

Advertising.com has a global reach with offices across North America and Europe, as well as Asia through its Advertising.com Joint Venture, and intends to enable this technology globally.

Advertising.com and Pictela are business units of the AOL Advertising.com Group which was formed in May 2011. The focus of this group is to position AOL as a global partner for leading publishers, advertisers and agencies seeking to maximize the value of their online brands through premium formats, video, content, networks, platforms and monetization. The eight businesses that make up this Group are Advertising.com, ADTECH, AOL Video, goviral, Pictela, Content Solutions, 5min Media and Sponsored Listings.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a premier global media company with a suite of brands and products serving consumers, advertisers and publishers worldwide. The AOL Huffington Post Media Group is a leading source of news, opinion, entertainment, community and digital information comprised of a wide range of destination websites, including AOL.com, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Moviefone, Engadget, Patch, AOL Music, StyleList and MapQuest. The AOL Advertising.com Group includes Advertising.com, ADTECH, Pictela, Video, inclusive of AOL Video, goviral and 5min Media, Content Solutions and Sponsored Listings and serves a combined content and advertising market at scale through video, brand advertising, content and ad serving. AOL is focused on engaging consumers and providing online advertising services and solutions on both AOL Huffington Post Media Group destination websites and third party websites, in addition to serving consumer platforms including AOL Mail, AIM, about.me, and mobile experiences. AOL also operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as another distribution channel for its consumer offerings.

NEW YORK – AOL, Inc. received an impressive twelve nominations from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) for the 15th Annual Webby Awards. Seven brands (HuffPost Business, TechCrunch, PopEater, HuffPost Politics, Engadget, Joystiq, and HuffPost News) of The AOL Huffington Post Media Group garnered nominations, in addition to three web series (The Engadget Show, Gadling’s “Travel Talk,” and Comics Alliance Stan Lee) and the AIM iPhone App scoring nods. Fans will be able to cast their votes and get more information by visiting webby.aol.com.

“AOL has incredibly talented and passionate teams and it is great to see their work recognized,” said Tim Armstrong, AOL Chairman and CEO. “The Webbys are the people’s award and we want to give the consumers of the world magical journalism, content and experiences every minute of every day.”

For the second year in a row, AOL and The Webby Awards are teaming up to host the public voting site that will reach users across AOL’s network. Webby People’s Voice voting runs from April 12th through April 28th and fans can cast their votes in The Webby People’s Voice Awards exclusively.

Following is a complete list of the categories for which AOL is nominated.

Websites
Blog – Business: Huffington Post (http://huffingtonpost.com/business)
and TechCrunch (http://techcrunch.com/)
Blog – Cultural: PopEater (http://www.popeater.com/)
Blog – Political: Huffington Post (http://huffingtonpost.com/politics)
Consumer Electronics: Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/)
Games – Related: Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/)
News: Huffington Post (http://huffingtonpost.com)

Online Film and Video
Technology: The Engadget Show (http://www.engadget.com/show)
Travel and Adventure: Gadling.com’s “Travel Talk” series (http://www.gadling.com/tag/traveltalk)
Variety: Influential Issues: Comics Alliance Stan Lee

Mobile and Apps
Utilities and Services: AIM iPhone App (http://www.aim.com/)

Corporate Communications
AOL’s Corporate Site (http://corp.aol.com) created by Method, Inc.

In recognition of the exceptional quality of submissions received this year, the IADAS has acknowledged outstanding entries as Official Honorees, alongside Nominees and Winners. The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to the top 10% of all work entered that exhibits remarkable achievement.

Official Honorees

Websites
Best Copy/Writing – Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/)
Guides/Ratings/Reviews: City’s Best (http://www.citysbest.com/)
Lifestyle: WalletPop (http://www.walletpop.com/)
News: AOL’s Patch(http://patch.com)
Web Series: MapQuest (http://new.mapquest.com/)
Welcome Page: Pictela (http://www.pictela.com) by Blenderbox

Online Film & Video
Events and Live Webcasts: Let’s Move Live with Michelle Obama – AOL Health (http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/07/…)
How To & DYI: WalletPop’s “Savings Experiment” (http://www.walletpop.com/savings-experiment)
Technology: Translogic (http://translogic.aolautos.com/)
Travel and Adventure: AOL Travel’s “48 Hours” Series (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guid…)
Reality: Mission Makeover (http://www.stylelist.com/tag/Mission+Makeover/)
Music: AOL Music Sessions (http://music.aol.com/sessions)
Music: The Interface (http://www.spinner.com/interface)

Mobile
Best Use of GPS or Location Technology: MapQuest iPhone App (http://wireless.mapquest.com/)
News – Handheld Devices: Engadget iPhone App (http://www.engadget.com/downloads/iphone)
Now in its 15th year, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. The Webby Awards are a celebration of Internet and pop culture where consumers have the opportunity to choose their favorite online destinations.

Last year AOL and The Huffington Post winners included The Huffington Post, Engadget and the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing 40th Anniversary Commemoration site “We Choose the Moon” which was both the People’s Voice Winner and the Webby Award winner.

Winners will be honored in New York City at a ceremony in June.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

Innovative Advertising Platform Achieves 40+% Engagement Rates, Guarantees Brand Message Comprehension on a Performance Basis

Partners at Launch include Toyota, Microsoft, Universal Pictures, Saatchi & Saatchi, Universal McCann, Ignited and many others

NEW YORK – Solve Media announced the launch of its TYPE-IN™ advertising platform, a unique solution which leverages CAPTCHA authentication for brand messaging to bring unprecedented consumer engagement to online advertising. With the solution, Solve Media: guarantees brand message delivery and increases recall rates and return on investment for advertisers; creates new revenue opportunities for publishers; and simplifies the authentication process for consumers.

Solve Media’s cognitive advertising approach has already won the support of top advertisers and publishers including Toyota, Microsoft, Universal Pictures, AOL, Tribune, and Meredith Publishing. The company is backed by First Round Capital, New Atlantic Ventures, AOL Ventures, and several prominent angel investors.

The Solve Media platform replaces the distorted words, numbers and phrases typically used for puzzle-based CAPTCHA human authentication systems with a simple logo, a brand message in quotes, and an input box. Advertisers pay only for messages that have been both read and typed correctly, thus ensuring that each TYPE-IN™ purchased has not only been read and comprehended by a consumer, but also repeated, resulting in far greater retention and impact. Engagement rates for TYPE-INs™ have exceeded 40 percent—compared with rates of 1 percent or less for typical online display ads.

From the consumer’s perspective, a memorable, plain-English brand message based on a product attribute, slogan, or value statement is much easier to type than a distorted arrangement of letters or words. This overcomes a key complaint with the existing CAPTCHA experience: that even the most engaged users so often get it wrong. In fact, the existing system takes an average of 14 seconds to complete as users peck through letter-by-letter; with TYPE-INs™, this time can be cut in half, improving usability and quality of experience.

Solve Media created the TYPE-IN™ platform in response to an increasingly fragmented and busy online advertising experience in which marketers struggle for attention and publishers face numerous challenges monetizing their inventory and their audiences. Rather than introducing new distractions or interruptions to the user experience, the solution takes advantage of an existing mechanism which has long been required of consumers. TYPE-IN™ ads deliver messages quickly, achieve user engagement and recall through an efficient, streamlined experience, and let consumers move on to the things they want to do.

Ari Jacoby, CEO of Solve Media, said “The Solve Media TYPE-IN™ solution is based on simple, timeless principles of advertising: meet the audience where they already are, gain their active engagement with your message, and help them remember it by having them repeat it.” He continued, “top-tier brand marketers are the toughest and most discerning customers, and to date, they have been underserved by tools available on the web.”

“Solve Media helped us directly access consumer attention that was previously untapped,” said Marty Collins, Emerging Media lead at Microsoft. “Our recent Internet Explorer campaign saw 41% brand lift for safety attributes, which was substantiated in our recent Comscore report.”

Solve Media’s platform also offers robust additional functionality including significant brand survey and insight research capabilities, engagement analytics, targeting/re-targeting/re-marketing, video and rich media ad units, clickable ad units, and strict safety and security.

For publishers, working with Solve Media creates new, untapped inventory which they can immediately monetize, while delivering superior user experience. Andy Wilson, SVP Digital Marketing, Meredith Interactive said: “Based on great trial campaign results, we’ve extended additional inventory to Solve Media across new properties in our network.”

ABOUT SOLVE MEDIA

Solve Media was founded by veteran entrepreneurs and technologists focused on innovative internet advertising solutions. The Company’s proprietary online advertising system the TYPE-IN™ was designed to create new and highly-effective opportunities for brands to advertise online. The system leverages CAPTCHA authentication for brand messaging to bring unprecedented consumer engagement. With the solution, Solve Media: guarantees brand message delivery and increases recall rates and return on investment for advertisers; creates new revenue opportunities for publishers; and simplifies the authentication process for consumers. Backed by First Round Capital, New Atlantic Ventures, AOL Ventures and prominent angel investors, Solve Media is based in New York City and Philadelphia. www.solvemedia.com.

New York, NY – DoubleVerify, the pioneer and worldwide leader in online media verification, released findings from its 1H 2010 Trust Index. The report provides insight into compliance and brand safety in online advertising with the intentions of increasing trust and accountability in the market. Highlights from the Trust Index include: identification of the best-in-class networks in the market with regard to non-compliance, benchmarks for advertising delivery and types of non-compliance and an analysis of the overall industry performance. DoubleVerify analyzed hundreds of advertisers, thousands of verified campaigns and more than 150 billion advertising impressions between January and June 2010 to produce the bi-annual report, which can be downloaded at: http://www.doubleverify.com/trust-index-1h-2010/

To identify the top performers in the industry, DoubleVerify analyzed networks based on benchmarks of non-compliance, including: instances of ads served out of inclusion lists, in exclusion lists, alongside inappropriate content and ads served to international audiences. Companies determined top performers include (listed alphabetically): AOL’s Advertising.com, AudienceScience, Burst Media, FOX Audience Network, interclick, Microsoft Media Network, Tribal Fusion and ValueClick Media.

“In order for brand dollars to shift online, advertisers need to trust that their campaigns are running as intended and the Trust Index provides an overview of how the industry is doing against those expectations,” said Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify. “Our data shows that improvements are being made across the board to increase brand safety and trust. Verified campaigns especially showed vast improvement in non-compliance. Nevertheless, there’s still work to be done and we hope this data will provide benchmarks for advertising vendors to guide them toward these goals and move the industry forward.”

DoubleVerify took additional data into consideration when analyzing overall non-compliance of the online advertising industry, including: instances when multiple ads from the same advertiser were served, when ads were served alongside a competitor and when ads were served below the fold. According to the report, the most compliant advertising networks had an average of 2 percent incidents of non-compliance over the first six months of 2010. In comparison, the ten networks that struggled most saw an average of 37 percent incidents of non-compliance. Additionally, the most compliant platforms (DSPs, Ad Exchanges and Trading Desks) showed an average of 6 percent incidents of non-compliance – outperforming the lower tier of players by almost five times.

While each industry sector showed an effort to decrease non-compliance, all players were subject to fluctuations that illustrate the fact that even the best players face issues. The Trust Index details the overall average of non-compliance as well as the standard deviation of each group of industry players, showing how much variation there is from the “average”.  The standard deviation for the top performing advertising networks, for example, was 17 percent across campaigns. The standard deviation for the lowest performing ad networks was 28 percent.

DoubleVerify also analyzed how non-compliance on specific campaigns changed over time. Advertisers who worked with DoubleVerify to monitor, remediate and block non-compliant impressions witnessed a 67 percent decrease in inappropriate content and a 72 percent decrease in internationally targeted traffic.

Additional highlights around overall advertising delivery norms include:
• 44 percent of ads on verified campaigns were served below the fold
• 10 percent of advertising pages included multiple ads by the same advertiser
• 4 percent of ads in verified campaigns were shown alongside a competitor’s ads

For more information and to view the report in its entirety, visit http://www.doubleverify.com/trust-index-1h-2010/

Methodology
DoubleVerify used a robust set of data analysis tools to analyze online advertising campaign activity across more than 150 billion advertiser campaign impressions from January 1, 2010 through June 30, 2010. Types of non-compliance analyzed include instances of ads served out of inclusion lists, in exclusion lists, alongside inappropriate content, multiple ads from the same advertiser, ads alongside a competitor, below the fold ads and ads served to international audiences. The data in the analysis was carefully normalized to the best of our ability. Advertising delivery providers were categorized into 3 main categories: Advertising Networks, Platforms (includes DSPs, ad exchanges and trading desks) and Publishers. Video Networks and Video Publishers were not included in this analysis.

About DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify (www.doubleverify.com) is the worldwide leader in online advertising verification and the top choice of marketers, agencies, ad networks and publishers looking to ensure brand safety, campaign transparency and regulatory compliance. DoubleVerify verifies more than 35 billion advertising impressions per month for hundreds of leading Fortune 500 marketers. DoubleVerify is headquartered in New York City, with engineering offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors in DoubleVerify include Blumberg Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, First Round Capital and Genacast Ventures.

“Today is another important step in the turnaround of AOL,” said Tim Armstrong, AOL’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “AOL users will be getting a better search and search ads experience from the best search company in the world – Google. After nearly a decade-long partnership in search, we’re looking forward to expanding our global relationship to mobile search and YouTube. All aspects of our partnership will be improved by this deal.”

“We’re excited to deepen our partnership. This agreement combines Google’s expertise in search and advertising with AOL’s strength in online content,” said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Google. “It’s particularly exciting to see our relationship expand into video and mobile. These areas are now at the heart of users’ online experiences and at the core of both of our businesses.”

The partnership includes a broad range of features that will improve and expand the products and services offered to consumers.

Search Products: Google will provide AOL with additional features and enhancement to its leading Web search products that will improve the consumer search experience across AOL’s network of sites.
Advertising Products: Google will provide AOL with best-in-class ad formats, giving AOL consumers a better, more relevant ad experience.
Mobile Search: As AOL renews its focus on mobile apps and content, the companies will work together to expand the alliance to cover mobile search.
YouTube: AOL and YouTube have agreed to a content partnership that will bring AOL’s video content to YouTube.
Global Focus: The alliance is international in scope and will provide improved experiences to AOL’s worldwide audience.
About AOL Inc.

AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) is a leading global web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

TORONTO – AOL Inc. announced that Graham Moysey will join the company as General Manager, AOL Canada. Moysey will work with the Global Senior Executives and the Canadian leadership team to oversee the development and execution of the business strategy around AOL’s core objectives of content, advertising and local. He will report to Jeff Levick, President of AOL Global Advertising and Strategy, and will be based in AOL’s Toronto office.

“I am excited to join AOL and lead AOL Canada in continuing to deliver on the company’s mission to provide original, quality content to consumers,” said Graham Moysey, General Manager of AOL Canada. “At this time of rapid growth in the online content industry, we want to make sure we align to the US strategy while focusing on the wants and needs of our local Canadian audience and advertisers alike. I look forward to executing on these goals and representing the hard-working AOL Canada team on the Global Management Council.”

As General Manager, Moysey will be responsible for promoting the AOL brand and conducting a strategic review of the divisions in order to maximize the growth of the business. He will be focused on ensuring that the AOL brand is represented appropriately within the region while realizing the importance of locality.

Before joining AOL, Moysey served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media at Canwest Global Communications, Canada’s largest integrated media company, where he was responsible for all revenue, product and digital strategies.

Prior to Canwest, Moysey was appointed Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Bell Canada, where he played an instrumental role in building the Sympatico and MSN strategic alliance. Moysey currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada.

AOL Canada provides digital communications and content to Canadian consumers in the English and French languages. AOL Canada’s websites and proprietary marketing products provide effective solutions for advertisers to reach online consumers throughout Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere. AOL Advertising in Canada reaches almost 22 million unique visitors per month, a reach of over 88% of the market1. Additionally, the AOL Canada owned and operated sites reach almost 8.9 million unique visitors2.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

1 comScore Media Metrix July 2010 data

2 comScore Media Metrix July 2010 data

NEW YORK – AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) announced the launch of Patch’s 100th site, Morristown Patch (http://morristown.patch.com). AOL also announced that Patch plans to rapidly expand to more than 500 U.S. neighborhoods in 20 states by the end of 2010. Additionally, with over 500 journalists still to be hired, Patch expects to be the largest hirer of full-time journalists in the U.S. this year.

“Today’s launch of our 100th site is a significant milestone for us. We began with just three Patch communities in February 2009, and have since made incredible progress toward fulfilling our core mission of providing comprehensive information and trusted, professional news coverage to towns and communities,” said Warren Webster, President, Patch Media. “We believe Patch is a revolutionary and efficient approach to producing relevant, quality local journalism at scale, and we couldn’t be more excited about expanding into hundreds of new communities across America this year.”

Every Patch site is run by one professional local editor who, along with freelancers, provides quality original news and information to its community. As part of its expansion, Patch continues to hire experienced professional journalists to fill important new roles in the organization.

In addition to being a destination for original content produced by professional journalists, Patch is a platform for community members to comment on stories, share their opinions, post photos and announcements, and add events to the community calendar.

Patch sites are already up and running in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia. The 2010 expansion includes plans to extend Patch’s reach into more than a dozen new states including Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

Recent Patch hires

Patch has completed its hiring of senior editorial field management with four regionally based Editorial Directors. They report to Brian Farnham, Patch’s Editor-in-Chief.

Marcia Parker (San Ramon, California), Editorial Director of the West Coast Region, joins Patch from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as Assistant Dean for six years. She is the founding Editor-in-Chief, of Tri Valley Magazine, former Director of Programming at AOL Small Business, and has worked at Crain’s New York Business, United Press International and the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Tim Windsor (Baltimore, Maryland), Editorial Director of the South Region, joins Patch from Johns Hopkins University, where he was Director of Digital Strategy. He is the former Vice President and General Manager of Baltimore Sun Interactive.
Anthony Duignan-Cabrera (Colts Neck, New Jersey), Editorial Director of the Northeast Region, joins Patch from CNNgo.com, where he was Editorial Director, charged with developing and driving the content strategy of CNN’s travel/culture/entertainment portal for the Southeast Asian region. He previously worked at Imaginova, ABC News and People magazine.
Sherry Skalko (Chicago, Illinois), Editorial Director of the Midwest Region, joins Patch from the Online News Association, where she served in several capacities, including training, membership, and development, and as editor of Journalists.org. She previously worked as an editor and content strategist at Tribune Interactive, SunSentinel.com and ESPN.com.
Additionally, Patch has recently hired 52 Regional Editors across 13 states.

