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.

As the advertising industry tries to tap the growing number of people using social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, the answer may lie in a little box of Godiva chocolates. This is no ordinary box of bonbons. Although it has aroused the appetites of millions of people, it can never be eaten. Its ingredients do not consist of cocoa or milk, but of bits of code. This box of Godiva chocolates exists only on the Internet and was recently promoted by the famous chocolatier as part of a recent campaign through AdNectar.

Increasing Purchase Intent and Click-Through Rates

Recent studies conducted by an online brand ad metrics company, Vizu, show that AdNectar’s campaigns are truly paying off for brands using sponsored virtual items as marketing messages.  The company’s research shows that branded social gifts increased purchase intent, awareness and engagement while actually improving the user’s experience.  “Our study showed that AdNectar’s social gifting ad approach clearly drove purchase intent,” said Dan Beltramo, CEO of Vizu.

In the Godiva study, those exposed to the AdNectar’s virtual chocolate were 20 percent more likely to purchase a real box of Godiva in the next six months than the control group that was not exposed.  This is particularly notable since most purchase intent studies of online campaigns barely break 2 percent lift according to Dynamic Logic, a leading advertising effectiveness company.

Effectively branding virtual items is not limited to well-known chocolate companies.  Method, a leading brand of eco-friendly home care products, recently launched a virtual goods campaign with AdNectar.  The results were even more impressive.
“Our campaign achieved a more than 60 percent lift in purchase intent,” said Gunther Lie, director of interactive marketing at Method. “AdNectar was very effective in driving traffic to our Facebook fan page as well as increasing awareness of the brand through the viral spread of our sponsored virtual items.”

According to AdNectar, the average click-through rate for its campaigns hovers around 0.8 percent and can reach up to 8 percent.  These clicks are generated by a hypertext link below the virtual item which directs users to the sponsor’s site of choice such as a landing page, home page or a pop-up video.  This CTR is significantly higher than the typical rates found on Facebook, which are in the range of 0.04 percent.

Preferred by User

Nir Eyal, CEO of AdNectar, believes the high purchase intent and click-through rates are a result of “user-generated targeting.”  Eyal said, “The users always know more than the marketer about what they and their friends like.  Virtual items let the users find our target audience for us.”  It is likely, for example, that a user, who voluntarily sends a virtual Sunkist soda (a recent AdNectar client) to another user, knows something about the person he or she is sending the virtual fizz to.  Eyal explains, “It is likely that the sender knows that the person being sent the virtual item, enjoys soda, loves the brand, or loves orangey goodness.  In any case, that’s a target customer for our client and is something you just can’t do with a traditional banner ad.  The best part is, it’s all voluntary.  The user chooses to send the virtual item because they enjoy doing so.  That’s why the AdNectar motto is ‘advertising people appreciate.’”

Virtual Goods Reach Tens of Millions Daily

Apparently, lots of users appreciate virtual items.  AdNectar reaches 50 million monthly unique users through its network of application partners and has agreements in place with 6 of the top 15 applications on Facebook.  The company believes virtual items are no longer a niche offering and estimates that 5 million virtual items are exchanged on Facebook every day, 90 percent of which are within the applications built on the social networks.
“Virtual items have become mainstream and are integral to many of the top social media applications,” said Eyal. “Users have come to expect them as a part of the social networking experience and they seek out better ways to communicate with friends.  AdNectar simply replaces what is are generally generic offerings, with branded virtual items that add to the user’s enjoyment while driving awareness and sales for advertisers.”

About AdNectar
AdNectar specializes in creating effective advertising that consumers appreciate.  By associating brands with virtual items, marketers are able to insert their brand message directly into the social media experiences.  AdNectar provides an integrated advertising platform that is more enjoyable for users, more effective for marketers and more profitable for publishers.  Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, AdNectar is backed by highly regarded private and institutional investors including Battery Ventures.  For more information, visit www.adnectar.com.  Please direct media inquires for AdNectar to:  Nir Eyal, nir@adnectar.com, 917.279.8578

About Godiva Chocolatier

With production facilities in Belgium and the U.S., Godiva Chocolatier is recognized around the world as the leader in fine chocolates. From its famous truffles and shell-molded chocolate pieces to its European-style biscuits, gourmet coffees and hot cocoa, Godiva Chocolatier is dedicated to 75 years of excellence and innovation in the Belgian tradition.   Please direct media inquires for Godiva to:  Alison Brod Public Relations, Alana Radmin / Ellen Fobes, alana@alisonbrodpr.com / ellen@alisonbrodpr.com, 212.230.1800

About Method

Founded in 2000, method is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Today, method is the leading innovator of premium healthy home and personal care products. Method can be found in over 25,000 retail locations throughout the US, Canada, the UK and Australia. Major retailers include Target, Wegman’s, Costco, Duane Reade, Safeway, Waitrose (UK), Shopper’s Drug Mart (Canada) and Woolworths (Australia). method is a privately held company backed by high net worth individuals and a private equity firm.  Please direct media inquires for method to:  Rachel Goldberg, method public relations, Rachel@methodhome.com, 415.746.1764

About Vizu

Vizu is the leading online brand advertising measurement system. Their Ad Catalyst real-time measurement infrastructure for assessing ad campaign effectiveness provides powerful benefits for publishers and advertisers. Through the use of Ad Catalyst, clients gain actionable Brand Lift data on their online advertising campaigns, giving them a powerful advertising ROI metric. Vizu is a privately-held company based in San Francisco, CA, with backing from leading venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Greycroft Partners. For more information visit: www.vizu.com.  Please direct media inquires for Vizu to:  Ben Heskett, bhesket@vizu.com, 415.362.8498 ext 17.

One example of this new ad opportunity would be a local newspaper that tweets a headline with a link to the full article; at the end of the tweet is an ad from the Adjix network, giving the newspaper a new way to earn revenue.

Benefits to advertisers include:

* Advertisers set the price they’re willing to pay for an ad
* Advertisers can allow anyone to run their ads, or limit them to specific Twitter accounts; they can also limit how frequently an ad can run within a specific Twitter account
* Advertisers can target Twitter users in specific cities
* Adjix offers precise targeting, transparent pricing, and link click data

Benefits to Twitter users (Adjix “linkers”) include:

* Earning ad revenue when running embedded ads in tweets using Adjix2Twitter
* Selecting which ad they want to run, or they can choose to run no ad
* Detailed reports on how many clicks they generate, as well as the opportunity to earn money from their blogs, text messages, and e-mails

“Twitter users and bloggers have fueled Adjix’s growth so far,” said Moreno. “We’re really excited to see their reaction to this new ad format. It will greatly increase linker’s earnings, and advertisers can reach Twitter users in a new, targeted format.”

Adjix was founded by Moreno, a former engineer and marketer at Apple Inc. The Adjix system is built using the same technology that Apple uses to run its iTunes Store and its online stores throughout the world. For more information, visit www.adjix.com.

Vdopia’s proprietary Dynamic Skin Branding technology allows the video player skin to change dynamically according to the targeting criteria specified by the advertiser. With this launch, advertisers can now target online video consumers with contextual, interactive advertising for every second of video watched.