“Our editorial staff members share the outstanding qualities that define all of Patch’s professional journalists across the country – a passion for journalism, top-notch credentials, and a commitment to redefining local coverage in a shifting media landscape,” said Brian Farnham, Patch’s Editor-in-Chief. “We are delighted to welcome these new directors and regional editors, along with the hundreds of local editors who will be joining us across the country this year.”

“All news is essentially local, and the pace at which Patch has grown shows that the demand for meaningful community news and information is alive and well,” said Phil Meyer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a member of the Patch Editorial Advisory Board. “Patch’s strength lies in the hyper-relevant nature of the information it provides to users in the communities and the robustness of its journalism. Patch has made a demonstrable leap toward filling a distinct gap in news and information at the hyper-local level.”

Morristown, NJ: 100th Patch site

Morristown, NJ is steeped in history and is characterized as “the military capital of the American Revolution” because of its strategic role in the war for independence from Great Britain. It’s also where Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872) developed the telegraph. Today, the downtown shopping area and business district are centered around Morristown Green, a former market square from Morristown’s colonial days.

A “Patch 100” logo was created in celebration of the Morristown site launch and is reflected on all 100 Patch sites today. In honor of the milestone, an estimated 400 Patch employees across the country will participate in a volunteer day in the communities in which they live and work. Patch will also donate advertising space to charitable organizations in its local communities. All of this is part of Patch’s ongoing “Give 5” volunteer program.

Patch is also working with the Morristown Clean Communities Program to “Adopt a Spot.” Patch employees will be responsible for caring for this spot, a playground near the center of town, throughout the year. A number of Patch employees will be volunteering at the playground today.

About Patch

Patch is a local content and advertising platform. Patch Media Corporation currently operates 100 community-focused sites serving towns in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia. Patch is making an important investment in local journalism by placing professional journalists in each town it serves to encourage community participation and provide original, trusted coverage for each individual town. In addition to professional journalists producing original content, Patch is a platform for community members to comment on stories, share their opinions, post photos and announcements, and add events to the community calendar. For more information about Patch, go to www.patch.com.

The 100 sites include: CALIFORNIA: Agoura Hills, Albany, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Culver City, Danville-Alamo, Hermosa Beach, Lamorinda, Manhattan Beach, Mill Valley, Pleasanton, Redondo Beach, San Anselmo-Fairfax, San Rafael, San Ramon, Walnut Creek and West Hollywood; CONNECTICUT: Brookfield, Darien, Fairfield, Monroe, New Canaan, Newtown, Ridgefield, Southbury, Westport and Wilton; ILLINOIS: La Grange and Skokie; MARYLAND: College Park and Riverdale Park-University Park; MASSACHUSETTS: Arlington, Belmont, Brookline, Concord, Lexington, Marblehead, Melrose, Milton, Needham, Reading, Wellesley, Westwood and Winchester; NEW JERSEY: Basking Ridge, Bridgewater, Caldwells, Chatham, Cranford, Hoboken, Hopatcong, Livingston, Madison, Maplewood, Millburn-Short Hills, Montclair, Montville, Morristown, Ridgewood, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, South Orange, Springfield, Summit, West Orange, Westfield and Wyckoff; NEW YORK: Bayport-Blue Point, Bedford-Katonah, Bellmore, Bronxville-Eastchester, Chappaqua-Mount Kisco, Commack, Garden City, Glen Cove, Harrison, Hastings-Dobbs Ferry, Huntington, Larchmont-Mamaroneck, Massapequa, Merrick, New City, Nyack-Piermont, Patchogue, Port Chester, Port Washington, Rockville Centre, Rye, Sachem, Sayville, Scarsdale, Smithtown, Syosset, Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow, Three Village, West Islip and Yorktown; RHODE ISLAND: Middletown, Newport and Portsmouth; and VIRGINIA: Reston.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

“Courtney’s experience over the past 12 years working with some of the largest online properties provides a great foundation for him to shape the Adility publisher platform with a clear focus on monetization for our clients,” says Adility CEO and founder Thomas Cornelius. “He has been there, done it and knows exactly what is needed from Adility from a publishers’ perspective. Courtney is an amazing guy with a real diverse background from law to putting $120 million dollar deals together. He has this roll up your sleeves and get it done today attitude and that just fits right into the no-bs and fun culture of Adility.”

Courtney comes to Adility from Interactive One, where as SVP he was primarily responsible for originating, structuring and negotiating a wide variety of commercial transactions including alternative revenue agreements, publishing agreements, content acquisition, technology agreements, mergers & acquisitions and strategic affiliations. Since facilitating its launch in 2007, Courtney helped Interactive One become the leading digital platform for African-Americans, super-serving more than 7 million monthly users. Interactive One’s family of brands include Blackplanet.com, a pioneering social network, Newsone.com, Hellobeautiful.com, Theurbandaily.com and Elev8.com. Prior to joining Interactive One, Mr. Williams served in several senior executive roles at America Online, Inc. including VP, Business & Strategic Development, AOL Europe, and VP, Business Development, AOL Inc. While at AOL, Mr. Williams was responsible for structuring and negotiating cross-brand marketing agreements across the AOL Time Warner Inc. family of brands as well as leading AOL’s e-commerce initiatives in the Financial Services and Insurance categories.

“I am thrilled and delighted to be joining the founding team at Adility.com. With its first to market self service platform for small businesses and its ability to source local deals in more than 40 local markets across the country, Adility.com is poised to take a leading role in the local deals aggregation and group buying space,” says Williams. “As Chief Revenue Officer, I am looking forward to helping publishers fully capture and monetize the value of their customers by providing them with great local deal content and best in class service and solutions.”

About Adility:

Adility is a hyperlocal online distribution platform for local businesses and content publishers. Adility enables local businesses to create, manage and distribute daily deal coupons across a wide variety of daily deal sites, location based mobile applications, and targeted content sites. Adility gives SMB’s control over where, when and how deals are distributed through an efficient and feature rich small business portal.

Adility also enables web site publishers to take advantage of a white label daily deal technology and the thousands of deals supported by the Adility network. Adility’s publisher product, Dealwerk, imports relevant deals from all over the United States and enables publishers and mobile application developers to sell and profit from those deals in a highly effective form of transactional advertising.

Adility was founded in 2009 by Thomas Cornelius and has offices in Atlanta, Mountain View and New York City.

Google recently announced it was granted patent 7,668,832 for “Determining and/or using location information in an ad system“. This patent contains eight (8) claims, including two (2) independent claims.

This report provides a patent analysis including a detailed assessment of the two independent claims. This report also evaluates the patents applicability and impact on Google competitors as well as the location infrastructure companies and the wireless carriers.

Key Benefits:

Coverage areas for the Google patent
Companies effected and impacts
Audience:

Google and its partners
Google competitors
Wireless carriers
Location infrastructure companies
Keywords: Google, Google LBS, Google location advertising, Google Location-based Advertising, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Wireless Carriers, Mobile Marketing Association, MMA

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary Google Patent Claims Analysis Impact on Competitors Yahoo Microsoft Location Infrastructure Companies Wireless Carriers Summary and Recommendations

Companies Mentioned:

AOL
Google
Intrado
Microsoft
Openwave
TCS
True Position
Qualcomm
Yahoo
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/45044d/google_in_lbs_loc

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) is unveiling a new smartphone portal, m.aol.com, that takes the best of AOL and optimizes it for any mobile device. In addition, AOL is increasing its focus on the Android operating system with the launch of the AOL app for Android, giving users a simple and convenient way to access dozens of AOL’s most popular properties, and the DailyFinance app for Android. AOL’s renewed focus on mobile apps and content comes on the heels of the arrival of David Temkin, the company’s new Vice President of Mobile.

AOL’s smartphone portal works on any mobile browser and is designed to make it as convenient as possible for users to access their favorite AOL content on any mobile device. For smartphones supporting HTML5, including iPhone and Android devices, the portal provides a touch-driven interface that allows users to easily scroll through articles and content; location-based services that deliver relevant and local weather, movie, traffic and other updates; an application directory to easily find your favorite mobile apps as well as support for video content.

In addition to the new smartphone portal, AOL has released two new free applications for Android-based devices. The AOL app provides a simple way to read content from some of AOL’s most popular sites like PopEater, Engadget and FanHouse. Users can also access sites such as MapQuest and AOL Mail as well as hit the AOL app list to find links to all available AOL apps for Android. Second, AOL’s popular DailyFinance app is now available on Android devices. The DailyFinance app allows users to receive real-time stock quotes and financial news and allows users to track up to 25 different portfolios. It also boasts sophisticated interactive charts and graphs that are easily customized.

“Android has emerged as a top-tier smartphone platform,” said Temkin. “So, while we’ll continue to focus on development for multiple mobile platforms, this time, we are releasing an early version of an app on Android first – the AOL app. We’re also releasing DailyFinance, one of the most popular apps on other platforms, on Android.” Temkin pointed to AOL’s growing library of smartphone-optimized sites and apps as the beginning of a new focus. “Today’s smartphones offer a completely different experience from the previous generation of WAP-based sites, and AOL will be taking full advantage of the possibilities these new devices can offer, both on the mobile Web and in apps.”

Additional information about the smartphone portal, the AOL app, the DailyFinance app and other AOL mobile offerings can be found at a brand-new site at mobile.aol.com.

About AOL

AOL Inc.(NYSE:AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

NEW YORK, NY – Magnetic (www.magnetic.is), the leading search data marketplace, today announced the addition of Mike Peralta, who joins the company as Chief Operations Officer. Peralta was formerly the senior vice president of North American Advertiser Services at Platform A at AOL and he will now leverage 18 years of experience to drive adoption of search re-targeting among large advertisers for Magnetic. Peralta will build out Magnetic’s client-focused teams, establishing a presence in major markets to increase advertising spend with large scale marketers.

“Agencies have become much more comfortable combining search data with display media buying,” said Josh Shatkin-Margolis, CEO of Magnetic. “This has driven high advertiser adoption because of the ease with which companies in the online ad ecosystem can use our data to enhance campaigns. We expect that by adding Mike Peralta to our team, his track record of outstanding performance will catapult Magnetic forward as the de facto advertising partner in search re-targeting.”

“In my experience, search data has always shown the highest efficacy in driving campaign performance,” Peralta said. “I’m excited to be part of a company that’s paving the way toward creating more effective display advertising campaigns.”

Previously, Peralta served as Chief Revenue Officer at Tumri, where he managed sales and marketing functions ranging from customer experience to business development and global expansion efforts. Additionally, before his role at Platform A, Peralta led United Kingdom and Western European operations for Advertising.com and also worked with the US advertising teams during his tenure. Peralta received a bachelor of sciences degree in environmental and civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and completed graduate work in management and public policy at New York University.

About Magnetic
Magnetic™ makes search re-targeting easy. The Magnetic data marketplace empowers advertisers and publishers to use search data as the key indicator of intent and re-target campaigns to the most relevant audience online. With more than 270 million search profiles, Magnetic significantly lifts the value of media and improves campaign performance. Magnetic’s advanced technology provides the largest payment to search data providers. It is the search data partner of choice for more than 90 leading agencies, ad networks and DSPs. Magnetic is headquartered in New York, funded by investors including Charles River Ventures, Ron Conway, NYC Investment Fund, Roger Ehrenberg of IA Capital, Founder Collective and NYC Seed. For more information visit: www.magnetic.is.

NEW YORK – Ziff Davis, recently acquired by digital media executive Vivek Shah and investor Great Hill Partners, announced an addition to the company’s senior management team that will allow the publisher to improve and enhance the ability of its advertising partners to reach users who are actively in-market to purchase consumer electronics and technology products.

“At Ziff Davis, we produce trusted content to assist users in making important purchasing decisions and emerging technology allows us to reach those users in compelling new ways,” Shah said. “Bennett is well known in the online media world for the creative application of technology and data to successfully match consumers, marketers and web properties.”

Zucker has held senior management posts at such successful advertising technology platforms as Tacoda (acquired by AOL), Right Media (acquired by Yahoo!) and Acerno (acquired by Akamai). Most recently, Zucker has been an independent consultant to technology companies that enhance targeting opportunities across the Web. Some of his clients included Netezza, MediaMath and PubMatic.

“I think we have the opportunity at Ziff Davis to rewrite the industry standards of success in reaching in-market buyers of technology,” Zucker said. “We will focus on tapping and channeling an incredibly rich datastream of purchase intent, while observing the strictest privacy standards. I look forward to working closely with Vivek to create unmatched opportunities for advertisers as well as grow our editorial reach.”

Zucker will officially become Ziff Davis Senior Vice President & General Manager of Data Solutions on July 6. He will report directly to the CEO.

About Ziff Davis

Ziff Davis is a leading digital media company specializing in the technology market, reaching over 7 million highly engaged in-market buyers and influencers every month. Ziff Davis sites, which feature trusted and comprehensive evaluations of the newest and hottest products, include PCMag.com, ExtremeTech, GearLog, GoodCleanTech, DL.tv, AppScout, CrankyGeeks, Smart Device Central and TechSaver.com.

NEW YORK – In order to meet growing demand from its Fortune 500 client base, online platform targeting leader [x+1] announced the hiring of Christopher Black as Vice President, Client Solutions; Lewis Steckler as Director of Client Strategy; and the promotion of Ben Riley to Senior Manager, Client Solutions.

Black comes to [x+1] with over 20 years of media experience. Most recently he was at Sears Media Holdings, where he was Divisional Vice President, Media Services. In that role, Black provided leadership in the development of mass media and online media strategies for Sears retails stores and brands such as Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard, overseeing a $760 million media budget. During his tenure, he increased gross margin contribution by $110 million through asset allocation shifts derived from marketing mix modeling insights. Black has a BA in both economics and political philosophy from Syracuse University. He will be based in [x+1]’s Chicago office.

Most recently, Steckler was Director of Strategy and Business Development at social media targeting firm Media6Degrees. While there, Steckler identified and negotiated data partnerships with publishers, social media application providers and ad networks to power Media6Degrees’ social targeting platform for display advertising. In 2010, he closed seven deals that increased the company’s U.S. social graph connections by 11% and user frequency by 18%. Steckler has an MBA from the Columbia Business School and a BA in psychology from Stanford University.

Riley, who was promoted from Media Sales Executive, was previously an Account Executive with Advertising.com, working on publisher acquisition and network development. He also held sales positions at AOL and its Platform A business, and served for 10 years in the U.S. Air Force.

“As our business continues to grow, we need to continually expand our capacity to deliver top-flight services in digital media optimization to an ever-expanding client base,” said David Skinner, Vice President, Client Solutions and Operations for [x+1]. “Lewis, Christopher and Ben all bring a wealth of experience in working with major marketers, agencies, data providers and publishers, and track records of delivering measurable results. We look forward to making their experience available to our clients through the Client Solutions Group.”

About [x+1]

[x+1], the online targeting platform leader, provides the power of relevant communications by maximizing the return on marketing investment (ROI) of websites and digital media using its patented targeting technology. Providing the first end-to-end digital solution for advertisers and agencies, it optimizes engagement rates and lift conversion in both media and on websites. Its predictive marketing solutions enable automated, real-time decision making and personalization so the right advertisement and content is delivered to the right person at the right time at the right price. Top companies in financial services, telecommunications, online services and travel have significantly increased the performance of their digital marketing using the solutions and services of [x+1]. The company is headquartered in New York City. For more information, please visit www.xplusone.com. You can follow us on Twitter @xplusone.

NEW YORK – Interpublic Group’s (NYSE:IPG) Mediabrands and AOL (NYSE:AOL) announced, at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, a partnership to create sophisticated online and technology solutions for both consumers and retail marketers. The goal of the partnership is to provide shoppers with an effective online approach to make more informed store and brand choices, plus provide retail marketers with advanced insights allowing them to present optimal product selections to customers in customized formats. To activate this partnership, Mediabrands and AOL plan to align collective resources and announce a Retail Advisory Board in the coming weeks. IPG is one of the largest buyers of retail advertising in the U.S. and AOL is known for its engaged audience of more than 100 million users.

“Mediabrands partners with top retail and CPG brands, and we are committed to investing in resources to develop innovative retail solutions beyond what currently exist in the marketplace today,” said Bant Breen, President, Worldwide Digital Communications, Initiative. “AOL has a substantial audience of engaged shoppers that can provide critical insights into what consumers need to enrich their online retail experience. Those same insights can also help marketers create a consistent consumer experience with the local retail store. By partnering with AOL, we can leverage our collective assets in retail, consumer insights and hyper-local to re-invent the category.”

There are two initial phases of the partnership:

PHASE 1: ADVANCED SHOPPING INFLUENCE STUDY

A detailed analysis of the pre-shopping experience organized through the lens of the shopper completed by the IPG Lab, the research and development division of Mediabrands. The Lab’s proprietary Neural Shopping Matrix methodology reveals the factors that influence shoppers’ decision making and helps determine which retail advertising elements yield the greatest impact. Through a recent study, the Lab discovered that the modern consumer conducts pre-shopping research for nearly all products and not solely on highly considered or high priced purchases.

Two initial findings of the new customized retail research:

Shoppers seek comparative pricing and feature comparison options, coupon integration, store locations, and more from their pre-shopping research.
Shoppers are interested in an online product that blends the convenience of having all the deals, sales and special offers in one place, like the traditional insert, combined with the ability to cross-reference multiple sources.
“Consumers’ needs evolve on a daily basis, and through the explosion of technology, their shopping habits have been radically altered. In order to help retailers navigate these dynamics, we must look at that constant shift through the lens of the shopper,” said John Ross, President of the Lab. “Increasingly, retailers want to replicate the sustained effects of newspaper advertising through other mediums. Together with AOL, we want to identify important trends and help retail marketers improve return on their collective retail marketing efforts.”

Responding to these findings, Erin Clift, Senior Vice President of Global Sales at AOL said, “Clearly, shoppers’ needs have evolved faster than the advertising technology. By utilizing our collective resources, we can re-invent retail pre-shopping online, and work to create a more efficient and effective solution for retailers. The new model for retail advertising will combine the best of digital and the best of traditional media into an online retail experience, addressing consumer wants such as comparative pricing, coupon integration, feature comparisons and more.”

PHASE 2: NEW ONLINE MARKETING INTERFACE

AOL and Mediabrands will leverage research insights to create a new online pre-shopping program that will be tested with key retailers throughout Q3 and Q4 2010. The program will include five leading retail partners, and success will be measured against the creation of user training, in-store sales lift and the effectiveness of new advertising formats. Geomentum, the hyper-local division of Mediabrands, will help track sales results at the store level, and AOL will leverage its media properties to execute a consumer-driven experience throughout the summer.

The companies plan to expand the partnership to create new solutions in Hyper-Local Marketing by leveraging Mediabrands’ Geomentum, a $2 billion local advertising agency, and AOL’s hyper-local platform.

About Interpublic

Interpublic is one of the world’s leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies. Major global brands include Draftfcb, FutureBrand, GolinHarris International, Initiative, Jack Morton Worldwide, Lowe Worldwide, Magna, McCann Erickson, Momentum, MRM Worldwide, Octagon, Universal McCann and Weber Shandwick. Leading domestic brands include Campbell-Ewald; Campbell Mithun; Carmichael Lynch; Deutsch, a Lowe & Partners Company; Hill Holliday; Mullen; The Martin Agency and R/GA. For more information, please visit www.interpublic.com.

About Mediabrands

Created by IPG to manage all of its global media-related assets, Mediabrands employs 6,500 communications specialists operating in 90 countries and manages $32B in global media billings. It is a proven entity in helping clients maximize the impact of their marketing investment to deliver explosive business results. Mediabrands enhances the communications offering and performance across its network of media agencies including Initiative, UM, MAGNA and a roster of specialty service groups. Mediabrands is part of Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), one of the world’s leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies. For more information, please visit www.mediabrands.com

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) is a leading global web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

Thousands of AOL Employees and Alumni Join Company Leadership and Founders for Anniversary Celebration and Building Dedication Ceremony

DULLES, Va. – AOL, an iconic brand, turns 25 years old celebrating its pioneering role in Internet history. The company, responsible for bringing tens of millions of people online, made “You’ve Got Mail” one of the most ubiquitous phrases around the world. More than a thousand AOL employees and alumni gathered with company founders and executive leadership to celebrate AOL’s official 25th anniversary and recommit the company to its founding values of helping people in everyday life and its rich heritage of innovation and creativity. The event, held at AOL’s Dulles, Virginia campus, was marked by a ceremony in which three buildings were dedicated to AOL co-founders Steve Case and Jim Kimsey, and AOL Vice Chairman Emeritus Ted Leonsis.

“It’s an honor to be back on the AOL campus and witness first-hand the abiding commitment to the company’s core mission and founding values. AOL’s staying power is a testament to its everyday relevance in American lives. That’s what keeps AOL thriving and allows it to evolve as it embarks on what promises to be another exciting 25 years marked by unprecedented innovation and creativity,” remarked AOL Co-Founder Steve Case.

“Today’s event is not just meant to honor that rich history, but celebrate the next 25 years of helping people through innovation and creativity. We’re certainly proud of our past, but we’re even more excited about what we have in store for customers as we move forward into the future,” said AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong.

Today’s event is part of a week-long celebration of commemoration activities that kicked off on May 20 with a global employee volunteer day across 18 cities. The activities will conclude later this week with the launch of the Project on Creativity in partnership with legendary American artist Chuck Close. This project will span the company’s 25th anniversary year, yielding iconic portraits by Close of some of the world’s leading innovators and creative visionaries.

AOL was founded on May 24, 1985, and now reaches a domestic U.S. audience of more than 100 million unique visitors per month and more than 250 million unique visitors globally, according to comScore Unified March 2010 data. From its origins as an access provider, AOL has grown into a leading global web services company and is focused on leveraging its core strengths and scale in quality content, premium advertising and consumer applications to position itself for the next phase of growth of the Internet.

Landmarks in AOL’s First 25 Years

Here are key dates in the history of AOL:

1985: AOL is born (then called Quantum Computer Services)
1989: Members hear “Welcome! You’ve got mail!” for the first time
1989: Instant Messenger launches
1991: Quantum is renamed America Online, Inc.
1992: AOL goes public on NASDAQ (symbol AMER)
1993: AOL surpasses 500,000 members
1993: Disk mailings make AOL a household name
1994: First advertisers appear on AOL
1995: AOL reaches 1 million members, AOL.com is launched
1995: AOL Germany is launched as AOL’s first international venture
1996: AOL moves to the NYSE under the symbol “AOL” and reaches 5 million members
1996: Running Man debuts on Instant Messenger
1996: AOL Canada, UK and France launch
1998: AOL acquires CompuServe
1998: The movie “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is released
1998: AOL’s Buddy List Network enters the Smithsonian’s permanent collection
1999: AOL acquires Netscape and Moviefone
2000: AOL acquires MapQuest
2001: AOL and Time Warner merge
2002: Five million members download AOL 8.0 software in two weeks
2003: AOL blocks 2 billion spam e-mail messages in one day
2004: AOL acquires Advertising.com
2005: AOL become the first Internet company to win an Emmy for online programming with its coverage of the global Live8 concerts
2005: Revitalized AOL.com launches, providing Web users free access to much of AOL’s content
2006: America Online, Inc. officially changes its name to AOL LLC
2006: AOL begins offering its e-mail, software, content and most of its services free to Web users
2007: AOL launches more than a dozen new targeted sites and relaunches a dozen existing sites
2008: AOL launches 14 downloadable apps for the iPhone, including AIM for iPhone, one of the most popular free apps
2009: AOL Running Man inducted into the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame
2009: AOL begins trading on the NYSE after separating from Time Warner
2010: Lifestream available as standalone product for desktop, as well as iPhone and Android

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) is a leading global web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

“Raj brings valuable leadership and strategic industry experience, which will be important as we develop our content-rich vertical categories within our owned and operated sites,” said Bruce Crair, Local.com president and COO. “We are excited to have him join the Local.com team and look forward to his contributions to the company and our future growth.”

Mohan will report to Crair and be responsible for developing all Local.com owned and operated web properties, the flagship of which is www.local.com. One of the company’s stated goals is to drive more organic traffic to Local.com and future sites via content-rich verticals that appeal to the company’s target demographic and enable consumers to find and interact with local businesses more efficiently.

“I am pleased to be joining the Local.com team,” said Mohan. “It is an exciting time for the company and I look forward to leveraging my knowledge and experience to develop and grow Local.com’s owned and operated business.”

Mohan brings more than 13 years of digital media experience and was most recently director, web search and local, for AOL Europe. Based in London, he was responsible for revenue, product development and delivery, marketing, design, and forecasting and reporting of the company’s European Web and local search businesses, which served over 10 million consumers each month.

Mohan previously held various strategic roles at AOL, including director, strategy, standards and content acquisition, with responsibility for operations strategy, content procurement, and standards across AOL’s primary European markets. Prior to AOL, Mohan served as principal consultant for Hughes Network Systems, where he provided strategic advisory and program management services for Hughes’ clients worldwide. Mohan holds a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University, a master’s degree in information systems from George Mason University and a bachelor’s of technology degree in computer engineering from Govt. Model Engineering College and the Cochin University of Science and Technology.

About Local.com®

Local.com Corporation (NASDAQ:LOCM) owns and operates a leading local search site and network in the United States. The company uses patented and proprietary technologies to provide over 20 million consumers each month with relevant search results for local businesses, products and services on Local.com and over 800 partner sites. Over 50,000 small business customers use Local.com products and services to reach consumers using a variety of subscription, performance and display advertising and website products. To advertise, or for more information visit: www.local.com.

Conversational Marketing Summit 2010
SAN FRANCISCO – Federated Media Publishing (FM), a next-generation media and publishing company, announced the timing, theme and initial list of speakers for the upcoming Conversational Marketing Summit, June 7-8, 2010 in New York, NY.

Dubbed “Marketing in Real-Time,” this installment of the CM Summit will bring together industry-leading brand marketers, advertising agencies, platforms, media companies, service providers and data providers for two days of in-depth discussion around the promise, realities and challenges created by our always-on, always-updated social media environment, otherwise known as the “real-time Web.”

What: CM Summit 2010: Marketing in Real-Time
When: June 7-8, 2010
Where: New York, NY
Register: http://cmsummit.com/register

“2009 was the year the Web went real-time,” said John Battelle, CEO of Federated Media and host of the CM Summit. “That’s a profound shift for the entire media and marketing ecosystem. We want to unpack that and provide some actionable intelligence for everyone involved – on the marketing side, the media side or otherwise.”

Speakers at this year’s CM Summit include:

Tim Armstrong – CEO, AOL
Henry Blodget – EIC, The Business Insider
Joanne Bradford – CRO, Demand Media
Deanna Brown – President and COO, Federated Media
Chris Bruzzo – VP, Brand, Content & Online, Starbucks Coffee Company
Dick Costolo – COO, Twitter
Dennis Crowley – Co-founder, foursquare
Seth Goldstein – Entrepreneur, Stickybits
Omar Hamoui – Founder & CEO, AdMob
Tariq Hassan – VP Worldwide Marketing, Imaging & Printing Group, HP
John Hayes – CMO, American Express
Curt Hecht – CEO, Vivaki
Bradley Horowitz – VP, Product Marketing, Google
Tony Hsieh – CEO, Zappos
Arianna Huffington – Co-founder & EIC, Huffington Post
Ann Lewnes – SVP of Corporate Marketing and Communications, Adobe
Bob Lord – CEO, Razorfish
Joel Lunenfeld – CEO, Moxie Interactive
Mary Meeker – Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
Mike Murphy – VP, Global Sales, Facebook
Rob Norman – CEO Group M North America, IAB
Adam Ostrow – EIC, Mashable
Amy Powell – SVP, Interactive Marketing Paramount Pictures
Avner Ronen – CEO, boxee
Chris Schembri – VP Media Services, AT&T
Hilary Schneider – Executive Vice President, Yahoo!
Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. – Chairman, The New York Times Company
Omar Tawakol – CEO, BlueKai
Tuan Tran – VP Imaging & Printing Group, HP
Ken Wirt – VP, Consumer Marketing, Cisco
Susan Wojcicki – VP, Product Management, Google
Dennis Woodside – VP, Americas Operations, Google

Testimonials from Past CM Summits:

“Some of the best content I have been exposed to at a conference summit in years! Well done!” – Bill Matthews, VP Business Development, TACODA

“You guys did a great job pulling some really smart people together – great learning experience for me.” – David Veneski, VP Global Media, Intel

“Kudos for an excellent CM Summit. I met new, interesting people, saw many people I hadn’t in a while, and enjoyed the fascinating presentations and panels over the course of the conference. Well done.” – Adrienne Skinner, VP Partner Sales, Comcast Interactive Media

Thank you to our sponsors:

Premier Sponsor: Adobe
Diamond Sponsors: American Express, HP, Facebook
Platinum Sponsors: Blend Interactive, Intel, Microsoft, Mobile Roadie, Starcom MediaVest, Google, Yahoo!
Gold Sponsors: Dell, Sprint, Verizon, Demand Media

About Federated Media

Federated Media (FM) is a next generation media and publishing company that connects the highest-quality conversational content with leading brand marketers. FM represents more than 100 of the world’s most respected websites, blogs, and social networking applications. With a unique combination of quality, safety and scale, FM leverages deep, long-term relationships with brand marketers and advertising agencies to create cost effective and meaningful media and marketing executions. Learn more at www.federatedmedia.net.

NEW YORK – AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) launched a beta version of Advertising.com Ad Desk, a new display advertising platform that provides advertisers and agencies direct access to the premium audiences, technologies and insights of AOL Advertising. With Advertising.com Ad Desk, advertising agencies and advertisers are now able to directly manage campaigns and get a deeper level of access to AOL properties and the Advertising.com network. In its beta release, Advertising.com Ad Desk is targeted at medium-sized advertising agencies and advertisers.

Built for advertisers by advertisers, AOL Advertising has been working with clients over the past few months to develop the product and features that will allow Advertising.com Ad Desk to serve a broader and more scaled group of customers.

Advertising.com Ad Desk benefits:

- Direct access and control to media planning tools and analytics;
- Segmentation of AOL properties and the Advertising.com network based on interest, audience and/or geography;
- A tool built for advertising agencies that allows them to take more control and get more transparency across AOL’s ad platforms which reaches 184M unique visitors according to March 2010 comScore Media Metrix data.

“Transparency and control are the future of online advertising,” said Jeff Levick, Executive Vice President, AOL Advertising. “Providing clients with a greater level of personalized control over digital marketing campaigns is paramount as organizations continue to look for innovative ways to promote their brands and evaluate their ROI when planning campaigns. We believe Advertising.com Ad Desk is our client’s on-ramp to display advertising as it provides increased self-management and access to proprietary AOL information that has previously never been available.”

Today’s version of Advertising.com Ad Desk will be complementary to the high-touch sales needs of our larger partners. Over time, Advertising.com Ad Desk will evolve to serve the more sophisticated media planning and analytics needs of larger agencies and advertisers.

“This is a beta version of Advertising.com Ad Desk,” added Levick. “We are working directly with larger agencies and advertisers now to define the future updates of this tool to ensure it meets their needs and requirements as well.”

“We were part of the pilot launch of Advertising.com Ad Desk, and have been working with the AOL Advertising team to provide feedback on features that will help us better develop and implement the most successful and relevant campaigns on behalf of our clients,” said Chris Hansen, Vice President of Performance Marketing at 360i. “Working with AOL to test the functionality of this tool ensures we remain on the cutting edge of the digital media space, and we’re excited to partner with them to advance the solutions available in the industry for delivering high-performing and efficient advertising programs.”

Because this is a limited external beta, please visit www.addesk.advertising.com for more information.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

IRVINE, Calif. – WebVisible (www.webvisible.com) announced that online advertising and search veteran Jon Rosen has joined as Chief Revenue Officer, to lead the company’s continued expansion of its revenue channels and partnerships worldwide. Rosen will be responsible for direct and channel sales, and marketing for the company.

Rosen has more than 25 years’ experience driving revenue, business development and marketing teams for leading public and private companies. He was an early pioneer in search marketing when, in 1998, he was the founding president of the leading SEM firm, iProspect. The agency was the first to develop sophisticated, successful search advertising campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. Rosen took the company from inception to become the recognized leader in large-scale search marketing services.

For the past 11 years, Rosen has focused on interactive media, managing Internet advertising and search for companies ranging from successful startups to global media companies including the search division at America Online (NYSE: AOL).

Prior to WebVisible, Rosen was the executive director for strategy and business development at AOL Search, which included AOL local search. He architected several high-value acquisitions and partnerships and developed America Online’s SEM and SEO division. Rosen also served as a corporate officer for Autobytel (Nasdaq: ABTL) – one of the largest automotive search advertisers and online properties – where he led business development, advertising sales and operations, partner acquisition and search marketing. At Spot Runner, a well-known local advertising innovator, Rosen ran the company’s online, search and local business.

Rosen also has served in search advisory and committee roles for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Doubleclick, Market Hardware (acquired by IAC), search software company SearchForce, Vacanza (Purchased by Mountain Reservations) and video search engine MeFeedia.

“WebVisible is experiencing tremendous growth, and we’ve brought on several executives in the last year that have proven scale and innovation resources,” said Kirsten Mangers, WebVisible CEO. “Jon has been at the forefront of search and online marketing since the early days, and he brings to WebVisible a wealth of expertise and market insight. He has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to chart a course and reach the destination, and we’re excited about his vision for how he can help WebVisible continue to grow and enhance the services we provide to local advertisers.”

“This is a very special group of people here at WebVisible – a team of professionals who truly care about helping local businesses achieve success,” said Rosen. “The devotion and years of innovation have led to an undisputed leadership in bringing search and online advertising to the local market and the channel partners that serve them. We’re in the midst of an exciting time for both WebVisible and local interactive advertising.”

About WebVisible, Inc.

WebVisible makes it easy for small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) to be found online, where and how customers are looking. The leading provider of local online marketing products and services since 2001, WebVisible was among the first to pioneer the use of search as a reliable, measurable avenue to connect directly with a buyer’s needs. The company has helped more than 100,000 SMB customers from more than 4,000 industries in 14 countries to create innovative and accountable Internet advertising campaigns. SMBs partner with WebVisible directly and through its many partner companies, including Intuit, AT&T, British Telecom and The New York Times Company. WebVisible is based in Irvine, Calif. For more information, visit www.webvisible.com or call 949-255-9677.

StudioNow Will Continue to Develop Existing Business

NEW YORK – AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) announced that it has acquired StudioNow Inc., the premier online platform for quality video creation and distribution. The acquisition will allow AOL to integrate a fully functional video creation platform into its newly-launched content management system, Seed.com. StudioNow will also continue to develop its existing business as a provider of online video creation, management, storage and syndication services to commercial companies.

The acquisition of StudioNow closed on January 22 and was valued at $36.5 million in cash and stock with a portion of the cash paid out over multiple years.

“The successful combination of a talented team, innovative technology, seasoned/professional video creators and strong client service has rapidly established StudioNow as a leader in online video creation and syndication. Those strengths bring AOL significant strategic benefits and we’re delighted that StudioNow is joining the AOL family,” said Tim Armstrong, AOL CEO and Chairman. “Premium original video creation is a fundamental part of AOL’s strategy to offer consumers world-class, stimulating content at scale and the integration of StudioNow into Seed.com will enable us to increase our video content/offerings significantly.”