In addition to the already successful pre roll ad format, Vdopia’s proprietary ‘Dynamic Skin Branding’ ad format delivers continuous brand visibility, highly measurable viewer engagement and extended call to action opportunity for advertisers, without interrupting the video viewing experience of the user. The innovative ad formats powered by VDO Labs are the most compelling interactive display advertising formats delivered in a customizable Flash ‘skin’ integrated around the video player.

So far, Vdopia has successfully executed the Dynamic Skin Branding ad format for India’s biggest brands like Tata Sky, Big TV, Godrej LCD and many others. This ad format has been the hottest advertising format for both performance and branding clients.

Online video advertising in India is set to grow at 300 per cent in 2009, according to Ernst & Young and has 85 per cent brand recall compared with 54 per cent for the same ad on the television. Vdopia is leading this revolution and is committed to increasing brand recall even further using its technology and innovations.

Chhavi Upadhyay, Chief Operating Officer of Vdopia commented: “We have run controlled tests through certain campaigns on our network and our results indicate several fold increase in the campaign performance when these ad formats are shown together on a video, it is almost as if these formats resonate with each other providing advertisers tremendous value.”

Skin Branding delivers more effective monetization of online video content for publishers. The proprietary integrated ad and media player technology is immune to the negative effects of ‘banner blindness’ by delivering extended brand visibility and the advertising exposure is measurable for every second of ad viewed. Skin Branding advertisements are served each time a new video or application starts and at specified intervals during long-form video content. Vdopia provides complete creative support to deliver the desired campaign objectives.

Saurabh Bhatia, Chief Business Officer of Vdopia added: “The fully customizable ‘skin’ also presents unlimited creative ability for advertisers to include interactive features and functionality such as promotional videos, animated expansion banners, games, contact forms, product downloads and purchases, plus basic click-throughs.”

About Vdopia, Inc.

Vdopia is the largest Video Ad Network and Video Ad Platform focused on South Asians across the globe. Vdopia delivers advertisers and publishers with industry-leading results due to its focus on premium audiences and premium content. Vdopia is the first video advertising company that has provided consistent monetization of online video content, which has resulted in massive growth in the amount of online video content across all leading South Asian websites.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Vdopia is a venture-backed company founded by Stanford and IIT graduates with extensive technology and media experience. The company has sales and development offices in San Jose, CA, New York, NY; Gurgaon and Mumbai, India.

“Zad Mobile is excited to be working with an innovative operator like Indosat. By developing and offering appealing advertising programs, such as their GSM prepaid card, IM3, for both subscribers and advertisers, Indosat is showing their commitment to growing this new line of business and new revenue streams,” Zad Mobile’s President, Igor Neyman, explained. The companies’ collaboration allows advertisers to use Zad Mobile’s sophisticated behavioral targeting capabilities, which draws from available subscriber data to deliver spot on, non-intrusive, targeted ads. By gathering and tracking customer supplied data through interactive campaigns ZMAP enhances both Operator and Advertiser initiatives and results in increased ad relevance over time. This ultimately allows the system and advertisers to grow with young subscribers and evolve to meet their changing tastes and up-to-date needs.

Aside from ZMAP’s enhanced targeting capabilities, the platform is able to support ad delivery on multiple channels, mobile and non-mobile. In doing so, it provides all participants in the mobile advertising ecosystem with one point of access where they can manage their mobile advertising business. Zad Mobile’s sensitivity to mobile operators’ needs, from protecting the privacy of subscribers to incorporating new lines of business, is apparent in their product design. Operators are able to manage their relationships with numerous advertisers and third party content providers, while ensuring that their subscribers receive the high-quality material to which they are accustomed, from one application. Similarly, Advertisers are able to execute campaigns, with media planning, buying, and reporting functions, across channels from one point to supporting more advanced mobile marketing initiatives.

For more information on Zad Mobile’s offerings please contact Killian Roach (pr@zadmobile.com).

About Zad Mobile

Zad Mobile (www.zadmobile.com) makes mobile advertising happen. Mobile advertising offers much promise for operators, media companies and brands by targeting the broadest and fastest growing medium the world has ever known. The Zad Mobile Advertising Platform allows mobile operators to generate mobile advertising revenue and, for the first time, run it as a new line of business. This starts with marketing and sales of ad inventory to buyers and the enablement of business processes that facilitate the creation and flawless execution of effective ad campaigns. Our innovative and proprietary technologies provide unprecedented insight into consumer behavior, resulting in the delivery of relevant ads at precisely the right time.

Zad Mobile is headquartered in San Francisco, California with offices in China and Russia. For more information about Zad Mobile, please visit www.zadmobile.com.

About Indosat

Indosat (www.indosat.com) is the telecommunication and information provider in Indonesia that provides cellular services (Mentari, Matrix and IM3), fixed telecommunication services or fixed voice service (namely SLI 001 SLI, 008 SLI and FlatCall 01016, fixed wireless services such as StarOne and Indosat Phone). Indosat service providers, together with their subsidiaries, Indosat Mega Media (IM2) and Lintasarta, also provide data (MIDI) services. Indosat is a pioneer provider of mobile 3.5 G services with HSDPA technology for post-pay and prepay. Indosat shares are listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (idx:ISAT) and shareholders in the form of American Depositary Shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:IIT).

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.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. – Lithium Technologies, the leading provider of on-demand customer community solutions for the enterprise, announced the launch of Lithium Insights, the first and only set of analytic solutions available to accurately measure and benchmark the health of online communities. Lithium Insights includes the Community Health Index and the Lifecycle Benchmark Service enabling customers to proactively monitor six key dimensions of community health, compare their communities’ performance to benchmarks and, most importantly, receive step-by-step recommendations to help improve performance. The Community Health Index is designed as an open standard, available for use by all in the customer community industry as a common way to measure community health.

“Lithium’s strength in reporting and metrics has helped us drive success with our customer community,” said Mark Hopkins, project manager for social media at Lenovo. “Having access to the Community Health Index and Lithium’s ability to benchmark our community against peers in size, tenure, and type provides us with insights that guide and optimize our growth and help us achieve our business objectives.”

In the October 2008 Forrester Report, Metrics for Social Applications in a Downturn, Josh Bernoff wrote, “Your social application should be aimed at a specific objective. Unless you measure progress toward that objective, you have no idea whether you’re accomplishing anything valuable.”