Founded in January 2007 with headquarters in Nashville, TN, StudioNow partners with blue chip, mid-sized and local companies to create, store, and manage content and syndicate it to online video channels and portals. The company connects clients with its more than 3,000 freelance filmmakers, editors, animators, voice talent and writers/producers to create quality, professional video at an affordable price. In 2009, StudioNow was selected for inclusion on the AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies List, which honors private, emerging technology companies that create new business opportunities in high-growth markets.

“StudioNow and AOL share a passionate commitment to high-quality content, services and technology and that makes us a natural fit for this new partnership,” said StudioNow’s co-founder and CEO David Mason. “This new chapter for StudioNow presents a tremendous opportunity for our growing professional creative network to reach new audiences, diversify their assignments and increase their income as the number of projects coming from the numerous AOL properties will create a surge in video assignments.”

AOL’s newly launched content management system, Seed.com, assigns, buys and distributes work for all of AOL’s properties in order to meet consumer demand for relevant content in areas including entertainment, news and sports, lifestyle, technology, money and finance, among others. Seed.com allows talented professional contributors to be seen, heard and read on AOL’s more than 80 premium branded and niche content sites. Seed.com will harness StudioNow’s technology platform and national network of more than 3,000 creative professionals to develop and produce quality, professional video at the request of AOL editors in a way that is rapid, efficient and scalable.

AOL also expects to leverage StudioNow’s technology and resources to complement the ongoing work of its in-house studios, both for AOL productions, which creates original video programming such as AOL Sessions, Unscripted, Moviefone Minute and the Engadget Show, and for its branded advertising and content partners.

“The distributed production capabilities offered by StudioNow, combined with our in-house production studio and video resources, help position AOL to capitalize even more fully on the projected growth of video as it establishes itself as a key form of brand advertising in the digital space,” said Armstrong.

eMarketer projects that U.S. online video advertising spending will increase from $734 million in 2008 to $5.2 billion by 2014. This growth will far outpace any other online format, with a compounded annual growth rate of approximately 39% between 2008 and 2014.1

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

1 eMarketer: US Advertising Spending (December 2009)

NEW YORK – AOL announced it has completed its financial leadership team as it prepares to separate from Time Warner Inc. and become a publicly traded company. Mike Suffredini has joined AOL as Vice President and Treasurer, with Eoin Ryan joining as Vice President of Investor Relations. Don Neff, currently a Senior Vice President of Finance at AOL, will take on the role of Senior Vice President of Internal Audit. AOL also announced that Ned Brody is rejoining the company as Executive Vice President of Paid Services.

“Mike, Eoin and Don all bring great strengths and experience to their roles, and I’m delighted to have them on our team as we move toward becoming an independent, public company,” said Artie Minson, AOL’s Chief Financial Officer. “I’m also thrilled that Ned is returning to AOL to lead our paid services efforts. Ned has a great history with AOL, and I am confident he will contribute significantly to AOL’s future growth.”

Suffredini joins AOL from Discovery Communications, Inc., where he was Senior Vice President and Treasurer, responsible for capital markets, treasury operations, financial risk management and insurance. He was previously Vice President, Treasury, at Purdue Pharma, L.P., and before that was Treasurer at Sony Corporation of America. Suffredini has also held treasury positions at PepsiCo, Inc. and Revlon, Inc.

Ryan was Vice President, Investor Relations, at IAC, which operates more than 50 leading and diversified Internet businesses. Ryan guided IAC’s Investor Relations department through five high-profile spin-offs and oversaw all financial communications. He was previously Director, Capital Markets Intelligence, at Thomson Financial. Ryan officially joins AOL later this month.

Neff joined AOL in 1996 and most recently served as Senior Vice President, Finance, overseeing AOL’s advertising operations. Neff previously headed corporate financial planning and analysis, as well as finance for the company’s Digital Services Group. He also spent two years as Vice President of Finance and Controller for AOL’s international operations, overseeing joint venture operations in Europe, Latin America and Asia, and prior to that served in the company’s accounting policy group. Neff began his career in the audit practice of Ernst and Young.

Brody was founder and CEO of ARPUInc., which focuses on enabling a superior advertising and ecommerce experience for consumers, advertisers and publishers. Prior to founding ARPUInc., he worked at AOL as Senior Vice President of AOL’s Premium Services unit, where he was responsible for developing and launching new services and building a new API-driven billing system. Earlier in his career, Brody was CFO of LookSmart.

Brody and Ryan will report to Minson. Neff will report to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors and administratively to Minson. Suffredini will report to AOL’s Senior Vice President and Controller, Doug Horne.

On May 28, 2009, Time Warner Inc. announced that its Board of Directors had authorized management to proceed with plans for the complete legal and structural separation of AOL from Time Warner. Following the proposed transaction, AOL would be an independent, publicly traded company. Time Warner has indicated that it aims to complete the proposed transaction around the end of this year.

About AOL

AOL is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings. AOL LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

ad:tech New York 2009, booth No. 2044

NEW YORK – AdSide™, the premium pay-per-click ad network will be presenting new developments in contextual targeting at ad:tech New York next month.

ad:tech will host the Content Revenue Strategies Conference & Expo dedicated to contextual advertising. AdSide executives will be presenting at these sold-out sessions:

Panel: The State of Content Advertising

Thursday, November 5, 9:00 – 9:50 am, Advertising Track.

Oded Itzhak, chief executive officer of AdSide, will co-host a roundtable discussion on the future of content and contextual marketing. Oded and fellow experts from ContextWeb/ADSDAQ Exchange, AdKnowledge, Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo will share their insights on the state of the industry now, and in the future. The session will closely examine Contextual, Content and Category-based targeting – a new model that is rapidly gaining traction as a media buying standard on premium content sites.

Panel: Targeting Tips for Content Campaigns

Thursday, November 5, 10:00 – 10:50 am, Advertising Track.

The success of any contextual advertising campaign is directly dependant on the ability to properly target ads to the right audience. AdSide’s vice president of sales and marketing, Yael Yekutiel, will be one of the experts on a panel discussing advancements in ad targeting technologies and the best practices they support, exploring content and category-based targeting, behavioral-targeting models and more. DraftFCB will host the panel, and will be joined by RJ Palmer Media Services, Google, ScienceOps, Peer39, and AdSide.

About Category Targeting:

Category-based targeting advances contextual and placement-targeting models into a highly efficient process. It allows advertisers to easily extend their reach within chosen demographic groups, beyond what is accessible through traditional contextual or placement targeting.

Live Content Targeting demos:

A live presentation of AdSide’s advanced content and category-based targeting capabilities will be provided at the AdSide booth No. 2044 on the ad:tech New York exhibition floor, November 4-5.

About AdSide

AdSide (www.adside.com) is a premium pay-per-click ad network, serving tier-1 content publishers, advertisers and media agencies. We offer a better, simpler platform that delivers highly-targeted text ads within a controlled environment of quality content sites. AdSide is owned and operated by DOCLIX, a provider of advanced performance advertising solutions. DOCLIX is a member of the IAB and the Click Quality Council. We are headquartered in New York City. For more information contact us at info@adside.com.

More:

AdSide’s patent-pending Two-Step Click™ model ensures advertisers pay only for twice-qualified clicks. The network partners solely with advertisers and publishers that have been pre-screened for quality. Advertisers benefit from a unique combination of twice qualified leads, premium sources of traffic, flexible targeting, and ad placement control – at optimal price points. Publishers are able to uphold advertiser quality and leverage a powerful yield optimizing technology.

“I’m grateful to have the opportunity to come to AOL as it moves toward becoming an independent company,” said Seth. “The company already has an incredible combination of scale and a suite of great advertising products and technology, and I’m looking forward to working with AOL’s talented team to build on this strong foundation.”

Seth will report directly to Levick from AOL’s expanding Mountain View offices, joining Brad Garlinghouse, who was recently appointed to lead AOL’s Communications efforts and lead the company’s West Coast AOL Ventures efforts.

Prior to coming to AOL, Seth was with Cooliris, where he was responsible for revenue generation and business development. At Google, Seth was responsible for building advertising products, exploring all monetization opportunities, and defining business models for YouTube. Before that, Seth was the Product Lead for Web Search at Google. Prior to Google, Seth was with eBay, where he was responsible for building and managing eBay’s successful APIs & Platform. He has also worked for the Gap, where he launched their online stores, and co-founded two startups. Seth started his career at NASA Langley Research Center, where he built flight simulators and avionics equipment. Seth holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Kanpur, India, a Masters in Computer Applications from the University of Pune, India, and a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Miami.

About AOL
AOL is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings. AOL LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. with employees in 18 countries across the globe.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to join AOL at this pivotal moment in its history,” Garlinghouse said. “Tim has set out a clear strategy and vision for where he is taking this company as it becomes independent again. I’m looking forward to working with him and the rest of the team to realize that vision.”

Armstrong, who joined AOL in April, identified Communications as one of the five key areas of strategic focus for AOL after an extensive 100-day review of the company’s business. Other focus areas include Content, Advertising, Local & Mapping and AOL Ventures.

Garlinghouse spent nearly six years at Yahoo! where he most recently served as SVP of Communications and Communities. Prior to that he served as SVP of Communications, Communities and Front Doors, which included the Yahoo! home page. He came to Yahoo in 2003 as VP, Communication Products. During his time there, Yahoo! Mail went from No. 3 to leading all competitors by a wide margin, and the company’s instant messaging service rose to become the leader in that market as well. Garlinghouse also oversaw the company’s Flickr photo-sharing service and Yahoo! Groups.

Prior to Yahoo!, Garlinghouse was CEO of Dialpad.com Inc., responsible for all aspects of the company’s operations, finance, sales and marketing. He was also General Partner at @Ventures, Category Manager of Media Development for the @Home Network, Inc., and Manager at SBC Communications.

Garlinghouse, 38, received his BA in economics from the University of Kansas and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

About AOL

AOL is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings. AOL LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. with employees in 18 countries across the globe.

“ADTECH’s modern and flexible platform brings increased efficiency and scalability to our business,” said Phil Connell, Director of Operations and Corporate Strategy for Olive Media. “Offered in combination with a knowledgeable Canadian-based support group, ADTECH demonstrated a genuine desire to partner with Olive in our continued effort to provide best-in-class service to advertisers and publishers in the Canadian market.”

ADTECH is committed to providing ad serving technology to the Canadian market with dedicated staff headquartered in Toronto and partnerships with leading online properties including The Weather Network, MétéoMédia and now Olive Media.

About ADTECH

ADTECH is a leading international supplier of digital marketing solutions and AOL Advertising’s ad serving platform. The company’s flagship product is an integrated ad serving platform. It enables networks, web publishers, advertisers and agencies to manage, serve and evaluate virtually any kind of online advertising campaign including display, video and mobile formats. ADTECH’s ad serving solution differentiates itself via its scalable, enterprise-class infrastructure and user-friendly tools, providing users with increased efficiency, reliability and ROI for their online advertising business. ADTECH customers include major players like Sky, Hi-Media, Gannett and Fox Networks. ADTECH AG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL LLC.

About AOL

AOL is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings. AOL LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. with employees in 18 countries across the globe.

About Olive Media: www.olivemedia.ca

Olive Media is a leader in the online advertising market in Canada and has the ability to reach over 14 million unique Canadian visitors monthly* on a variety of top-tier sites. Olive Media offers Canadian media buyers a one-stop shop for highly-engaged online Canadian audiences across premium Canadian and U.S. content channels, including NYTimes.com, People.com, readersdigest.ca, CNET.com, ArtistDirect.com, thestar.com, toronto.com, cyberpresse.ca and tetesaclaques.tv.

Olive Brand Response, an Olive Media product, offers advertisers the opportunity to run performance-related campaigns on over 2000 Canadian and U.S. websites. Olive Media is a partnership between Torstar Digital, a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. and a company owned by the same group as Gesca Ltd, a newspaper and websites publishing subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada.

*Custom Olive Media report, based on comScore Media Metrix Audience Duplication report (July 2009)

NEW YORK – TRAFFIQ’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Kahn, announced that Tom Iler, the former SVP and Chief Information Officer for AOL’s Platform A, has agreed to join TRAFFIQ’s Board of Advisors.

“Tom is a fantastic addition to TRAFFIQ’s advisory board,” said Kahn. “His deep understanding of the space and the technology that drives this industry is unmatched. Tom’s insight and experience in managing large and complex technology products is exactly the kind of knowledge base that we are looking for as TRAFFIQ continues to grow, and its underlying technology becomes more sophisticated. Tom will be a critical sounding board on all the features in our product pipeline, including better media targeting tools, time-saving workflow improvements, and services that make use of the valuable market data we collect.”

The industry’s only horizontal, direct-to-publisher display media management and buying platform, TRAFFIQ helps agencies leverage and increase their buying power, and improves publishers’ selling strength. This comprehensive system is engineered to incorporate all components of the media planning, buying and selling process, including site search and media planning, smart inventory packaging tools, automated RFP distribution, negotiation management and order execution, campaign optimization, and publisher reconciliation/invoicing.

“I am very excited about working with the TRAFFIQ team,” said Iler. “I believe their solution is truly unique, and fills an important gap in the online advertising marketplace. As advertising alternatives continue to consolidate and converge, systems like TRAFFIQ’s will be needed to help advertisers manage an increasingly complex buying process.”

Other members of TRAFFIQ’s advisory board include Chris Schroeder, CEO of the HealthCentral Network; David J. Londoner, General Partner of the North River Company; Tom Wilde, CEO of Everyzing and Mark Wright of Blue Chip Venture Partners.

About Tom Iler:

Tom most recently served as SVP & Chief Information Officer Platform-A overseeing the technology division for the industry’s largest digital advertising platform. Platform-A offers the most comprehensive suite of online marketing solutions powered by the Web’s best advertising technologies. As CIO, Tom was responsible for the company’s 340 technology employees located in eight cities across the US and Europe. In this role, he was responsible for providing leadership and oversight for the development, maintenance and operation of the Company’s information systems. Prior to AOL, Tom was the CIO of Advertising.com. As chief information officer for Advertising.com, Tom led the company’s technology team and was responsible for maintaining, developing and operating the company’s award-winning information systems. Platform-A and Advertising.com are a division of AOL/Time Warner. Prior to Advertising.com, Tom served as CIO for Baltimore County Government, overseeing the technology and systems which supported and served over 6,000 employees and 750,000 citizens.

About TRAFFIQ

TRAFFIQ (www.traffiq.com) is an efficient, open and value-driven marketplace, directly connecting buyers and sellers of online media through an end-to-end self-service platform. It facilitates the buying and selling of premium display media with ease and efficiency, always providing maximum return on investment. Marketplace members include thousands of leading advertisers, ad agencies and publishers. TRAFFIQ is a member of the IAB advisory board, helping educate interactive advertisers and publishers on best practices for industry growth. TRAFFIQ is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Vienna, VA. For more information, contact us at info@traffiq.com.

According to comScore Video Metrix

RESTON, VA – comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released March 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that U.S. Internet users viewed 14.5 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 11 percent versus February.

Google Sites Accounts for 41 Percent of U.S. Online Video Market

In March, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with 5.9 billion videos viewed (40.9 percent online video market share), with YouTube.com accounting for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 437 million videos (3.0 percent), followed by Hulu with 380 million (2.6 percent) and Yahoo! Sites with 335 million (2.3 percent). March represented the first time Hulu has cracked the top three in the ranking of videos viewed.

_____________________________________________________________________
Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Videos Viewed

March 2009

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore Video Metrix

Property                   Videos          Share (%) of
(000)             Videos

Total Internet           14,468,345           100.0

Google Sites              5,919,530            40.9

Fox Interactive Media       437,098             3.0

Hulu                        380,102             2.6

Yahoo! Sites                334,724             2.3

Microsoft Sites             288,239             2.0

Viacom Digital              277,753             1.9

CBS Interactive             191,686             1.3

Turner Network              167,323             1.2

Disney Online               125,248             0.9

AOL LLC                     105,237             0.7
_____________________________________________________________________

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks.  Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

Google Sites Eclipses 100 Million Viewer Threshold Once Again

Nearly 150 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 97 videos per viewer in March. Google Sites eclipsed the 100 million online video viewer threshold once again, after first achieving the milestone in December 2008. Fox Interactive ranked second with 55.2 million viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites (42.5 million) and Hulu (41.6 million).

_____________________________________________________________________
Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Unique Viewers

March 2009

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore Video Metrix

Property                   Unique Viewers       Average Videos
(000)              per Viewer

Total Internet                149,410                96.8

Google Sites                  100,382                59.0

Fox Interactive Media          55,156                 7.9

Yahoo! Sites                   42,524                 7.9

Hulu                           41,564                 9.1

CBS Interactive                35,400                 5.4

Microsoft Sites                32,194                 9.0

Viacom Digital                 27,168                10.2

AOL LLC                        22,349                 4.7

Turner Network                 19,644                 8.5

Disney Online                  12,965                 9.7
_____________________________________________________________________

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks.  Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

Other notable findings from March 2009 include:
77.8 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
The average online video viewer watched 327 minutes of video, or nearly 5.5 hours.
99.7 million viewers watched 5.9 billion videos on YouTube.com (59.1 videos per viewer).
47.4 million viewers watched 349 million videos on MySpace.com (7.4 videos per viewer).
Hulu accounted for 2.6 percent of videos viewed, but 4.9 percent of all minutes spent watching online video.
The duration of the average online video was 3.4 minutes.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Sprint (NYSE:S), purveyors of America’s most dependable 3G network*, launched a series of customized online ads showcasing the breadth of its Now Network™. These innovative spots feature interactive homepage takeovers tailored to the specific audiences of marquee sites, beginning with Yahoo! today and expanding to AOL, ESPN.com, WSJ.com, People.com, CNET, and YouTube throughout the following week. The campaign also includes custom placements on MySpace, Pandora, Gawker, FoxNews.com and Reuters.com, all of which feature ad banners containing feeds of readership-tailored data from the Sprint Now Network site.

Through a string of online placements, Internet surfers will be encouraged to engage with advertisements that entertain, educate and connect people to what is going on in the world now. For example, YouTube’s homepage takeover will feature a user-generated clock where users can film themselves for three seconds while holding up a pre-assigned number, serving as a digit on the Now Clock. Other notable widgets include a Twitter word search that lets you create your own flock of Twitter birds, Now e-cards that self-destruct after one second, and tiny construction workers chirping on their Nextel Direct Connect phones with a counter showing how many people are using those phones right now.

“These online media partnerships reach audiences with relevant and entertaining information while providing an interactive experience that is unattainable with traditional advertising,” said Mike Goff, vice president of national advertising, Sprint. “In today’s world, you can get virtually anything you want in real time, which is what life on the Sprint Now Network is all about.”

The campaign creative is focused on three themes:

* Entertainment: Music and social networking sites along with search portals will feature data about spray tans, movie tickets, and even the amount of plastic surgeries happening right now, as well as the number of videos uploaded on the Now Network.
* Business: Financial and business news sites will include a Wall Street ticker that displays whether the past minute has been bullish or bearish, facts about the amount of money being spent online, and how many people are checking stocks using their Sprint phones. There is also a visual representation of the cost of living that compares cities – for example, New York to Topeka, Kan.
* Sports: For sports sites, featured data will update visitors on the weather or the cost of a hot dog and a soda at Bristol Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, Heinz Field and Lucas Oil Stadium, and facts about the number of people checking stats on NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile.

Additional campaign elements include added features and functionality to the interactive Sprint Now Network site and an expansive out-of-home initiative rolling out this summer.

The Sprint Now Network is more than just a physical network; it features America’s most dependable 3G network,* the largest push-to-talk community, and the only national carrier to offer wireless 4G services and award-winning phones and devices, including the most-anticipated wireless product of the year – the Palm Pre. Additionally, last April, Sprint revolutionized data plans with an all-inclusive price plan, Simply Everything®, which eliminated the fear of overages. Also, Sprint’s Ready Now in-store customer service shows people one on one how to get the most out of their wireless experience.

ABOUT SPRINT NEXTEL

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving more than 49 million customers at the end of the fourth quarter 2008; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

* “Dependable” is based on independent, third-party drive tests for 3G data connection success, session reliability and signal strength for the top 50 most populous U.S. markets from Jan. 2008 to Feb. 2009. Not all services are available on 3G, and coverage may default to a separate network when 3G is unavailable.

NEW YORK – AOL’s MediaGlow publishing division1, http://www.mediaglow.com, expanded its year over year consumer reach in March with page views climbing 13% to reach 6.4 billion and total minutes increasing 9% to 4.3 billion, according to March 2009 comScore Media Metrix data.

In addition, the AOL.com site2, http://www.aol.com, which in 2008 opened to third-party content, e-mail, social networks and more, grew 7% in page views and 26% in total minutes year over year.

AOL announced the formation of MediaGlow in January, centralizing AOL’s publishing efforts with the goal of expanding AOL’s efforts to reach targeted audiences and further AOL’s global reach. MediaGlow announced plans to launch 30 targeted sites in 2009.

“MediaGlow sites once again showed strong consumer reach and engagement in March by tapping into current events and creating valuable experiences for users and advertisers. By building and growing new brands over the past 2 years in combination with our strong established brands, we are providing entertaining, innovative and interactive content across various topics and passion points to tap into the accelerating fragmentation of the Web,” said Bill Wilson, President, MediaGlow. “Our users have come to expect unique experiences that deliver the best-in-breed content and our advertisers know that we create premium and innovative programs to reach large scale and targeted audiences and demographics.”

MediaGlow has been launching new sites as it targets niche audiences and focuses on passion points. In March, AOL Music, http://music.aol.com, launched NoiseCreep, http://www.noisecreep.com, a site focused on heavy metal and hard rock. This is the newest addition to the AOL Music portfolio, which includes Spinner, http://www.spinner.com, for tastemaker rock fans, TheBoot, http://www.theboot.com, for country fans, TheBoomBox, http://www.theboombox.com, for hip hop fans, each ranked number 1 in their respective categories1, and TourTracker, http://www.tourtracker.com, for artist and venue touring information. AOL Music, http://music.aol.com, is the Web’s most visited online music destination, with more than 20 million monthly unique visitors, according to March 2009 comScore Media Metrix data.

AOL Money & Finance, http://money.aol.com, reached more than 14 million unique visitors, had an 11% year over year increase in total minutes and increased 12% year over year in page views. The AOL Money & Finance network also includes the business and stock blog, BloggingStocks, http://bloggingstocks.com, and the personal finance blog WalletPop, http://walletpop.com, which are ranked 8 and 12, respectively, in the Technorati Top 100 Most Popular Blogs, ranked by authority.

AOL’s MediaGlow also saw strong growth in its sites targeted at the key demographics of Men 18-34 and Women 18-54 such as Asylum3 and AOL Living in March. Asylum, http://www.asylum.com, saw unique visitors grow 18%, page views grow 60% and total minutes grow 9%, all year over year, according to March 2009 comScore Media Metrix data. AOL Living, http://living,aol.com, which includes StyleList, http://www.stylelist.com, ParentDish, http://www.parentdish.com, AOL Health, http://aolhealth.com, AOL Food, http://www.food.aol.com, AOL Home, http://home.aol.com, and Lemondrop, http://www.lemondrop.com, among others, is one of the top ranked women’s sites. Year over year, AOL Living page views increased 40% and total minutes grew 35%, according to March 2009 comScore Media Metrix data.

In addition to growth within MediaGlow, AOL experienced growth in its product offerings. AOL’s leading video search engine, Truveo.com, http://truveo.com, saw year over year increases of 71% in unique visitors, 52% in total minutes and 36% in pages views, according to March 2009 comScore Media Metrix data.

Many AOL sites continue to appear in the top five in their categories for unique visitors, according to March 2009 comScore Media Metrix data:

* #1 Music: Music, http://music.aol.com
* #2 Television: Television, http://television.aol.com
* #2 Maps: MapQuest, http://mapquest.com
* #2 IM: AIM, http://www.aim.com
* #2 Business- News/Research: Money & Finance, http://money.aol.com
* #2 Entertainment-News: TMZ, http://tmz.com
* #3 Home: AOL Home, http://home.aol.com
* #3 E-mail: AOL E-mail, http://webmail.aol.com
* #3 Movies: Moviefone.com, http://moviefone.com
* #3 Food: Food, http://food.aol.com
* #3 Lifestyles: AOL Living, http://living.aol.com
* #4 Technology: AOL Tech, http://switched.com and http://engadget.com
* #4 Real Estate: Real Estate, http://realestate.aol.com
* #4 News: News, http://news.aol.com
* #4 Radio: Radio, http://aolradio.com
* #4 Health: Health, http://aolhealth.com
* #4 Greetings: Greetings, http://greetings.aol.com
* #5 Sports: FanHouse, http://sports.aol.com
* #5 Search: Search Network, http://search.aol.com
* #5 Social Networking: Bebo, http://www.bebo.com
* #5 Local: AOL Local, http://cityguide.aol.com
* #5 Weather: AOL Weather, http://weather.aol.com

The following MediaGlow sites also rank in the top five in their AOL custom-built categories for unique visitors, according to March 2009 comScore Media Metrix data:

* #1 African American: BlackVoices, http://blackvoices.com
* #1 Country Music Site: TheBoot, http://theboot.com
* #1 Hip-Hop Music: TheBoomBox, http://theboombox.com
* #1 Men: Asylum, http://asylum.com
* #1 Style: StyleList, http://stylelist.com
* #1 Women’s Blogs: Lemondrop, http://www.lemondrop.com
* #1 Rock Music Site: Spinner, http://www.spinner.com
* #2 Horoscopes: Horoscopes, http://horoscopes.aol.com
* #2 Latino: Latino, http://latino.aol.com
* #3 Video Search: Truveo, http://www.truveo.com
* #4 Web Culture: Urlesque, http://www.urlesque.com/
* #4 Homepages: AOL Homepages, http://www.aol.com

In addition, MediaGlow brands are increasingly seen as leading authorities on the Web, with 27 MediaGlow sites listed as Technorati’s Top 100 sites ranked by authority for the last six months:

* #2 Engadget, http://www.engadget.com
* #8 BloggingStocks, http://www.bloggingstocks.com
* #9 That’s Fit, http://www.thatsfit.com
* #9 Gadling, http://www.gadling.com
* #11 TMZ, http://tmz.com
* #12 ParentDish, http://www.parentdish.com
* #12 WalletPop, http://www.walletpop.com
* #13 Cinematical, http://www.cinematical.com
* #18 JoyStiq, http://www.joystiq.com
* #21 TV Squad, http://www.tvsquad.com
* #22 TUAW, http://www.tuaw.com
* #23 DownloadSquad, http://www.downloadsquad.com
* #24 SlashFood, http://www.slashfood.com
* #25 Lemondrop, http://www.lemondrop.com
* #25 WOW Insider, http://www.wowinsider.com
* #26 AutoBlog, http://www.autoblog.com
* #27 StyleList, http://stylelist.com
* #27 Switched, http://www.switched.com
* #33 Luxist, http://www.luxist.com
* #38 Massively, http://www.massively.com
* #28 Asylum, http://asylum.com
* #51 BlackVoices, http://blackvoices.com/blogs
* #52 Spinner, http://www.spinner.com
* #56 Engadget Mobile, http://www.engadgetmobile.com
* #68 Engadget HD, http://www.engadgethd.com
* #74 AutoBlog Green, http://www.autobloggreen.com
* #76 PopEater, http://www.popeater.com

1. MediaGlow is based on a custom list based on AOL’s Content, Homepages and Commerce/ Marketplace according to comScore Media Metrix

2. This represents the AOL.com Homepages

3. AOL Custom Built List based on comScore MMX March 2009 data

About MediaGlow

MediaGlow, AOL’s publishing business unit formed in early 2009, centralizes AOL’s programming efforts, including AOL.com, AOL’s content verticals and commerce and marketplace channels, dozens of niche sites, and state-of-the-art studios in Los Angeles and New York City. In all, MediaGlow operates more than 70 sites and attracts more than 67 million unique visitors each month, according to comScore Media Metrix. It plans to launch more than 30 new sites in 2009. MediaGlow, along with AOL’s advertising business, Platform-A, and its social media business, People Networks, represent the three core businesses for AOL.

About AOL

AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the U.S., and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC and its subsidiaries have operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.

NEW YORK – AOL’s MediaGlow publishing division, http://www.mediaglow.com, continued its upward growth pattern by achieving record traffic in February 1, with page views climbing 21% year over year to reach 5.7 billion and total minutes increasing 22% to 4.2 billion, according to February 2009 comScore Media Metrix data. Additionally, according to a recent Nielsen Online report, AOL users spent more than three hours and forty-five minutes on its sites or applications in February 2009, which is the most of any online company.

In addition, AOL.com, http://www.aol.com, which opened to third-party content, e-mail, social networks and more in the fall of 2008, grew 5% in page views, 6% in unique visitors and 32% in total minutes year over year.

AOL announced the formation of MediaGlow in January, centralizing AOL’s publishing sites with the goal of expanding AOL’s efforts to reach targeted audiences and further AOL’s global reach. MediaGlow announced plans to launch 30 targeted sites in 2009.

“MediaGlow continues to grow audience reach and engagement by leaning into the fragmentation of the Web and creating valuable brands that attract new and larger audiences across numerous valuable demographics,” said Bill Wilson, President, MediaGlow. “Our brands are focused on creating original and innovative content in areas that have strong and loyal followings and target consumer passion points. This helps our advertising partners reach a highly engaged and receptive audience across a wide range of brand offerings.”

MediaGlow has been launching new sites as it targets niche audiences and focuses on passion points. In February, AOL Latino, http://www.aollatino.com, followed the changes made by AOL.com and opened its portal to third-party content, e-mail aggregation, social networks, RSS and more. AOL Latino also launched a relationship, dating and lifestyle site, Intimos, http://www.intimos.com, to deliver the latest news in love and sex targeting Hispanic men and women ages 18-44. AOL Latino saw page views climb 88%, unique visitors grow 14% and total minutes increase 57% year over year, according to February 2009 comScore Media Metrix data. In early March, AOL Latino launched TecnoPadres, http://www.tecnopadres.com, a Spanish-language resource for parents who want to learn, understand and discuss technology as it relates to their children and their online safety.

AOL News also had a record month, reaching its largest audience ever with over 30.7 million unique visitors2 as well as a 48% increase in page views, 19% increase in total minutes and 18% increase in unique visitors, all year over year, according to February 2009 comScore Media Metrix data. The increase comes just after a huge month stemming from the presidential inauguration.

AOL Music, http://www.music.aol.com, is the Web’s most visited online music destination, with more than 22.2 million monthly unique visitors, marking a 7% increase year over year, according to February comScore Media Metrix data. AOL Music includes Spinner, http://www.spinner.com, for tastemaker rock fans, TheBoot, http://www.theboot.com, for country fans, TheBoomBox, http://www.theboombox.com, for hip hop fans and TourTracker, http://www.tourtracker.com, for artist and venue touring information. In March, AOL Music unveiled a new site, NoiseCreep, http://noisecreep.com, dedicated exclusively to heavy metal and hard rock.

Many AOL sites continue to appear in the top five in their categories for unique visitors, according to February 2009 comScore Media Metrix data:

* #1 Music: Music, http://music.aol.com
* #2 Television: Television, http://television.aol.com
* #2 Maps: MapQuest, http://mapquest.com
* #2 IM: AIM, http://www.aim.com
* #2 Business- News/Research: Money & Finance, http://money.aol.com
* #2 Home: AOL Home, http://home.aol.com
* #2 Entertainment-News: TMZ, http://tmz.com
* #2 Email: AOL Email, http://webmail.aol.com
* #3 Technology: AOL Tech, http://switched.com and http://engadget.com
* #3 Food: Food, http://food.aol.com
* #3 Real Estate: Real Estate, http://realestate.aol.com
* #3 Lifestyles: AOL Living, http://living.aol.com
* #3 News: News, http://news.aol.com
* #4 Movies: Moviefone.com, http://moviefone.com
* #4 Radio: Radio, http://aolradio.com
* #4 Health: Health, http://aolhealth.com
* #4 Autos: AOL Autos, http://autos.aol.com
* #4 Sports: AOL Sports, http://sports.aol.com
* #4 Greetings: Greetings, http://greetings.aol.com
* #5 Search: Search Network, http://search.aol.com
* #5 Local: AOL Local, http://cityguide.aol.com
* #5 Weather: AOL Weather, http://weather.aol.com

The following MediaGlow sites also rank in the top five in their AOL custom-built categories for unique visitors, according to February 2009 comScore Media Metrix data:

* #1 African American: BlackVoices, http://blackvoices.com
* #1 Country Music Site: TheBoot, http://theboot.com
* #1 Hip-Hop Music: The BoomBox, http://theboombox.com
* #1 Men: Asylum, http://asylum.com
* #1 Style: StyleList, http://stylelist.com
* #1 Women’s Blogs: Lemondrop, http://www.lemondrop.com
* #1 Rock Music Site: Spinner, http://www.spinner.com
* #2 Horoscopes: Horoscopes, http://horoscopes.aol.com
* #2 Latino: Latino, http://latino.aol.com
* #4 Web Culture: Urlesque, http://www.urlesque.com
* #4 Homepages: AOL Homepages, http://www.aol.com

In addition, MediaGlow brands are increasingly seen as leading authorities on the Web, with 26 MediaGlow sites listed as Technorati’s Top 100 sites ranked by authority for the last six months:

* #2 Engadget, http://www.engadget.com
* #7 BloggingStocks, http://www.bloggingstocks.com
* #9 That’s Fit, http://www.thatsfit.com
* #11Gadling, http://www.gadling.com
* #12 ParentDish, http://www.parentdish.com
* #13 TMZ, http://tmz.com
* #13 WalletPop, http://www.walletpop.com
* #16 Cinematical, http://www.cinematical.com
* #19 JoyStiq, http://www.joystiq.com
* #21 TV Squad, http://www.tvsquad.com
* #22 TUAW, http://www.tuaw.com
* #24 DownloadSquad, http://www.downloadsquad.com
* #25 SlashFood, http://www.slashfood.com
* #25 WOW Insider, http://www.wowinsider.com
* #28 AutoBlog, http://www.autoblog.com
* #30 Lemondrop, http://www.lemondrop.com
* #30 StyleList, http://stylelist.com
* #30 Switched, http://www.switched.com
* #37 Luxist, http://www.luxist.com
* #37 Massively, http://www.massively.com
* #41 Asylum, http://asylum.com
* #55 BlackVoices, http://blackvoices.com/blogs
* #56 Spinner, http://www.spinner.com
* #57 Engadget Mobile, http://www.engadgetmobile.com
* #70 Engadget HD, http://www.engadgethd.com
* #75 AutoBlog Green, http://www.autobloggreen.com
* #80 PopEater, http://www.popeater.com

1 Record growth is based on comScore Media Metrix data from February 2007 to February 2009.

2 All-time high in unique visitors for AOL News is based on comScore Media Metrix data from January 2007 to February 2009.

About MediaGlow

MediaGlow, AOL’s publishing business unit formed in early 2009, centralizes AOL’s programming efforts, including AOL.com, AOL’s content verticals and commerce and marketplace channels, dozens of niche sites, and state-of-the-art studios in Los Angeles and New York City. In all, MediaGlow operates more than 70 sites and attracts more than 70 million unique visitors each month, according to comScore Media Metrix. It plans to launch more than 30 new sites in 2009. MediaGlow, along with AOL’s advertising business, Platform-A, and its social media business, People Networks, represent the three core businesses for AOL.

About AOL

AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the U.S., and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC and its subsidiaries have operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.