The challenge is that with so many possible characteristics to measure, it has been unclear to community managers which metrics should be used. What is more, many community managers are unclear about how to use those metrics to determine how to improve the health of their community. With Lithium Insights, the company has pioneered the science of community measurement and has developed two separate, but complementary solutions to address these needs for community managers:

* Lithium’s Community Health Index allows businesses to easily and accurately measure the six key characteristics of a healthy community: growth, usefulness of content, level of traffic, degree of responsiveness, interactivity, and liveliness. In combination, these characteristics allow companies to quantitatively measure and compare the progress of their community initiatives in a unified way. Lithium has developed this methodology based on scientific research from hundreds of customer communities and 10 years of experience. Controlling for differences in communities’ function and focus, Lithium has identified a set of qualities that unites healthy online communities of all kinds. Lithium customers will receive their Health Index on a weekly basis along with recommendations to address opportunity areas. In addition, the methodology will be available for anyone to use to identify their own health index rating.
* The Lifecycle Benchmark Service builds on the Community Health Index and offers the ability to benchmark the success and health of an online community from the very first hours of the community launch and throughout the communities’ life. In fact, within the first 4 hours of launch, Lithium begins sending the customer reports about the health of its community that can help predict the long-term success of a community. Additionally, if supporting data indicates that a community isn’t heading in the right direction, corrective action can be taken proactively to correct course.

“Through its Benchmark Service, Lithium is taking advantage of the predictive power of the Community Health Index. By mapping a community’s health index against appropriate benchmarks, the company can point out which levers to pull to attain the desired outcomes. As a result, community managers can be more effective in their jobs, and the community as a whole will be healthier, and therefore more effective in meeting business goals,” said Matthew Lees, vice president and analyst at the Patricia Seybold Group.

Lithium Insights is part of the company’s next generation platform release which includes numerous new capabilities dedicated to customer success. The new platform includes enhancements to drive engagement such as search-engine friendly mark-up, video, rich-media capabilities, and a widget-based interface that allows for rapid tailoring to customer needs. These new innovations enable customers to react to new insights quickly and take action to meet their business objectives without the need for a large staff or IT investments.

“At a recent industry roundtable, brands, vendors, and partners agreed that it was an imperative for all of us to develop a common way to measure the health of communities,” said Lyle Fong, CEO of Lithium Technologies. “We developed the Community Health Index based on our research and experience in the industry as a way to jump start this imperative. As an open methodology that can be used by all community managers, regardless of whether they are a Lithium customer, our hope is that this is the beginning of an industry-wide discussion about a common metric and look forward to the broader community’s feedback.”

“We applaud Lithium for sharing its Community Health Index with the industry. Lithium’s massive data set and years of experience put it in a near-unique leadership role to start the dialogue on benchmarking standards,” said Lees.

About Lithium Technologies

Lithium is the leading provider of customer-centric social networking solutions for the enterprise. Working with market leaders such as Best Buy, Sony, AT&T, Research In Motion Limited (RIM), Univision, and PayPal, Lithium delivers online customer communities that work. Lithium solutions inspire customers to share knowledge, connect with each other, and connect with the enterprise, thus providing a unique method for companies to identify, engage, and understand customers. As a result, businesses measurably improve their marketing and sales, accelerate innovation, and increase customer satisfaction. Lithium’s platform is proven in high-volume, growth environments and provides the security, analytics, APIs, and multi-language support that enterprises demand. Founded in 2001, Lithium is privately held with headquarters in Emeryville, California. For more information, visit www.lithium.com.

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ORLANDO, Fla. – Yahoo! Inc. announced the launch of three new targeting products for brand and performance marketers that are designed to help them reach the audiences that matter most when advertising online. The announcement was made during the Company’s keynote presentation at the annual conference of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

“As the economy continues to put pressure on advertising budgets, marketers are looking for increased accountability for every dollar they spend. Yahoo!’s new targeting products significantly improve the ability for search and display advertisers to reach their target audience, providing increased efficiency and accountability,” said Michael Walrath, senior vice president, Advertising Marketplaces Group, Yahoo!. “Yahoo! remains incredibly well positioned to meet the growing advertiser demand for performance marketing offerings, and no other company can provide marketers with such scale and expertise across search and display advertising.”

The new products include:

* Search Retargeting, which gives advertisers the ability to target display advertising based on user search activities;
* Enhanced Retargeting, which allows advertisers to deliver dynamically generated display ads across the Yahoo! network based on user activity on an advertiser’s site; and
* Enhanced Targeting capabilities for search advertising, including ad scheduling and demographic targeting within search.

Search Retargeting for Display Advertising

Yahoo!’s Search Retargeting is a customized display targeting solution that lets advertisers capture user interest from search terms and retarget the user with display ads throughout the Yahoo! Network. For example, if a user searches for the keyword “sandals,” indicating strong purchase intent, an advertiser can target that user with a tailored display ad for footwear.

“We are always looking at new ways to maximize our ad spend while utilizing the most cost-effective solutions that convert users on the backend. By using Yahoo!’s Search Retargeting display product, we were able to achieve an effective cost per lead that was at the same level as our search backend goals and 50% lower than our regular display retargeting efforts, meaning that our display campaign was performing close to our search campaign,” said Rico de León, senior director of Media Services Operations, at University of Phoenix.

Enhanced Retargeting for Display Advertising

Yahoo! is also introducing Enhanced Retargeting, which combines standard site retargeting with dynamic ad generation. For example, users who visit an airline website to check offers for flights from SFO-JFK can be served a personalized offer for that specific flight when they visit a page within the Yahoo! Network. In a recent trial, a market-leading online travel company saw a 230% increase in total bookings and a 651% increase in click-through rate when comparing Enhanced Retargeting to their traditional retargeting campaign.

Enhanced Targeting Capabilities for Search Advertising

Recognizing the need for more focused audience segmentation and improved control, Yahoo! Search Marketing will offer advertisers Enhanced Targeting capabilities for Sponsored Search and Content Match programs (expected to start in March). New features are designed to extend the advertiser’s control over where and when an ad is shown at both the campaign and ad group level, including what time of day and day of the week an advertiser would like campaigns to run (ad scheduling) and what age and gender they’d like to reach (demographic). Advertisers will be able to vary their bids for different segments in order to increase their ability to reach the desired audience.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by creating indispensable experiences built on trust. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – PubMatic (www.pubmatic.com), an ad revenue optimization company that works with over 5,500 online publishers, announced the official launch of its highly anticipated Application Programming Interface (API). The API will increase revenue for both ad networks and PubMatic’s publisher clients by allowing an instant and transparent connection between them for single or multiple ad campaigns on demand. The official API launch comes after a successful closed beta period with multiple ad network partners.

Benefits for Ad Networks:

* Increased Reach: Access to over 125 million unique users and thousands of websites
* Improved Targeting: Ad networks can leverage expanded targeting options including geography, frequency, user re-targeting, ad tag type, and much more
* Campaign Control: Ad networks have total control over pricing and timing for campaigns

Benefits for Publishers:

* Increased Monetization: Allowing more ad networks to instantly access publisher inventory increases publisher ad rates and sell through rates
* Increased Visibility: Dozens of new ad networks can get instant and transparent access to publisher inventory
* Better User Experience: More premium campaigns and better targeting result in users seeing higher quality and more relevant advertising
* Zero Integration: PubMatic publishers have instant access to premium campaigns and ad networks via the API, with zero integration effort

“Efficiency is absolutely key to improving monetization in the online advertising ecosystem,” said PubMatic CEO, Rajeev Goel. “Our API was designed to seamlessly connect publishers and ad networks so they can have total control of their campaigns, which results in an easy, streamlined process that is financially beneficial to both parties. This is the future of online advertising.”

About PubMatic:

PubMatic is an Ad Revenue Optimization service. PubMatic provides more than 5,500 web publishers real-time ad optimization, which significantly increases revenue while simplifying ad network management. PubMatic works with hundreds of ad networks and has created thousands of new publisher/ad network relationships. PubMatic is venture backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Nexus India Capital, and Helion Ventures. Find out more at http://www.pubmatic.com.

The advertising portion of the Villeroy & Boch Bath and Wellness Division was awarded to Rieches Baird www.riechesbaird.com. Rieches Baird is based in Irvine, CA, and is well recognized as one of the premium Business to Business Advertising agencies. The agency has a long history of building brands in the homebuilding products arena.

- Premiere Online Wholesaler DollarDays Chooses Didit as Search Marketing Agency of Record
Didit, the Inc 500 / Deloitte Fast 500 leader in search engine marketing, is pleased to announce that DollarDays International (www.DollarDays.com)—the premiere online wholesaler and closeout company—has become the newest member of Didit’s client roster.

DollarDays cites Didit’s expertise in driving efficiencies at even the most granular levels as a critical factor in its transition to Didit. Didit’s emphasis on efficiency, explains Marc Joseph, President and CEO of DollarDays, fits with DollarDays’ own approach to business.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Market2Lead, a leading provider of marketing automation software and services, announced a significant advancement in the usability of on-demand marketing automation. The company has released a new user interface for its products that makes creating automated demand generation campaigns faster and easier while maintaining its software’s unique capabilities to control automated lead nurturing campaigns through complex arbitration rules.

“Until now, the usability of on-demand marketing automation software declined as systems became more complex,” said Geoff Rego, co-founder and CEO, Market2Lead. “Our new user interface reverses that trend. It enables our software to provide marketers both the sophisticated functionality they desire and an interface that’s so intuitive, even entry level marketers can build marketing campaigns in as few as three easy steps. Our on-demand software helps marketers automate campaigns, deliver higher quality leads to their sales departments and save time.”

David Raab, database marketing consultant and author of the “Raab Guide to Demand Generation Systems,” said, “Usability is about more than making things easy: it’s about making important things easy. Market2Lead’s new interface makes the system’s powerful capabilities vastly more accessible to non-technical users.”

Adam Sarner, Research Director, Gartner, Inc., said, “Marketing automation software continues to be a popular investment, especially as the recession places stronger importance on nurturing leads that are not yet ready to buy. Many of the applications that perform such nurturing also offer many other capabilities, including the ability to manage multi-channel campaigns and provide business intelligence-style analytics. As the capabilities of these programs increase, they can become more and more difficult to use. A well-designed user interface that enables marketers to do complicated things easily becomes an important differentiator in the market.”

Features of Market2Lead’s new user interface include:

* A new drag and drop graphical editor for automated campaign creation
* Significant dynamic navigation improvements including direct access to opportunities so that marketing ROI can be measured
* Greatly enhanced smart search function
* New campaign, program, web form and list creation wizards
* Many new operational reports for instant access to marketing results
* Enhanced web services API that enables customers to configure automated imports and exports to and from their own custom data sources

“With this new release Market2Lead customers will find it easier and faster to create sophisticated automated lead nurturing campaigns,” Rego said. “The wizards for creating campaigns, forms and target lists will help new users get up to speed and become productive very quickly. And the drag-and-drop graphical editor for building sophisticated nurturing campaigns makes this functionality accessible to marketers at all levels.”

The latest release of Market2Lead’s software is available immediately. For more information, visit www.market2lead.com/solutions/marketing-automation-release-notes.html.

* Wednesday, February 25 at 1:00 p.m. ET at the Jefferies 5th Internet and Media Conference;
* Thursday, February 26 at 11:40 a.m. PT at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference; and
* Tuesday, March 3 at 3:30 p.m. PT at the Morgan Stanley 2009 Technology Conference.

Presentation materials and webcast links to the presentations will be available on the Investor Relations section of www.valueclick.com.

About ValueClick, Inc.

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCLK) is one of the world’s largest online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and robust revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick’s performance-based solutions allow customers to reach their potential through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate and search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and email technology, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, Smarter.com, CouponMountain.com, and PriceRunner. For more information, please visit www.valueclick.com.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – In a recent survey of Southern California technology executives, most believe it will take another six months to a year before business conditions will improve, with private company executives slightly more bullish than public companies’ executives.

These are part of the results of a non-scientific survey conducted using the socalTECH.com database of technology executives from Jan. 19 to Jan. 30.

The survey, conducted by The David James Agency, garnered responses from 150 respondents ranging from San Diego County to Los Angeles County to Santa Barbara County. Respondents covered the full spectrum of SoCal tech industries, including aerospace, communications equipment and service providers, to name a few.

When asked when will business improve, 40% of those surveyed said it would take longer than one year, while another 32% said it would be more than six months before a turnaround would begin.

While the government is working to generate stimulus packages to aid businesses, only 4% of respondents believe the government stimulus will be the main impetus for business improvement. Improved corporate spending seems to be the biggest potential driver for the technology companies, with 46% of respondents noting this at this main impetus for business improvement.

“Despite the reports of a down economy, local technology companies remain optimistic,” said Ben Kuo, socalTECH founder. “I think the companies that are able to quickly adapt to the current economic situation will be able to ride out this downturn.”

Southern California technology executives are feeling the impact of the status of the economy, with 65% of respondents impacted by some level of sales decline. Adapting to the situation, 71% of technology companies have implemented one or more solutions as a way to cut costs. Some of the ways these companies have cut costs include implementing hiring freezes, holiday shut down or reducing salaries.

Even with sales declines, technology companies are working to keep as many employees on staff as possible. According to the survey, 67% of respondents have not yet laid off employees.

Most respondents would recommend Southern California to a colleague to relocate their technology business, but their biggest drawback to working here is the cost of doing business.

Editor’s Note: Data is available for Los Angeles County, Ventura County/Santa Barbara County and Orange County/San Diego County.

About socalTECH

socalTECH.com provides up to date news and information about high tech companies in Southern California, including interviews, a calendar of local events, and a database of technology firms in the region. socalTECH.com has been dedicated to promoting the technology industry in Southern California since 1998, and provides the most in-depth, up-to-date, and focused view of high tech in the Southern California area.

About The David James Agency

The David James Agency LLC specializes in public relations and marketing communications for start-up and emerging technology companies. Founded in 2003, DJA currently services clients in a variety of high-tech industries, including semiconductors, telecom and wireless services and infrastructure, networking, clean power and energy, and enterprise software. More information about The David James Agency LLC is available at www.davidjamesagency.com.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Jivox, the online video advertising service that helps small and medium-sized businesses reach local customers, unveiled a new metric to help advertisers gauge the effectiveness of their online video ads. The Jivox “Video Engagement Score”, introduced as part of the Jivox 4.0 product release, measures all viewer interactions with an online video ad and assigns a value to the ad relative to the performance of all the ads in the Jivox Publisher Network.