ADTECH Head Dirk Freytag Promoted to Platform-A Senior Vice President

NEW YORK – AOL’s Platform-A, the leading advertising platform in the U.S. with a 91% reach across the Internet*, announced that it will now offer advertisers the full-service benefits of ADTECH’s ad serving system for delivering brand messages to their customers. The company previously utilized DoubleClick and has now replaced those systems with ADTECH’s technology, which lets Platform-A deliver ad campaigns across AOL’s MediaGlow properties.

“The ad serving switch from DoubleClick to ADTECH is a major milestone for Platform-A and our advertising partners. Acquiring ADTECH was a smart, strategic move that saves the company millions of dollars each year and allows us to more effectively serve display, video, and mobile campaigns across the MediaGlow properties and our third-party networks,” said Greg Coleman, President of Platform-A. “In January, Platform-A reached more than 174 million unique visitors*, and now that we’ve switched our ad serving to ADTECH, we’re in a stronger position to help advertisers reach those consumers more efficiently and build brands that perform online.”

“Bringing our ad serving technology in-house was one of the most complex technological challenges we’ve undertaken, and now that our project is complete, our systems can deliver ad campaigns faster than our former DoubleClick solution,” said Freytag. “Even in a turbulent economy, ADTECH’s business continues to grow, which is a testament to the brand value that ADTECH brings to online advertisers. ADTECH is committed to being a business partner for our customers. We don’t deliver a technology – we deliver solutions that ultimately help drive revenue for digital advertisers.”

In conjunction with today’s announcement, Platform-A also announced that Freytag has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Platform-A, in addition to his role as CEO of ADTECH. Since taking the position of CEO in 2005, Freytag has overseen the growth of ADTECH’s business in Europe and the United States. He joined ADTECH in 2000 as VP of Corporate Communications and in two years rose to become Chief Operating Officer. AOL acquired ADTECH in May 2007 with the strategic goal of leveraging its flagship product, the Helios IQ ad serving platform, to enable web publishers to manage, serve, and evaluate virtually any kind of digital advertising campaign.

Platform A was established by integrating AOL’s advertising business, Advertising.com, ADTECH, Quigo, TACODA and others to provide marketers with an efficient, effective means to leverage display, video, mobile, contextual, affiliate and search marketing solutions at scale. The mission of Platform-A is to enable marketers to reach their targeted audiences at scale through delivery of highly engaging and effective advertising for maximum value and results.

* January 2009 comScore Media Metrix

About Platform-A

Platform-A, AOL’s advertising business, reaching 91%* of the U.S. Internet audience, is the industry’s largest digital advertising platform. Platform-A offers the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions, powered by the Web’s best advertising technologies. Platform-A includes AOL’s leading media properties – AOL.com, AIM, MapQuest, and more – and Advertising.com’s third-party networks. Platform-A also includes TACODA’s audience insights and behavioral targeting; Quigo, a site- and content-targeting solution; ADTECH, an international digital ad serving business; Third Screen Media, a mobile ad serving network; and buy.at, an affiliate marketing solution. Platform-A currently has operations in the United States, nine countries across Europe, including Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and Japan through a joint venture with Mitsui. Learn more at http://www.platform-a.com.

February 2009 U.S. Core Search Rankings

Google Sites led the U.S. core search market in February with 63.3 percent of the searches conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites (20.6 percent), Microsoft Sites (8.2 percent), Ask Network (4.1 percent) and AOL LLC (3.9 percent).

—————————————————————————–

comScore Core Search Report*

February 2009 vs. January 2009

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore qSearch 2.0

Share of Searches (%)

Core Search Entity      Jan-09         Feb-09       Point Change Feb-09 vs. Jan-09

Total Core Search       100.0          100.0                    N/A

Google Sites             63.0          63.3                     0.3

Yahoo! Sites             21.0          20.6                    -0.4

Microsoft Sites           8.5           8.2                    -0.3

Ask Network               3.7           4.1                     0.4

AOL LLC                   3.9           3.9                     0.0

—————————————————————————–

* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

Americans conducted 13.1 billion searches at the core search engines, down 3 percent from January. Google Sites handled 8.3 billion core searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.7 billion and Microsoft Sites with 1.1 billion.

—————————————————————————–

comScore Core Search Report*

February 2009 vs. January 2009

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore qSearch 2.0

Search Queries (MM)

Jan-09        Feb-09      Percent Change Feb-09 vs. Jan-09

Total Core Search    13,496        13,104                -3%

Google Sites          8,497         8,293                -2%

Yahoo! Sites         2,836          2,696                -5%

Microsoft Sites      1,146          1,073                -6%

Ask Network            497            536                 8%

AOL LLC                520            507                -3%

—————————————————————————–

* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

February 2009 U.S. Expanded Search Rankings

In the comScore February 2009 analysis of the top properties where search activity is observed, Google Sites led with 11.3 billion searches, down 4 percent versus January. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 2.8 billion searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (1.1 billion) and AOL LLC (761 million).

View chart with U.S. Expanded Search Rankings at: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2750

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo

- Google’s Head of North American Sales Moves to AOL

Tim Armstrong, Google’s now former head of sales for North America, and the developer behind Google’s AdSense and AdWords advertising products, is heading to AOL. As Brand Republic puts it, the move is caused by the “managerial shake-up” in Google. Armstrong will serve as chief executive at AOL and will be the driving force behind AOL’s presence in the online advertising arena.

- Razorfish Launches scatter|gather Blog

The new blog from Razorfish “covers the intersection of pop culture, consumer behavior & digital content”. Contributors are all practicing Content Strategists: Adam Gottlieb, Bob Maynard, Dawn Bovasso, Doug Bolin, Jared Keleher, Ruth Kaufman, Robert Stribley, Rachel Lovinger, Michael Barnwell, Matt Geraghty, Mary S. Butler, Lynn Leitte

TORONTO – AOL announced the launch of Platform-A in Canada, offering advertisers access to one of the largest online advertising networks with the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions and the Web’s best ad technologies. With this launch, Platform-A clients in Canada (http://www.platform-a.ca) now have a single point of contact to purchase and manage activity across Platform-A’s multiple digital marketing channels, improving the strategic impact of online campaigns.

Platform-A Canada aligns AOL’s existing Canadian advertising operations including: Advertising.com, one of Canada’s leading ad networks; and the AOL Canada media network, which includes AOL-owned properties and a number of third-party sites such as Canadian Driver, a leading online automotive magazine. This combination positions Platform-A’s ad network as the leader in Canada with an audience of 22.5 million unique visitors per month, reaching more than 93% of the online audience in Canada.*

“Today’s launch enables advertisers to leverage the strong Canadian presence established by the AOL Canada properties and popular niche sites, such as Engadget and TMZ.com from AOL’s MediaGlow publishing unit, which reach more than 10 million Canadians monthly,* in order to reach a highly engaged audience of online consumers,” said James Prudhomme, Senior Director, Platform-A Canada. “With the scale and reach of our network, Platform-A Canada offers a cost-effective way for marketers to reach their targeted audiences at scale through the delivery of highly engaging and effective advertising for maximum value and results, which is crucial in today’s economic environment.”

Platform-A Canada also offers industry-leading technologies and a suite of products and services for Canadian publishers, including ad serving solution ADTECH and Quigo’s AdSonar sponsored link network.

*Source: comScore Media Metrix, January 2009

About Platform-A

Platform-A, AOL’s advertising business, is the industry’s largest digital advertising platform, offering the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions, powered by the Web’s best advertising technologies. Platform-A includes AOL’s leading media properties – AOL.com, AIM, MapQuest, and more – and Advertising.com’s third-party networks. Platform-A also includes TACODA’s audience insights and behavioral targeting; Quigo, a site and content-targeting solution; ADTECH, an international digital ad serving business; Third Screen Media, a mobile ad serving network; and buy.at, an affiliate marketing solution.

Platform-A currently has operations in the United States, Canada, nine countries across Europe, including Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and Japan through a joint venture with Mitsui. Learn more at http://www.platform-a.ca.

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) posted $1.16 billion in 2008 revenue, notching 30% improvement over 2007.

The U.S. market made up an estimated 57% of the global tally; combined geographies are forecast to grow at 19% in 2009.

Revenue attached to audiovisual verticals including professional video, video advertising, video advertising networks, CMS platforms, online music spins, UGV and podcasting totaled $550 million, or 47.3% of total billings.

Professional video (including advertising) remains the most penetrated and lucrative audiovisual vertical, with 76.2% of views delivered through CDN contracts. Going the other way, 20.4% of lower margin UGV volume was handled by CDNs, plus another 31.7% of online music radio spins and track plays.

Commercial market (retail and transit) value attending the delivery of audiovisual content (including self-hosted networks and CDN) was equivalent to $886 million in 2008, with bandwidth making up 60% of billable costs.

Bandwidth fees as a percentage of CDN contract value are forecast to tack downward through 2010. The report analyzes historical and current pricing and pricing models by contract type, including volume and rate alternatives.

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) posted $1.16 billion in 2008 revenue, notching 30% improvement over 2007.

The U.S. market made up an estimated 57% of the global tally; combined geographies are forecast to grow at 19% in 2009.

Revenue attached to audiovisual verticals including professional video, video advertising, video advertising networks, CMS platforms, online music spins, UGV and podcasting totaled $550 million, or 47.3% of total billings, according to CDN Account Verticals and Revenue Performance 2006 – 2010, a rigorous analytics report published by AccuStream iMedia Research.

Professional video (including advertising) remains the most penetrated and lucrative audiovisual vertical, with 76.2% of views delivered through CDN contracts.

Going the other way, 20.4% of lower margin UGV volume was handled by CDNs, plus another 31.7% of online music radio spins and track plays.

Large media combines such as Google’s YouTube, AOL, Real Networks, Amazon, Yahoo and Comcast approach bandwidth provisioning as a core infrastructure precondition, taking that potential revenue base off the table.

Commercial market (retail and transit) value attending the delivery of audiovisual content (including self-hosted networks and CDN) was equivalent to $886 million in 2008, with bandwidth making up 60% of billable costs.

Bandwidth fees as a percentage of CDN contract value are forecast to tack downward through 2010. The report analyzes historical and current pricing and pricing models by contract type, including volume and rate alternatives.

Total media servers in deployment rose by 56.7% in 2008. Year end ’08 accounts under contract grew by 25% to 8,496.

Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) for the CDN group rose 1.8% in 2008 to $6,735, as the market pivots toward revenue growth linked more tightly to ROI-driven, value-added applications, reducing exposure to bandwidth commoditization.

Akamai (MRR up 21.4%) and Limelight Networks (MRR up 18.7%) significantly exceeded the CDN group MRR average.

“CDN content verticals and markets of opportunity are expanding as online experiences are transformed through a broadband medium powered by reach, scale and accountability,” commented research director Paul A. Palumbo.

“The infrastructure and application sophistication necessary to deliver broadband media continues to return healthy 50% – 65+% gross margins,” he added.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9c23e1/cdn_account_vertic

Plan Includes Targeting AOL News for the First Time

NEW YORK – AOL’s Platform-A  announced a 2009 strategic partnership with Scottrade, a leading branch-supported online investment firm that offers a full line of investment products, online trading services and market research tools to help investors take control of their financial future. This year’s partnership extends Scottrade’s Platform-A relationship to reach consumers via advertising and distribution solutions within MediaGlow’s financial-related content properties, such as AOL Money & Finance, Walletpop.com, Bloggingstocks.com, and AOL News. As part of the deal, Scottrade has also been included as a Featured Broker on AOL Money & Finance.

“Platform-A is pleased to build on our existing relationship with Scottrade in 2009, and we’re looking forward to delivering the scale and efficiency that Scottrade has come to expect from our advertising solutions,” said Greg Coleman, President of Platform-A. “We’re pleased that Scottrade is utilizing the consumer reach of both AOL Money & Finance and, for the first time, AOL News. The combined reach of MediaGlow’s leading properties will allow Scottrade to reach even more consumers with a strong brand message at a time when consumers are seeking reliable news and information so they can make their own investing decisions.”

“Scottrade saw strong results in 2008 working with Platform-A, so we’re eager to strengthen our advertising relationship this year,” said Chris Moloney, Scottrade chief marketing officer. “By targeting consumers in both AOL Money & Finance and AOL News, we have a strong opportunity to reach consumers who are actively interested in sound investment information.”

Scottrade is targeting media on leading sites within MediaGlow, AOL’s recently formed publishing business that lets marketers leverage branding opportunities across more than 70 high-quality publishing assets. Scottrade’s media rotation will focus on:

* AOL Money & Finance: AOL Money & Finance reaches more than 16 million monthly unique visitors, and more than 509 million monthly page views representing growth of nearly 52% year-over-year.* In 2008, AOL Money & Finance, http://money.aol.com/, launched real-time quotes on its stock pages, a new financial video hub, and upgraded many of its investing and portfolio management tools. AOL Money & Finance currently features CNBC video content and continues to add more video content partners.
* Walletpop.com: Walletpop, http://www.walletpop.com, is a blog that provides information about savings, retirement, budgeting, insurance and more to provide a comprehensive resource for consumers so that they can mange their personal finance needs.
* Bloggingstocks.com: Bloggingstocks.com is one of the leading financial blogs on the Web, which delivers daily commentary, thought-provoking analysis and in-depth coverage of financial news of the day on the top S&P 500 stocks. BloggingStocks.com, http://www.bloggingstocks.com/, has been named to SmartMoney Magazine’s Power 30 investment blogs.
* AOL News: AOL News, http://www.news.aol.com, is one of the top online news sites. AOL News seen significant growth, with page views up 82% year-over-year in January, unique visitors up 16%, and total minutes spent online up 22%.*

In 2009, MediaGlow is expected to increase its offerings with the creation of more than 30 editorially curated sites. MediaGlow joins Platform-A, the industry’s largest domestic digital advertising platform, and People Networks, the company’s social media unit, as the third core business for AOL, signaling the completion of the company’s transformation to an advertising-supported business.

Platform A was established by integrating AOL’s advertising business, Advertising.com, TACODA, Quigo and others to provide marketers with an efficient, effective means to leverage display, video, mobile, contextual, affiliate and search marketing solutions at scale. The mission of Platform-A is to enable marketers to reach their targeted audiences at scale through delivery of highly engaging and effective advertising for maximum value and results.

* According to January 2009 comScore Media Metrix data.

About Platform-A

Platform-A, AOL’s advertising business, reaching 91%* of the U.S. Internet audience, is the industry’s largest digital advertising platform. Platform-A offers the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions, powered by the Web’s best advertising technologies. Platform-A includes AOL’s leading media properties – AOL.com, AIM, MapQuest, and more – and Advertising.com’s third-party networks. Platform-A also includes TACODA’s audience insights and behavioral targeting; Quigo, a site- and content-targeting solution; ADTECH, an international digital ad serving business; Third Screen Media, a mobile ad serving network; and buy.at, an affiliate marketing solution. Platform-A currently has operations in the United States, nine countries across Europe, including Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and Japan through a joint venture with Mitsui. Learn more at http://www.platform-a.com.

About Scottrade

As a leading online investment firm, Scottrade offers a full line of investment products, online trading services and market research tools to help investors take control of their financial future. Scottrade provides customers the convenience of buying many stocks online at just $7 per trade and the support of the largest branch network among online investment firms, with more than 375 nationwide branch offices. Named Highest in Investor Satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates, Scottrade is dedicated to exceptional customer service and unprecedented value. Scottrade is also one of FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America. For more information, visit www.scottrade.com.

* According to January 2009 comScore Media Metrix data.

HOUSTON – Kelsey-Seybold Clinic was recognized as Houston’s Marketer of the Year (MOTY) by the American Marketing Association (AMA) Houston Chapter at an evening reception that attracted 300 local-area marketing professionals to the Alley Theatre on March 2, 2009. Kelsey-Seybold Clinic was chosen from 33 Best of Category winners by a panel of 13 marketing professionals from outside the Houston area.

“Kelsey-Seybold Clinic is clearly deserving of this honor,” said Sherri Scott, president of AMA Houston. “Their marketing team demonstrated incredible strategy, passion and creativity in their 2008 marketing programs which yielded high-impact results for their organization. They are a great example of how aligning your marketing strategy with your business objectives is the most effective way the marketing function can support an organization. We congratulate them on this high honor.”

Prior to the keynote and the announcement of the 2008 MOTY, the event recognized the 33 Houston companies, organizations and institutions that were voted “Best of Category” by the chapter’s more than 1000 members for outstanding marketing efforts in their respective industries. Best of Category winners included Administaff; Blue Bell Creameries; BMC Software; Carrabba’s Italian Grill; CB Richard Ellis; CenterPoint Energy; Continental Airlines; David Taylor Cadillac; David Weekley Homes; El Paso Corporation; Energy Alloys; Fulbright & Jaworski; Gallery Furniture; Greater Houston Partnership; Hotel ZaZa; House of Blues Houston; Houston Business Journal; Houston Food Bank; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; Houston Museum of Natural Science; Igloo Products; John Moore Services; Kelsey-Seybold Clinic; Martha Turner Properties; MD Anderson Cancer Center; Mieko Mahi Photography & Video; Mustang Engineering; PKF Texas; Rice University; Shell Oil Company; Sterling Bank; Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS); and Weatherford International.

During the program, keynote speaker Kevin Bertram, founder and CEO of Distributive Networks, discussed his firm’s major role in managing mobile marketing for the successful Obama for President campaign. Distributive Networks is one of the nation’s most successful mobile technology companies, serving such names as AOL, AT&T, Avis Budget Group, BET, Boost Mobile, Cable & Wireless, CBS, D.C. United, Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser Permanente, MTV, VeriSign, Vodafone, Viacom, Armani Exchange, and the Washington Capitals.

The MOTY event was underwritten in part by the Houston Business Journal, the presenting sponsor. Platinum sponsors included Paladin Staffing and Pierpont Communications; Gold sponsors were Aquent, Brookwoods Group, Continental Airlines, and Sterling Bank. Silver sponsors were Business Wire, MD Anderson, Sabre Marketing, and Weatherford International Ltd. In-kind sponsors included the Alley Theatre, Commercial Audio/Video, Getty Images, Houston Style Magazine, Newman & Newman, and Ventures Marketing Group. Past recipients of this award have included the Houston Symphony, Weatherford International, and the Houston Zoo. Information on AMA Houston’s Marketer of the Year event is available at www.amahouston.org.