The Video Engagement Score is a new approach to measuring the effectiveness of online video campaigns that goes beyond the traditional click-through standard used to measure search and display ads. The Engagement Score takes into account the richness of video ads and, for the first time, the multiple interactions a consumer has with an online video ad, and assigns a value to those interactions to provide advertisers deeper insight into an ad’s total performance. Ads are “scored” by comparing their performance to that of other ads on the Jivox Publisher Network.

“By introducing new interactivity features into Jivox ads, we now have the opportunity to go beyond click-throughs to measure ad performance,” said Diaz Nesamoney, CEO of Jivox. “Online video already has the greatest potential to engage the viewer due to its inherent entertainment value. Until now, it was difficult to measure the engagement value of a video ad. Advertisers can now use our interactivity features and the Video Engagement Score along with our self-service capabilities to test and improve the performance of campaigns, thus improving their overall ROI on video advertising.”

The Engagement Score is calculated as the total viewer interactions weighted by response priority and divided by the total views. The result is then normalized to fit within a range of 0-100 and adjusted such that the median of Engagement Scores across all active Jivox campaigns with more than 15,000 views in the Jivox Publisher Network is 50.

The speaker will be SofTECH board member Lorne Evje, a Subject Matter Expert in marketing education, strategy, and communication. Lorne will:
* Define Moxie and help you identify your Inner Moxie
* Reveal a business resource you may have overlooked or forgotten
* Recommend three tools to incorporate in your marketing strategy right now

You’ll leave the meeting with new insights about yourselves and new tools for promoting your business. If you miss this presentation, you’ll be kicking yourself all the way into Q4.

Be prepared: The only “R” word you’ll hear in this presentation is “Recovery” – “The Economic Recovery.”

Mark your calendar. Tell your colleagues and clients. Carpool and go green.

Speaker: Lorne Evje [EV-yuh] is Principal of Context Consulting, Inc., a marketing education, strategy, and communication firm focusing on business development for entrepreneurs and professionals.

Context offers Marketing Consulting, Marketing Newsletter, Marketing Speaker, Marketing Special Interest Groups, Marketing Workshops, and Media Coaching.

More information at www.incontext.us, where “Marketing Matters,” a weekly information reference is available without cost or obligation.
Meeting: Wednesday, February 25, 2009

6:30 PM – 7:15 PM Registration and Networking
7:15 PM – 8:15 PM Presentation
8:15 PM – 8:45 PM Audience Q&A

San Rafael Corporate Center
Tamalpais Room
750 Lindaro
San Rafael CA 94901

Food and beverages will be served.

$20 at the door for non-members who did not register in advance.

Organization: SofTECH is a non-profit trade organization committed to fostering communication and cooperation for business and technology professionals in Northern California’s Marin and Sonoma counties. Its goal is to identify and showcase technology leaders and support the technology user community. SofTECH develops programs and provides meaningful networking opportunities for its members. Website.

BARCELONA, Spain & REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. – MocoSpace and Smaato, the leading global aggregator for mobile advertising networks, announced a new strategic partnership for mobile advertising.

MocoSpace (www.MocoSpace.com) has more than 5 million registered users and 2 billion monthly page views. The US-focused mobile social site was recently ranked No. 1 in mobile entertainment by Hitwise (www.hitwise.com), an independent market research firm. MocoSpace successfully integrated SOMA (Smaato’s Open Mobile Advertising platform) in late 2008 and first results show already improvements on its mobile ad revenue and ROI.

„Our mobile community is growing day by day and Smaato with their SOMA mobile advertising platform helps us to better monetize it,” said Justin Siegel, chief executive officer and co-founder of MocoSpace. “With Smaato we benefit by increasing our ad revenue from our growing international traffic as well as our US traffic that is core to our user base.”

MocoSpace is a social community site where members create custom profiles, upload and share photos, IM, chat, blog and more from their mobile phone.

“MocoSpace is a partner that generates more than 2 billion page impressions a month. Wow! The engagement level of the MocoSpace community is very high and Smaato is actively filling the mobile inventory with our partner ad networks world wide,” commented Harald Neidhardt, CMO & Co-Founder of Smaato Inc.

SOMA is the largest advertising exchange for mobile publishers and developers. As the first aggregator of mobile ad sales networks globally, Smaato optimizes mobile ad page impressions for publishers of mobile web content and in-application offerings.

Smaato is partnering with more than 20 mobile ad networks worldwide for yield optimization and maximizing Ad ARPU of its publisher and content partners.

Smaato at the Mobile World Conference 2009 in Barcelona at Booth H7A38 in Hall 7.

About Smaato Inc.

Smaato Inc. is a leading mobile advertising technology company that provides the open mobile advertising platform called SOMA (Smaato Open Mobile Advertising) and partners with mobile publishers, developers, ad networks and operators.

SOMA’s unique feature is the aggregation of multiple leading ad networks globally to maximize mobile advertising ARPU.

About MocoSpace

Founded in 2005, MocoSpace is a mobile social community designed to help people find friends, have fun and stay connected on their mobile phone. The service is free and available on any web-enabled mobile phone in the world. MocoSpace is a privately held company with offices in Boston, MA and Herzliya, Israel. For more information, visit http://www.MocoSpace.com.

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.

“What we do is produce a video message, not unlike a standard video TV commercial, but with the specific intent of converting the finished message to a file size that is small enough to be sent over the Internet as an email attachment,” says Worksmart president, Michael Dotson.

Such video messages can be used to promote a wide variety of products, services, information or just about anything that can benefit from increased awareness. Additionally, they can be set up as a Web link or placed onto a Web site.

Dotson explains that, “Video Brochures have many advantages over typical email campaigns because they deliver the immediate impact of sight, sound, and motion to create a memorable connection with potential customers.

“With the vast majority of Internet users now having direct access to broadband, this kind of messaging is now possible on a large scale for the first time in history,” he adds. “We, at Worksmart, believe that the Video Brochure, with its low production and email costs is a game changer that gives small companies an edge against larger, more powerful competitors.”

Video Brochures typically run less than two minutes in length, and the production costs are very affordable – generally running under $3,000 to produce.

For more information on this new concept, please contact Worksmart Media Group at info@worksmartmediagroup.com or call 714-267-7810.

LOS ANGELES – PhaseOne Communications, a leading Los Angeles-based research consultancy, defies convention with its unique analytical method that forecasts content effectiveness with pinpoint accuracy to provide improved communications and brand affinity for its clients.

In the U.S., organizations spend more than $150 billion annually on advertising. The advertising spend worldwide is expected to reach $500 billion by 2010, according to recent reports. As consumers become increasingly distracted by a constant barrage of television commercials, print ads and Internet banners, organizations have the growing challenge of reaching their audience with impactful messages amidst a tight economy and shrinking marketing and advertising budgets.

“The current environment has forced advertisers to campaign more wisely, with added pressure on getting their communications right the first time,” said PhaseOne Communications Chairman and CEO Jody Moxham.

“Advertisers are wary of taking risks and need higher assurance that their strategies are effectively and efficiently communicated. Usually, they begin with traditional methods, which involve scoring and feedback to test what elements of an ad best support the brand. Unlike the traditional method of learning ‘after the fact,’ our analysis is really valuable early in the process—prior to a launch—by forecasting consumer behavior and offering actionable communication solutions to resolve messaging issues before they hit the marketplace thereby increasing the odds for success.

“Right now advertisers can’t afford to wait and test a produced ad only to find it has failed to impact the audience and then be forced to start again. We partner with our clients to help them to select the strongest ideas and then work to perfect it,” she added.

While the PhaseOne methodology is based on a deeply-centered understanding of consumer behavior, the firm does not directly consult consumer opinion in its communications diagnosis. For more than 20 years, Moxham and her team of analysts, communications specialists and researchers have been refining and expanding a knowledge base that serves clients in diverse cultural and business markets around the world.

PhaseOne examines 297 different factors that influence the communications’ performance. With the ability to assess clients’ communications messages at various stages ranging from rough concepts to already produced advertising, PhaseOne’s analysts are able to determine which factors in the communications successfully drive performance and which factors are hindrances. The results of this process give the brand actionable steps to improve their communications effectiveness with the target audience.

PhaseOne helped a top brand introduction exceed sales goals. Its client in the consumer-packaged-goods industry introduced a new genre of product under an existing brand name that had a reputation for being non-innovative and dated. The advertisement needed to introduce the new product, overcome/change the reputation of the brand and reshape consumer behavior. The PhaseOne team helped the client and its ad agency to select and refine the advertisements that best aligned with the client’s strategy to introduce the product, create awareness for it, and drive sales. The overall result was that the advertisements’ success contributed to $100 million in sales during the product’s first year. Moreover, the new product was recognized by BrandWeek as a top brand introduction for that year.

About PhaseOne Communications

Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, PhaseOne Communications is a specialized research consultancy serving the communications needs of clients worldwide. PhaseOne transcends the conventions of market and communications research by bringing a validated methodology that breaks with tradition to accurately forecast target audience response and understanding across all cultures. In partnership with clients through hands-on collaboration, PhaseOne expertly melds the art and science of persuasion, bringing not only academic rigor, but also artistic sensibilities to its in-depth understanding of communications and targeted messaging for maximum impact. This PhaseOne precision guided communications process enables clients to achieve their business goals by getting their communications right the first time – and every time. More information about PhaseOne Communications is available at www.phaseone.net.

San Mateo, California – February 17, 2009 – Jivox, the online video advertising service that helps small and medium-sized businesses reach local customers, today announced general availability of Jivox 4.0, the next major release of its popular online video advertising platform. Jivox 4.0 delivers click-to-action interactivity features that encourage viewers to take action without leaving a video; a first-of-its-kind Video Engagement Score that assigns a value to those interactions as compared against other ads running on the Jivox Publisher Network; and new in-depth reporting dashboards providing information on campaign performance over time, comparative scoring, trend information and other detailed data on key performance metrics.

“The goal of this release was to give our customers the ability to easily create the most engaging, cost-effective advertising on the Web today, and then give them the tools to measure its true effectiveness,” said Diaz Nesamoney, CEO of Jivox. “Online video advertising has the unique ability to enhance an advertiser’s brand while offering unmatched direct response capabilities. We believe that these new features will take online video advertising to the next level of performance-driven advertising and provide a solid foundation for the continued rapid growth of the medium.”

Key new features of the Jivox video advertising platform include:

Click-to-Action Interactivity:

New interactivity features from Jivox encourage viewers to take immediate action without leaving a video, facilitating direct interaction between consumers and an advertiser. When a viewer clicks the Interactivity icon, the video is paused and the click-to-action features are presented as an overlay to the video.  Interactivity options include:

* Download a coupon: Downloads a coupon or document provided by the advertiser
* Request information via email: Submits a request to the advertiser to respond with product or service information.
* Email to a friend: Shares the video via email by inputting senders email address and recipients’ email addresses.
* Embed this ad on a web site: Displays an embed tag that  enables the video to be embedded in a website or blog.
* Share information via SMS: Advertiser contact information is sent via SMS by entering a mobile phone number.

Video Engagement Score:

The Video Engagement Score is a new approach to measuring the effectiveness of online video campaigns that goes beyond the traditional click-through standard. The Video Engagement Score takes into account for the first time multiple interactions a consumer has with an online video ad and assigns a weighted value to those interactions to provide advertisers deeper insight into an ad’s total performance.  Ads are “scored” by comparing their performance to that of other ads on the Jivox Publisher Network.

The Video Engagement Score is calculated as the total viewer interactions weighted by response priority and divided by the total views. The result is then normalized to fit within a range of 0-100 and adjusted such that the median of Video Engagement Scores across all active Jivox campaigns with more than 15,000 views in the Jivox Publisher Network is 50.

Enhanced Performance Dashboards and Reports:

With the latest release, Jivox now provides a number of dashboards and detailed reports for paid online video advertising campaigns:

* Performance Summary: Presents the most frequently accessed information including video views, click-through rate, coupon downloads and interactions.
* Trends: Presents Performance Summary information over the life of the campaigns with the ability to view over days, weeks, or months.
* Performance Comparison: Compares results of multiple campaigns.
* Detailed Reports: Presents all measured data as whole numbers or as percent of views.

“There are a growing number of competitive offerings in the local online video ad space. The name of the game is differentiation through ad creation tools as well as targeted distribution,” said Michael Boland, Senior Analyst at the Kelsey Group. “Jivox has an edge with distribution through its locally targeted network of publishers. The new release should bolster the other factor: better tools for advertisers to create ads and measure their effectiveness.”

Customer Feedback

One company that has used the new version of Jivox is Hemancipation, a Beverly Hills-based company that provides concierge and design services for men transitioning through divorce. Using stock video footage from the Jivox library, company founder Akilah Kamaria created an ad campaign targeting bachelors and divorced men whose ex-wife took most of the furniture or who needed to create a more comfortable space for entertaining. She also included a coupon for a free initial consultation. The ad was distributed via the Jivox Publisher Network in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Within three days of the ad running, Hemancipation had more hits on their web site than they had had in a year of advertising with another web ad company.  Kamaria also saw that viewers were downloading the coupon, meaning that people were gearing up to call the company for services.

“I’m a big fan of Jivox and love the new interactivity features,” said Akilah Kamaria, founder of Hemancipation.  “It’s great that people can see my ad and be able to text or email it to someone, particularly with my service that relies so much on referrals: it might be the 17-year-old nephew who sees my ad and sends it to his recently divorced uncle.  For people who blog about divorce or starting over, now they can also take my ad and post it on their blog.  Jivox really takes the virtual relationship to another level by allowing viewers to interact with the ad.  This leverages the message and the value even further.”

Online video advertising is one of the fastest-growing forms of online marketing because it commands the highest engagement and ROI of almost any online advertising method. Video ads generate nearly twice the click-through as banner ads and engage customers in an entertaining brand experience. Jivox helps smaller companies tap the power of video advertising, offering a complete, self-service online platform to create, place, and track high-impact video ads at a cost-effective price.