About the American Marketing Association – Houston Chapter

The Houston Chapter of the American Marketing Association is the area’s leading professional marketing organization and the nation’s second largest chapter. AMA Houston is currently Chapter of the Year and has won this national award three times in five years. AMA Houston connects more than 1,000 members with diverse marketing expertise from a variety of industries. For event and membership information, please visit www.amahouston.org.

LONDON – Specific Media, the leading independent online advertising network, announced the next stage in its growth strategy for Northern Europe. Specific Media will open an office in Copenhagen, Denmark on 1st March 2009. Three strategic senior hires will support the expansion into Scandinavia.

Michael Chabert, previously of AOL’s Advertising .com, has been appointed as Vice President of Northern Europe and will be responsible for overseeing the Danish launch, establishing Specific Media’s presence in Northern Europe and growing the company’s market share in this new territory. Prior to joining Specific Media, Chabert was the Country Manager of Advertising.com’s Denmark office for seven years, during which time he grew revenue by 100% between 2005 and 2006, negotiated contracts with the top 50 advertisers and 20 leading commercial portals in Denmark and expanded the office from one person to 15 members of staff.

Birgitte Jöhncke will become the country manager of Specific Media’s new Denmark office. She brings with her with nine years of experience from Yahoo!, where most recently she held the title of Head of Sales and Business development for Scandinavia. Johncke was instrumental in establishing the Yahoo! Denmark office and building strong relationships with advertisers in the region.

Supporting Chabert and Johncke will be Claus Osterby, who also joins from Advertising.com and fills the role of Sales Director. The combined team boasts more than 30 years experience in the online advertising space and brings with them great competitive insights and knowledge to build Specific Media’s offering in Northern Europe.

Colin Petrie-Norris, International Managing Director for Specific Media, said: “Growing our presence in Scandinavia plays a central role in our aggressive expansion plans for Europe and we are delighted to welcome such industry heavyweights such as Michael, Birgitte and Claus to Specific Media. Their industry experience and local expertise will help us to develop in the Scandinavian market and further expand our offering to advertisers across Europe.”

Chabert added, “Denmark was the natural choice for Specific Media’s Northern European headquarters. Its location, transport links and flexible workforce make it perfect hub for the company as we begin to offer our services across Scandinavia. Our extensive knowledge of the Scandinavian market combined with Specific Media’s powerful targeting technology will make a compelling offering for advertisers in the region over the coming months.”

Specific Media is a global technology and online media company that enables advertisers to reach target audiences with unprecedented scale and accuracy. The company connects advertisers with target audiences across its premium network of name brand publishers through advanced demographic, behavioural, contextual, geographic and retargeting technologies.

About Specific Media

Specific Media, the advertising industry’s largest independent online advertising network, leads the industry with ground-breaking technology which enables advertisers to target consumers throughout Western Europe and North America based on demographics, behaviours, geographic locations and the contextual relevance of websites visited. Specific Media’s Premium Network reaches more than 30 million consumers each month in the U.K and 225 million consumers globally. The combination of reach and proprietary targeting technologies allows Specific Media to create highly customised audience segments for advertisers. Since 1999, Specific Media has been enabling advertisers to build relationships with their target audiences across the top consumer branded publishers.

Visit www.specificmedia.co.uk

The U.S. market made up an estimated 57% of the global tally; combined geographies are forecast to grow at 19% in 2009.

Revenue attached to audiovisual verticals including professional video, video advertising, video advertising networks, CMS platforms, online music spins, UGV and podcasting totaled $550 million, or 47.3% of total billings, according to CDN Account Verticals and Revenue Performance 2006 – 2010, a rigorous analytics report published by AccuStream iMedia Research.

Professional video (including advertising) remains the most penetrated and lucrative audiovisual vertical, with 76.2% of views delivered through CDN contracts.

Going the other way, 20.4% of lower margin UGV volume was handled by CDNs, plus another 31.7% of online music radio spins and track plays.

Large media combines such as Google’s YouTube, AOL, Real Networks, Amazon, Yahoo and Comcast approach bandwidth provisioning as a core infrastructure precondition, taking that potential revenue base off the table.

Commercial market (retail and transit) value attending the delivery of audiovisual content (including self-hosted networks and CDN) was equivalent to $886 million in 2008, with bandwidth making up 60% of billable costs.

Bandwidth fees as a percentage of CDN contract value are forecast to tack downward through 2010. The report analyzes historical and current pricing and pricing models by contract type, including volume and rate alternatives.

Total media servers in deployment rose by 56.7% in 2008. Year end ’08 accounts under contract grew by 25% to 8,496.

Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) for the CDN group rose 1.8% in 2008 to $6,735, as the market pivots toward revenue growth linked more tightly to ROI-driven, value-added applications, reducing exposure to bandwidth commoditization.

Akamai (MRR up 21.4%) and Limelight Networks (MRR up 18.7%) significantly exceeded the CDN group MRR average.

“CDN content verticals and markets of opportunity are expanding as online experiences are transformed through a broadband medium powered by reach, scale and accountability,” commented research director Paul A. Palumbo.

“The infrastructure and application sophistication necessary to deliver broadband media continues to return healthy 50% – 65+% gross margins,” he added.

HOUSTON – Houston’s Marketer of the Year (MOTY) will be announced March 2, 2009 by the American Marketing Association Houston Chapter at an evening reception being held at the Alley Theatre.

The AMA Houston 2008 MOTY winner is chosen from 33 Best of Category winners by a panel of marketing professionals from outside the Houston area. The MOTY event will also honor these 33 Houston companies, organizations and institutions that were voted “Best of Category” by the chapter’s more than 1000 members for outstanding marketing efforts in their respective industries. Best of Category winners for 2008, selected from 176 nominated firms, include Administaff; Blue Bell Creameries; BMC Software; Carrabba’s Italian Grill; CB Richard Ellis; CenterPoint Energy; Continental Airlines; David Taylor Cadillac; David Weekley Homes; El Paso Corporation; Energy Alloys; Fulbright & Jaworski; Gallery Furniture; Greater Houston Partnership; Hotel ZaZa; House of Blues Houston; Houston Business Journal; Houston Food Bank; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; Houston Museum of Natural Science; Igloo Products; John Moore Services; Kelsey Seybold Clinic; Martha Turner Properties; MD Anderson Cancer Center; Mieko Mahi Photography & Video; Mustang Engineering; PKF Texas; Rice University; Shell Oil Company; Sterling Bank; Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS); and Weatherford International.

The announcement of the 2008 MOTY will be accompanied by keynote speaker Kevin Bertram, the founder and CEO of Distributive Networks, which had a major role in managing mobile marketing for the successful Obama for President campaign. Distributive Networks is one of the nation’s most successful mobile technology companies and has enabled innovative, customized mobile messaging solutions for such clients as Obama for America, AOL, AT&T, Avis Budget Group, BET, Boost Mobile, Cable & Wireless, CBS, D.C. United, Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser Permanente, MTV, VeriSign, Vodafone, Viacom, Armani Exchange, and the Washington Capitals.

The MOTY event is underwritten in part by the Houston Business Journal, the presenting sponsor. Platinum sponsors include Paladin Staffing and Pierpont Communications; Gold sponsors are Aquent, Brookwoods Group, Continental Airlines, and Sterling Bank. Silver sponsors are Business Wire, MD Anderson, Sabre Marketing, and Weatherford International Ltd. In-kind sponsors include the Alley Theatre, Commercial Audio/Video, Getty Images, Houston Style Magazine, Newman & Newman, and Ventures Marketing Group. Information on AMA Houston’s Marketer of the Year event is available at www.amahouston.org or http://www.houston.marketingpower2.com/. Tickets are available online at www.regonline.com/MOTY08.

About the American Marketing Association – Houston Chapter

The Houston Chapter of the American Marketing Association is the area’s leading professional marketing organization and the nation’s second largest chapter. AMA Houston is currently Chapter of the Year and has won this national award three times in five years. AMA Houston connects more than 1,000 members with diverse marketing expertise from a variety of industries. For event and membership information, please visit www.amahouston.org.

RESTON, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, released an analysis of changes in Americans’ searching behavior resulting from the economic downturn, based on December 2008 data from comScore Marketer, a search intelligence tool.

Searches for several terms related to the economic downturn showed dramatic gains during the past year.  Among the most notable increases were searches relating to the deteriorating job market, including searches using the term “unemployment” (up 206 percent to 8.2 million searches) and “unemployment benefits” (up 247 percent to 748,000 searches). Meanwhile, terms relating to personal asset situations, including “mortgage” (up 72 percent to 7.8 million searches), “bankruptcy” (up 156 percent to 2.6 million searches), and “foreclosure” (up 67 percent to 1.4 million searches) also grew strongly. And Americans, resilient as they are, are seeking ways to save money, as evidenced by the increase in the number of searches for “coupons” (up 161 percent to 19.9 million) and “discount” (up 26 percent to 7.9 million).

“Online behavior has come to reflect the interests or concerns of Americans, and we are certainly seeing this manifest itself with respect to the economic downturn,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Search volume using terms relating to the economy has ballooned over the past year as Americans have become increasingly concerned over their economic wellbeing.”

Unemployment Searchers Skew Younger, Lower Income

To illustrate how different segments of the population might be affected by these economic conditions, comScore examined the demographic profile of those who clicked on a link following a search using the term “unemployment”. The profile of these Internet users generally skewed towards those households with a head  younger than 35 years of age and households earning less than $50,000 a year. They were also significantly more likely to use Yahoo!, MSN-Windows Live, or Ask.com Search than Google or AOL search.

______________________________________________________________________________
Profile of Search Clickers Using the Term “Unemployment”

December 2008

Total U.S., Age 18+ – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore Marketer

Term:  “Unemployment”

Age of Head of Household      Share of Clicks      Index* Following Search

18-24                                4.2%               118

25-34                               23.5%               126

35-44                               24.4%                86

45-54                               26.5%                96

55-64                               14.4%               101

65+                                  7.1%                90

Household Income

<$25k                               12.2%               130

$25-49k                             23.5%               123

$50-74k                             26.2%                97

$75-99k                             14.4%                81

$100k+                              23.7%                89

Search Engine

Google Search                       60.8%                87

Yahoo! Search                       23.3%               121

MSN-Windows Live Search             10.0%               172

AOL Search                           2.3%                76

Ask.com Search                       3.6%               156
______________________________________________________________________________

*Index = share of clicks on “unemployment”/share of clicks for all searches x 100; Index of 100 represents parity

NEW YORK – AOL’s MediaGlow publishing division announced its sites saw record growth1 in January, with page views climbing 47% year-over-year to reach 7 billion and total minutes increasing 39% to 4.9 million.

In addition, the recently reinvented AOL.com, which opened the site to third-party content, e-mail, social networks and more in 2008, grew 5% in page views, 12% in unique visitors, 33% in total minutes — achieving an all-time high2 — and 6% in total visits year-over-year.

AOL announced the formation of MediaGlow in January, centralizing AOL’s publishing efforts with the goal of expanding AOL’s efforts to reach targeted audiences and expanding AOL’s global reach. MediaGlow announced plans to launch 30 targeted sites in 2009.

“MediaGlow has started 2009 by reaching its largest audience to date and building core brands that are at scale. By leaning into the fragmentation of the Web, we are creating valuable brands that are driving engagement and attracting a larger audience,” said Bill Wilson, President, MediaGlow. “Our growth signals that consumers are actively engaging with our original content that focuses on people’s passion points and that we are providing advertisers with unique and valuable solutions and opportunities to reach a highly engaged audience.”

In January, MediaGlow launched its first targeted site of the year, FanHouse, http://www.fanhouse.com, which replaces AOL Sports as the main sports destination for AOL, targeting males 18-34. AOL Sports saw page views grow 33% and total minutes increase 4% year over year, according to January 2009 comScore Media Metrix data.

BlackVoices.com, http://www.blackvoices.com, and AOL News, http://www.news.aol.com, also saw significant growth in January, in part because of expansive coverage of the presidential inauguration. BlackVoices saw page views climb 181%, unique visitors grow 53% and total minutes increase 83% year over year, according to January 2009 comScore Media Metrix data. AOL News saw page views climb 82%, unique visitors grow 16% and total minutes increase 22% year over year.

The AOL Living network, http://www.living.aol.com, which comprises a core group of women’s interest sites, started the year with strong growth. AOL Health, http://www.aolhealth.com, kicked off its 2009 America Takes It Off Campaign and saw page views grow 132% and total minutes increase 53% year over year. StyleList.com, http://www.stylelist.com, grew page views 1,913%, unique visitors 718% and total minutes 1,787% year over year. AOL Home, http://home.aol.com, grew page views 271%, unique visitors 84% and total minutes 139% year over year.

Engadget, the Official Blog of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in January, also saw record numbers for the month with 75% growth in page views, 105% growth in unique visitors and 156% growth in total minutes, year over year.3

January also marked one full year since the launch of Asylum, http://www.asylum.com, which quickly became the leading men’s site, a custom-built category, and has seen 172% year over year growth in page views, 94% growth in unique visitors and 106% growth in total minutes.

In addition to growth within MediaGlow, AOL experienced growth in its product offerings. For example, AOL’s leading video search engine, Truveo, saw year-over-year increases of 209% in unique visitors and 239% in pages views, according to the January 2009 comScore Media Metrix report, due in part to the January release of an updated version of its free downloadable application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch.

Many AOL sites continue to appear in the top five in their categories for unique visitors, according to January 2009 comScore Media Metrix data:

* #1 Music: Music, http://music.aol.com
* #1 Television: Television, http://television.aol.com
* #2 Maps: MapQuest, http://mapquest.com
* #2 IM: AIM, http://www.aim.com
* #2 Business- News/Research: Money & Finance, http://money.aol.com
* #2 Home: AOL Home, http://home.aol.com
* #2 Entertainment-News: TMZ, http://tmz.com
* #2 Email: AOL Email, http://webmail.aol.com
* #3 Technology: AOL Tech, http://switched.com and http://engadget.com
* #3 Movies: Moviefone.com, http://moviefone.com
* #3 Real Estate: Real Estate, http://realestate.aol.com
* #3 Health: Health, http://aolhealth.com
* #3 Lifestyles: AOL Living, http://living.aol.com
* #4 News: News, http://news.aol.com
* #4 Radio: Radio, http://aolradio.com
* #5 Autos: AOL Autos, http://autos.aol.com
* #5 Sports: AOL Sports, http://sports.aol.com
* #5 Search: Search Network, http://search.aol.com
* #5 Food: Food, http://food.aol.com
* #5 Greetings: Greetings, http://greetings.aol.com
* #5 Local: AOL Local, http://cityguide.aol.com
* #5 Weather: AOL Weather, http://weather.aol.com

The following MediaGlow sites also rank in the top five in their AOL custom-built categories for unique visitors, according to January 2009 comScore Media Metrix data:

* #1 African American: BlackVoices, http://blackvoices.com
* #1 Country Music Site: TheBoot, http://theboot.com
* #1 Hip-Hop Music: The BoomBox, http://theboombox.com
* #1 Men: Asylum, http://asylum.com
* #1 Style: StyleList, http://stylelist.com
* #1 Women’s Blogs: Lemondrop, http://www.lemondrop.com
* #1 Rock Music Site: Spinner, http://www.spinner.com
* #2 Horoscopes: Horoscopes, http://horoscopes.aol.com
* #3 Latino: Latino, http://latino.aol.com
* #3 Web Culture: Urlesque, http://www.urlesque.com
* #4 Homepages: AOL Homepages, http://www.aol.com

In addition, MediaGlow brands are increasingly seen as leading authorities on the Web, with 25 MediaGlow sites listed as Technorati’s Top 100 sites ranked by authority for the last six months:

* #2 Engadget, http://www.engadget.com
* #9 BloggingStocks, http://www.bloggingstocks.com
* #11 Gadling, http://www.gadling.com
* #12 ParentDish, http://www.parentdish.com
* #13 WalletPop, http://www.walletpop.com
* #16 Cinematical, http://www.cinematical.com
* #16 TMZ, http://tmz.com
* #17 JoyStiq, http://www.joystiq.com
* #20 TV Squad, http://www.tvsquad.com
* #21 TUAW, http://www.tuaw.com
* #23 Download Squad, http://www.downloadsquad.com
* #24 WOW Insider, http://www.wowinsider.com
* #26 SlashFood, http://www.slashfood.com
* #29 AutoBlog, http://www.autoblog.com
* #30 Stylelist, http://www.stylelist.com/blog
* #30 Switched, http://www.switched.com
* #32 Lemondrop, http://www.lemondrop.com
* #33 Massively, http://www.massively.com
* #36 Luxist, http://www.luxist.com
* #42 Asylum, http://asylum.com
* #57 BlackVoices, http://blackvoices.com/blogs
* #61 Engadget Mobile, http://www.engadgetmobile.com
* #61 Spinner, http://www.spinner.com
* #72 Engadget HD, http://www.engadgethd.com
* #74 AutoBlog Green, http://www.autobloggreen.com

About MediaGlow

MediaGlow, AOL’s publishing business unit formed in early 2009, centralizes AOL’s programming efforts, including AOL.com, AOL’s content verticals and commerce and marketplace channels, dozens of niche sites, and state-of-the-art studios in Los Angeles and New York City. In all, MediaGlow operates more than 70 sites and now attracts more than 70 million unique visitors each month4, according to comScore Media Metrix. It plans to launch more than 30 new sites in 2009. MediaGlow, along with AOL’s advertising business, Platform-A, and its social media business, People Networks, represent the three core businesses for AOL.