About Jivox
Jivox helps small businesses reach customers with online video advertising. Jivox provides advertisers with an online, self-service tool to create high-impact video ads using stock footage, images, music or their existing video assets. Jivox ensures high-quality placement of customer ads through the Jivox Publisher Network, a locally focused network of premium publishers that includes hundreds of local TV and radio stations, newspapers, weather and other specialty websites, and offers geographic ad targeting at the city level as well as demographic and contextual targeting. Jivox is a privately held company based in San Mateo, Calif. For more information about Jivox, please visit www.jivox.com.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – PubMatic (www.pubmatic.com), which provides more than 5,500 online publishers with real-time ad optimization, announced AdFlex International, an expanded version of the popular AdFlex campaign fulfillment service that dozens of ad networks have used since its launch in October (www.pubmatic.com/adflex). AdFlex International provides ad networks access to publisher inventory on-demand in order to fulfill campaigns without any long-term contracts. Ad networks can use AdFlex International for repeated and single campaigns by leveraging certified inventory provided by online publishers using PubMatic’s ad optimization platform.

With AdFlex International, ad networks can target qualified international inventory based on specific targeting requirements including geographic, frequency, or user re-targeting. There is no membership or long-term contracts required to give ad networks the flexibility to access highly transparent inventory.

“PubMatic gives us easy access to qualified international inventory. They have instantly increased our reach and access to media,” said Federico López Carricondo of Latin America based ad network, Harren Media. “This is especially useful in helping us provide value to our advertising clients because it’s done on a completely transparent basis.”

AdFlex International is integrated into PubMatic’s ad optimization platform, which is used by thousands of online publishers to automatically find the highest paying ads across hundreds of ad networks, and optimize how ads are displayed in real-time.

“PubMatic has seen that as much as 30-40% of a typical U.S. publisher’s traffic is international, so this will give ad networks an opportunity to reach specific international audiences on quality websites,” stated PubMatic Co-Founder & CEO, Rajeev Goel. “Leveraging AdFlex International for one or multiple campaigns will help increase revenue for both the ad network and the publisher.”

About PubMatic

PubMatic is an Ad Revenue Optimization service. PubMatic provides more than 5,500 web publishers real-time ad optimization, which significantly increases revenue while simplifying ad network management. PubMatic works with hundreds of ad networks and has created thousands of new publisher/ad network relationships. PubMatic is venture backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Nexus India Capital, and Helion Ventures. Find out more at http://www.pubmatic.com.

PLEASANTON, Calif.  – LeapFish.com, the only online search portal to deliver the best of the web in a click-free search, announced that traffic on its fast-growing search aggregator has tripled since the site’s November 2008 launch. The company reports that the LeapFish.com engine has received a tremendously positive response from users and they are forecasting a substantial traffic trajectory into the future.

“We are pleased with the early progress of LeapFish and its adoption by many early users,” said Behnam Behrouzi, president and CEO of LeapFish. “LeapFish’s strong and consistent early traffic growth is a clear indicator of the engine’s potential.”

Behrouzi says growth has not only come in the form of new users, but also in the number of advertisers. The company has seen a marked influx of sponsors who have quickly purchased thousands of keywords to secure high ranking results positioning. Some are already seeing a return on their investment.

“After purchasing keywords, in the first couple of weeks I received several phone calls, shook hands with 11 people, and had many serious buyers turn into tons of conversions,” said Michael Murray, of ManForArt Co. in Maui, Hawaii.

LeapFish’s unique advertising model has been well received by advertisers, given the intense competition currently found in traditional online marketing models. LeapFish allows advertisers to purchase permanent ad positioning for any available keyword, with no pay-per-click fees—ever. Advertisers are free to keep the keyword forever, or sell for a profit as it goes up in value based on its popularity.

“LeapFish offers advertisers an unprecedented opportunity to capture keyword positions in a revolutionary new search offering, as well as benefit from both the traffic and equity side as LeapFish grows over time,” said Behrouzi.

LeapFish offers one of the world’s fastest search services through its Just Type It auto-populated search box that delivers instantaneous results as users type each character into the search box. The site, which launched in November 2008 by parent company DotNext Inc., employs proprietary hyper-threading technology to aggregate results from all major online portals and quickly deliver more relevant content to users in a single search query.

Make the leap to LeapFish at www.leapfish.com.

About LeapFish

LeapFish is a multi-dimensional search engine that captures the variety of the web in a single click-free search interface. The search engine delivers instantaneous results from major Internet destinations while you type. LeapFish, Inc. is a privately held corporation headquartered out of CARR America Corporate Center in Pleasanton, California. For more information, visit www.leapfish.com.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Accel Partners and Stanford’s MediaX announced their 15th symposium, which will feature unfiltered industry insights and offer the unique opportunity to learn and discuss the impacts of 2008′s dramatic events on the world of digital media and technology. The Symposium brings together the Stanford research community, high-technology business leaders, and entrepreneurs who are collectively driving developments in this rapidly changing arena.

The Accel symposium is geared towards entrepreneurs, academic and industrial researchers, investors and executives to learn first-hand how to be better informed about new trends in digital media, advertising, and next generation media-oriented business models. Attendees will explore the future of information technologies and services, and will gain critical direction and insight to take back to their companies and help drive their strategic and operational decisions.

Topics will include:

1. The Obama Administration Impact on Innovation Sectors

2. Digital Media Advertiser & Technology Priorities in a Downsizing World

3. Trends in Datacenter Infrastructure and Cloud Computing

4. Will the Recession Strengthen Open Source or Destroy Profitability?

5. SaaS Crossing the Chasm: Are We There Yet?

“We are very excited to be hosting our 15th Symposium,” stated Kevin Efrusy from Accel Partners. “We have great panelists and speakers this year that will explore what 2008 has meant for us and how it will impact the future of technology. It is important to learn from each other what we’ve done right and what has hindered our growth during this economic crisis.”

Symposium participants will include the following key industry figures:

Keynotes:

* John Donahoe, CEO, eBay Inc.
* Sir Martin Sorrell, Chairman and CEO, WPP

Speakers and Panelists:

* Jeremy Allaire, CEO and Founder, Brightcove, Inc.
* Adam Bain, President of Audience Network, Fox
* Jim Bankoff, CEO, SB Nation
* Matthew Barzun, National Finance Team for Barack Obama and Former Chief Strategy Officer, CNET Networks, Inc
* John Battelle, Chairman and CEO, Federated Media
* Rob Bearden, Former President, Jboss; President, Springsource
* Dave Berman, President of Worldwide Sales and Service, WebEx
* Tim Cadogan, CEO, OpenX
* Duke Chung, CEO, Parature
* Scott Dietzen, SVP of Communications and Products, Yahoo!
* Curt Hecht, President, Vivaki Nerve Center
* Chris Hughes, Facebook, and Architect of Obama’s Digital Campaign Strategies
* Bob Muglia, President Server and Tools Business, Microsoft Corp.
* Raghu Ramakrishnan, Chief Scientist for Audience and Research Fellow at Yahoo, Inc.
* Mark Read, Strategy Director, WPP
* Mike Schroepfer, VP Engineering, Facebook
* Quincy Smith, CEO, CBS Interactive
* David Thompson, CEO, Genius Inc., Former CMO, WebEx
* Jayshree Ullal, President and CEO, Arista Networks
* Zack Urlocker, VP of Products, Sun Microsystems
* Maynard Webb, CEO, LiveOps; Former COO, eBay, Inc.
* Jeff Weiner, President, LinkedIn; Former EIR, Accel Partners

The 15th Stanford Accel Symposium hosted by MediaX is a one-of-its-kind gathering place for technology experts, stakeholders, leaders, and media. The one-day conference offers insider views and industry intelligence on the changing trends and leading-edge services and experiences in technology and digital media.