1 Record growth is based on comScore Media Metrix data from January 2007 to January 2009.

2 All-time high in minutes for AOL.com is based on comScore Media Metrix data from January 2007 to January 2009.

3 Record numbers for Engadget.com are based on comScore Media Metrix data from January 2007 to January 2009.

4 Since October 2007

“We believe the new Yahoo! Mobile will transform the way millions of mobile users around the world will interact with the Internet,” said Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Yahoo! Inc. “Yahoo! Mobile will enable users to create their own Internet starting point on their mobile device so they can better discover, connect to and stay informed about the people and things that are important to them.”

With a rich design and interactivity that leverages the capabilities of today’s mobile devices, Yahoo! Mobile will offer an open environment within which consumers can bring together their favorite content and services from across the Internet. Consumers will be able to:

* Discover: via results from Yahoo!’s award-winning mobile search, editor-selected content, and new maps tools.
* Stay Connected: through access to their email and social network accounts from the most popular Web providers, as well as instant messaging, address book and calendar tools.
* Stay Informed: by bringing together favorite content – websites, sports teams, news sources, RSS feeds, weather, stocks, horoscopes and more – into a single location.

“Yahoo! Mobile represents significant and continued innovation by Yahoo! around creating a compelling and engaging user experience with mobile data services, and especially the mobile Internet,” notes Scott Ellison, VP Mobile and Wireless, IDC. “Rich and well-integrated offerings like Yahoo! Mobile, offered across a broad range of devices, will play central roles in the rapidly evolving mobile Internet space,” he added.

KEY FEATURES OF YAHOO! MOBILE

The mobile Web and iPhone™ versions of Yahoo! Mobile are planned to include the following features:

Discover

* Yahoo! oneSearch™ – Yahoo!’s award-winning mobile search service providing the most current, relevant answers you need.
* Today – The most interesting stories buzzing on the Internet right now, selected by Yahoo!’s editorial team.

Connect

* Yahoo! oneConnect™ – Yahoo!’s service designed to provide consumers everything they need to stay in touch with the people about whom they care:
o Email – Access to Yahoo! Mail and other popular email service providers, including Gmail®, Windows Live™ Hotmail and AOL® Mail.
o Pulse – Access to their social networks, including Bebo®, Dopplr™, Facebook®, Flickr®, Friendster®, Last.fm®, MySpace®, Twitter™ and YouTube™.
o Yahoo! Messenger – An upgraded version of Yahoo!’s popular mobile instant messaging service.
o Yahoo! Address Book – Keeps consumers’ contacts always handy and in sync.
o Yahoo! Calendar – View, add and edit appointments when users are away from their PCs.

Stay Informed

* Yahoo! News – Breaking headlines across popular topics.
* Yahoo! onePlace™ – Access and manage your favorite content, all from one location. Its “Add Anything” functionality is a simple-to-use search and browse process that helps users find and add what they want. Consumers can add their favorite interests from a growing selection of popular categories including news topics and sources, RSS feeds, weather conditions, sports scores, stock quotes, websites/blogs, horoscopes and movie theaters.

The smartphone version of Yahoo! Mobile will include the above functionality, plus:

* Yahoo! oneSearch with Voice™ – Allowing users to launch searches by simply speaking.
* Maps – Powerful improved tools that let consumers locate, learn about and get directions to points of interest.
* Opera Mini™ 4.2 – An integrated version of the world’s most popular mobile web browser, with easy return to the Yahoo! Mobile app, that launches when web site access is needed.
* Widgets – Enhanced mobile-optimized experiences for services from Yahoo! and other brands. Users can browse, add and remove these at anytime according to their tastes.

AVAILABILITY OF YAHOO! MOBILE

A managed beta program for Yahoo! Mobile has started today. Consumers interested in participating should enter http://mobile.yahoo.com into their phone’s browser.

Details on the upcoming general public release for Yahoo! Mobile are as follows:

For the mobile Web:

* Launch timing: expected late March 2009
* Devices: those running WebKit-based browsers (e.g. iPhone and iPod touch, many Nokia Series 60 and Android devices), Opera Mini 4.x, Windows Mobile devices with Internet Explorer Mobile, and the BlackBerry® Bold™ and BlackBerry Storm™ browsers

For iPhone:

* Launch timing: expected late March 2009

For smartphones:

* Launch timing: expected late May 2009
* Devices: hundreds of select models from RIM, Windows Mobile, Nokia S60 and 40, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.

At launch, each version of Yahoo! Mobile is planned to be available for the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Versions for other countries will roll out over the remainder of 2009.

Yahoo! Mobile will feature Yahoo!’s industry-leading display advertising from major global advertisers.

Visit the Yahoo! booth at Mobile World Congress to see Yahoo!’s latest mobile products – 7B26, Hall 7. For more information and screenshots of the Yahoo! Mobile product suite, please visit http://mobile.yahoo.com/newsroom.

Live Content, a real-time content delivery capability from ExactTarget, is already being used in the company’s Live Offers and Live Ads email offerings and will now connect to Omniture’s offerings through Omniture Genesis, a marketing platform that integrates complementary third-party marketing applications with Omniture products, giving customers a single view into their marketing data. Omniture Test&Target allows marketers to test and change content to determine which campaigns or offers perform better with online visitors. Marketers often include web content within their email campaigns, and Test&Target’s ability to allow web content optimization to continuously occur means emails leveraging that content will always be relevant for the subscriber. Live Content for Omniture combines analytical and behavioral information with a dynamic email marketing solution that puts the marketer in complete control – even after emails have been sent.

The new product offering will be demonstrated during ExactTarget’s partner keynote address on Thursday, February 19 at 10:15 a.m. local time. “The Intersection of Optimization and Action” will be presented by chief operating officer Scott McCorkle.

“Marketers are being asked to do more with less these days, so the ability to use email marketing and optimization tools together to display more relevant content after an email is sent allows both tools to work harder and smarter for them,” said McCorkle. “We are excited to partner with Omniture once again to develop an email integration product to deliver better content and results.”

Designed for use to revitalize stagnant content within ongoing triggered emails, or to test offers in one-time email campaigns or landing pages, Live Content for Omniture provides timeliness, flexibility and relevance in all one-to-one marketing campaigns.

“A platinum sponsor of Omniture Summit 2009, ExactTarget’s new integrated product offering is another example of their commitment to innovation with solutions that address real-world problems for online marketers,” said John Mellor, executive vice president of business development and corporate strategy for Omniture. “We believe the combination of real-time optimization, Web analytics and dynamic email content adds a tremendous amount of insight and relevancy to email campaigns, giving marketers a better chance at increasing their conversion rates through this powerful integration.”

For more information or to purchase ExactTarget’s Live Content for Omniture solution, visit ExactTarget’s team at Omniture Summit 2009, booth #103 or click here.

About Omniture Genesis™

Omniture Genesis integrates complementary third-party online marketing technologies with Omniture products. Omniture Genesis gives online marketers the ability to view and optimize campaign and conversion performance across multiple applications. Enabled by the online marketing industry’s largest ecosystem of application providers, Omniture Genesis automates information sharing to support online marketing best practices for cross-channel reporting, dynamic visitor segmentation, and performance optimization.

About Omniture

Omniture, Inc. is a leading provider of online business optimization software, enabling customers to manage and enhance online, offline and multi-channel business initiatives. Omniture’s software, which it hosts and delivers to its customers as an on-demand subscription service and on-premise solution, enables customers to capture, store and analyze information generated by their Web sites and other sources and to gain critical business insights into the performance and efficiency of marketing and sales initiatives and other business processes. In addition, Omniture offers a range of professional services that complement its online services, including implementation, best practices, consulting, customer support and user training through Omniture University™. Omniture’s more than 5,100 customers include eBay, AOL, Wal-Mart, Gannett, Microsoft, Neiman Marcus, Oracle, General Motors, Sony and HP. www.omniture.com

Copyright (c) 2009 Omniture, Inc. All rights reserved. Omniture and the Omniture logo are registered trademarks of Omniture, Inc., and Omniture owns other registered and unregistered trademarks. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

About ExactTarget:

ExactTarget, Inc. is a leading provider of on-demand email marketing software solutions. The company’s suite of on-demand one-to-one marketing applications enable clients to send business-critical and event triggered communications to increase sales, optimize marketing investments and strengthen customer relationships. ExactTarget offers four editions of its on-demand software application along with integrated solutions such as ExactTarget for AppExchange and ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. ExactTarget offers a range of optimization services including support, implementation and training, integration, deliverability, account management, design and deployment and strategic consulting. ExactTarget’s software powers permission-based email communications for thousands of organizations including CareerBuilder.com, Expedia.com, Florida Power & Light, Gannett Co., Inc/USA TODAY, the Indianapolis Colts, The Home Depot, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Liberty Mutual Group, Papa John’s and Wellpoint, Inc. For more information, please visit www.exacttarget.com. or call 1-866-EMAILET.

The report, Online Music Spins and Media Spend: 2003 – 2012, shows that AOL’s Shoutcast platform remains the most utilized outlet for online music, capturing 52.5% of total time spent listening, followed by Clear Channel sites with 7.8%.

Shoutcast cumulative music hours grew 47% in 2008 (after a 47% rise in 2007) compared to 27.9% for music listening hours supported by paid media placement, up from 10.6% growth in 2007, a year revised royalty guidelines were formally established.

However, while Shoutcast clusters audiences, along with thousands of channels and hundreds of independent webcast brands it remains largely an ad-free environment.

An analysis of ad-supported music listening reveals Clear Channel the market leader, with a 16.5% share, followed by AOL Radio with 13.2% share. The two major music radio subscription services have a combined 6.7% share, according to the report.

Ad-supported music hours as a percentage of total online listening has declined each year since 2005, registering 44.2% in 2008; a trend forecast to continue.

Sell-out rates improved in 2008 to an estimated 45%, up from 35% in 2007, forecast to reach 50% in 2009. Webcasters are allocating anywhere from 6 – 9 avails per listening hour, and CPMs range from $3 – $10+ for in-stream audio, $20 for video.

An analysis of the online music royalty structure adopted in 2007 suggests that by taking average estimated hourly listeners of 341,509 (based on 2.9 billion hours), and applying licensing rates equally across sites generating $84 million in 2008 media sales, that approximately $40 million would be owed to rights organizations, or 48.3% of the gross.

“Online music programmers are passionate about radio, and adapting their businesses to an inspired yet challenging marketplace. In 2009 their focus is on running lean, efficient operations, capping international streams while pitching local, regional and national avails,” commented research director Paul A. Palumbo.

This AccuStream Research report is available to independent and ad-supported webcasters at a discount.

HOUSTON – Houston’s Marketer of the Year (MOTY) will be announced March 2, 2009 by the American Marketing Association Houston Chapter at an evening reception being held at the Alley Theatre.

The MOTY is chosen from 33 Houston companies, organizations and institutions that were voted “Best of Category” by the chapter’s more than 1000 members for outstanding marketing efforts in their respective industries.

“Marketing is a strategic and critical function required for any business or organization to be successful,” said Sherri Scott, senior marketing manager at Weatherford International Ltd and current president of AMA Houston. “And our Marketer of the Year event enables us to recognize and congratulate those companies who are ‘best in class’ in their industry for delivering outstanding marketing results for their company and their stakeholders.”

The announcement of the MOTY will be accompanied by keynote speaker Kevin Bertram, the founder and CEO of Distributive Networks, which had a major role in managing mobile marketing for the successful Obama for President campaign. Distributive Networks is one of the nation’s most successful mobile technology companies and has enabled innovative, customized mobile messaging solutions for such clients as Obama for America, AOL, AT&T, Avis Budget Group, BET, Boost Mobile, Cable & Wireless, CBS, D.C. United, Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser Permanente, MTV, VeriSign, Vodafone, Viacom, Armani Exchange, and the Washington Capitals.

“This year’s presidential campaign was a marketing case study that will be analyzed for years to come,” said Scott. “The era of interactive digital technology is upon us – and marketers must learn how to embrace and leverage these resources. Mr. Bertram will share with the Marketer of the Year event attendees the importance and value of adding this medium to their marketing program.”

The MOTY process began with the nomination of 176 Houston-area firms by local marketing and business leaders and area marketing professors. Voting by AMA-Houston’s members resulted in the selection of the 33 Best of Category winners. Houston’s “2008 Marketer of the Year” is chosen based on an evaluation of finalists’ responses to questions about their marketing programs by a group of marketing experts across the country.

The MOTY Best of Category winners are: Administaff; Blue Bell Creameries; BMC Software; Carrabba’s Italian Grill; CB Richard Ellis; CenterPoint Energy; Continental Airlines; David Taylor Cadillac; David Weekley Homes; El Paso Corporation; Energy Alloys; Fulbright & Jaworski; Gallery Furniture; Greater Houston Partnership; Hotel ZaZa; House of Blues Houston; Houston Business Journal; Houston Food Bank; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; Houston Museum of Natural Science; Igloo Products; John Moore Services; Kelsey Seybold Clinic; Martha Turner Properties; MD Anderson Cancer Center; Mieko Mahi Photography & Video; Mustang Engineering; PKF Texas; Rice University; Shell Oil Company; Sterling Bank; Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS); and Weatherford International.

The MOTY event is underwritten in part by the Houston Business Journal, the presenting sponsor. Platinum sponsors include Paladin Staffing and Pierpont Communications; Gold sponsors are Aquent, Brookwoods Group, Continental Airlines, and Sterling Bank. Silver sponsors are BusinessWire, MD Anderson, Sabre Marketing, and Weatherford International Ltd. In-kind sponsors include Commercial Audio/Video, Newman & Newman, and Ventures Marketing Group. Information on AMA Houston’s Marketer of the Year event is available at www.amahouston.org or http://www.houston.marketingpower2.com/. Tickets are available online at www.regonline.com/MOTY08.

About the American Marketing Association – Houston Chapter

The Houston Chapter of the American Marketing Association is the area’s leading professional marketing organization and the nation’s second largest chapter. AMA Houston is currently Chapter of the Year and has won this national award two times in five years. AMA Houston connects more than 1,000 members with diverse marketing expertise from a variety of industries. For event and membership information, please visit www.amahouston.org.

NEW YORK – AOL named Greg Coleman President of Platform-A as part of the company’s effort to expand display sales across its advertising and programming networks. Coleman, who has more than 25 years of sales and media experience, will lead Platform-A, the industry’s largest online advertising platform.

“Greg Coleman is perfectly suited to build on the foundation we created at Platform-A and drive branded display sales across our fast-growing MediaGlow programming network,” said Randy Falco, AOL Chairman and CEO. “Greg’s a seasoned sales pro who understands that online brand building is the next frontier in digital advertising, and that whoever can deliver marketers measurably improved branding online will be positioned for long-term success. I’m confident Greg will help us create branding solutions that leverage the strong success of MediaGlow and the upcoming launches at People Networks.”

“I thought long and hard about jumping back into the media and sales world. The only way I would do it is with a company that has everything it needs to deliver what advertisers need most, particularly in difficult economic times – productive, efficient and measurable ways to reach increasingly fragmented audiences with their brand messages. AOL is that company,” said Coleman. “Platform-A’s reach, combined with the incredible growth of AOL’s MediaGlow and the potential of its social media business, gives us a strong platform for advertisers to build brands that really perform online.”

Coleman replaces Lynda Clarizio, formerly the President of Advertising.com who was tapped to lead the integration of Platform-A. Under Lynda Clarizio’s leadership, AOL successfully consolidated and integrated the seven companies comprising Platform-A; created a unified organization around areas including sales, technology, publisher services and R&D and expanded overseas into nine countries within the past year.

“Lynda helped us realize the vision for Platform-A as the world’s largest, unified display advertising platform with the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions,” said Falco. “We are enormously grateful for her work and success.”

Prior to joining Platform-A, Coleman served as President and CEO of NetSeer, a start-up company focused on next generation search and ad targeting. Before that, he was EVP of Global Sales at Yahoo!, where he helped establish Yahoo!’s leadership in the online advertising marketplace. At Yahoo!, Coleman was responsible for all advertising revenues worldwide, which grew from $600 million to more than $6 billion during his tenure. Coleman also served as Senior Vice President of Reader’s Digest Association and President of U.S. Magazine Publishing, where he was responsible for the company’s magazine properties including Reader’s Digest. Coleman was the founding publisher of Memories magazine at Diamandis Communications and worked at CBS, Inc., where he spent 10 years leading advertising efforts for Women’s Day as Vice President and National Sales Manager.

As head of Platform-A, Coleman will report to AOL President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Grant.

AOL is now focused on growing three mutually dependent online businesses to take advantage of the shifting media landscape: advertising through Platform-A, publishing through MediaGlow and social media through People Networks.

Platform-A is uniquely positioned to leverage branding opportunity across the more than 70 high-quality publishing assets that make up MediaGlow, AOL’s newly launched and rapidly growing business unit. In 2008, MediaGlow launched more than 20 new sites and saw page views climb 64% year over year, engagement climb 39% year over year, and unduplicated users top 70 million, according to December comScore Media Metrix numbers. MediaGlow’s current assets include the AOL.com homepage and AOL branded sites such as AOL Money & Finance, AOL Living and AOL News, along with dozens of niche sites such as WalletPop, Bloggingstocks, Engadget, Autoblog, and AOL’s commerce sites, including AOL Travel, AOL Real Estate and AOL Autos. The MediaGlow unit is expected to create more than 30 editorially curated sites in 2009. AOL’s social media business unit, People Networks, is also poised to launch a number of new products in 2009 in connection with its next version of Bebo as well as efforts at socializing third-party websites.

About Platform-A

Platform-A, AOL’s advertising business, reaching 90% of the U.S. Internet audience, is the industry’s largest digital advertising platform. Platform-A offers the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions, powered by the Web’s best advertising technologies. Platform-A comprises AOL’s leading media properties – AOL.com, AIM, MapQuest, and more – and Advertising.com’s third-party networks. Platform-A also includes TACODA’s audience insights and behavioral targeting; Quigo, a site- and content-targeting solution; ADTECH, an international digital ad serving business; Third Screen Media, a mobile ad serving network; and buy.at, an affiliate marketing solution. Platform-A currently has operations in the United States, nine countries across Europe, including Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and Japan through a joint venture with Mitsui. Learn more at http://www.platform-a.com.