What: The 15th Stanford Accel Symposium – The Delta Conference: The Impact of 2008′s Dramatic Events on the World of Digital Media and Technology

Where: Arrillaga Alumni Center at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

When: February 25, 2009, 7:30 am to 3:45 pm

A full agenda can be accessed by visiting: http://www.accel.com/symposium/index.html

To register for the event please visit: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=171594&CFID=14396248&CFTOKEN=74742849.

About MediaX

In a world where industry increasingly seeks inspiration from sources outside its own corporate walls, and modern research universities move toward the integration across disciplines of ideas borne out of basic research that have true impact in the world, MediaX embodies a new model to facilitate these activities.

MediaX builds bridges among the best faculty and student scholars at Stanford and thought leaders from influential companies to address questions of real importance within both academia and industry. Our activities are driven by a steadfast belief in the inspiration that emerges at the intersection of industry need and academic research; at the intersection of various disciplines addressing the same question; and at the intersection of people and technology.

Fundamental to our vision is the belief that we serve two customers: industry partners that affiliate with our program, and the research community within Stanford University. MediaX puts in place the building blocks that make these interactions work and make possible new models of innovation.

About Accel Partners

Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of excellence and innovation in the venture capital business and is dedicated to partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, London, UK, and Bangalore, India as well as in China via the IDG-Accel Partnership.

With over $4 billion under management, Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful companies, many of which have defined their categories include Actuate, Acopia, Agile Software, Alfresco, AMCC, Arrowpoint, BBN, Brightcove, ComScore, Etsy, Facebook, Foundry Networks, GlamMedia, Imperva, Infinera, Interwoven, JBoss, Kayak, Macromedia, Maven Networks, metroPCS, Polycom/PictureTel, Portal Software, QlikTech, Rapt, Real Networks, Redback Networks, Riverbed, UUNet, Veritas, Walmart.com, Webroot, Wily Technology, XenSource and Zimbra. For more information, visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com.

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – FatTail Inc. announced PageGage, sales optimization software for online publishers that want to maximize online advertising revenue and profits, process more transactions faster and dramatically reduce ad sales and operation costs. PageGage makes it easier for publishers to price, plan and sell more premium guaranteed inventory and get from quote to cash quicker, by eliminating many of the inefficiencies of online ad sales operations. The beta version of PageGage is available immediately and provides an easy-to-use, complete yield management solution that automates inventory forecasting and proposal generation, provides dynamic pricing and projects campaign performance.

“With PageGage, any online publisher can increase the amount of ad inventory they sell direct and reduce their reliance on ad networks,” said Steve Pelletier, FatTail’s founder and CEO. “Plus, PageGage’s patent-pending AutoBuild™ technology allows sales reps to respond to RFPs in minutes versus days or weeks and provides customers with better performing campaigns and service.”

PageGage allows publishers to increase revenues because the software generates more accurate forecasts of inventory availability than traditional methods and provides sales representatives with real-time, value driven, dynamic pricing recommendations. With PageGage, sales representatives create more relevant RFP responses that include a much broader range of placement recommendations designed to generate the best results for a specific advertiser and increase publishers’ direct sales.

PageGage streamlines processes by automatically capturing data that all sales representatives and ad operations staff need to manage their business, and makes it easy to respond quickly to RFPs for new campaigns or campaign reoptimizations. Sales representatives just answer a few simple questions and the software generates a customized RFP response and provides them with expected campaign performance metrics. In addition, optimal pricing is automatically generated by PageGage’s dynamic pricing engine based on an analysis of sales history, seasonal site traffic trends, current fulfillment obligations and pre-existing client discount levels.

“The online advertising marketplace remains chaotic and disjointed with many eager buyers and sellers who are all operating on their own without standards and streamlined processes,” said Caroline Dangson, research analyst for IDC’s Digital Marketplace program. “Technologies like PageGage, allow for a more optimized and automated online ad sales process, which can increase the direct sales of publishers’ premium guaranteed inventory and decrease the amount of inventory they outsource to ad networks.”

For more information on PageGage and to join the PageGage beta program, visit www.FatTail.com.

About FatTail

FatTail, www.FatTail.com, makes it easy for online publishers to price, plan and sell premium guaranteed inventory. With FatTail’s sales optimization software, publishers can maximize revenue and save time and resources by automating proposal building, inventory and availability forecasting, and other sales processes. FatTail helps publishers process more transactions faster, get from quote to cash more quickly, and dramatically reduce their reliance on ad networks. Founded in 2001, the company’s flagship AdBook online ad sales and operations optimization software is used by more than 500 of the world’s leading websites. FatTail investors include Velocity Interactive Group, Ted Meisel and others.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) announced it has added three new publishers to its premium health and wellness online advertising network, including eMedTV, HealthCastle.com and Hearthstone Communications.

The new publishers join an elite group that already includes Britannica Health, HealthGrades, Healthy.net, Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, OrganizedWisdom.com, Wrong Diagnosis and more than 50 other high quality health and wellness information sites. Collectively, sites in the AdRx Media network have a potential reach of more than 21 million unique visitors per month (comScore Media Metrix, December 2008), making it one of the largest advertising supported health entities online.

eMedTV (www.emedtv.com) features tens of thousands of articles and videos designed to educate patients about health topics and healthy living. HealthCastle.com is the largest online nutrition community run by Registered Dietitians. Hearthstone Communications operates several sites focused primarily on women’s health issues, including Pregnancy-Info (www.pregnancy-info.net), Fibromyalgia Symptoms (www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org) and GYNOB.com.

“As we continue to expand the AdRx Media network, these premium publishers add to our potential reach and the ability to more narrowly align advertisers with the content they want to be associated with,” said Denise Zaraya, director, AdRx Media. “Their vast experience and expertise within the health community, their commitment to excellence, and their high volume of quality traffic are aligned with our vision to create the leading premium health and wellness ad network.”

About AdRx Media

AdRx Media is the largest premium vertical online advertising network of its kind, specialized in providing health and wellness advertisers with a way to connect with consumers while they are engaged in seeking information about health related issues on targeted sites beyond the largest health properties. AdRx Media aggregates condition-specific inventory across the Internet’s top health and wellness publishers, which collectively reach more than 21 million consumers per month, giving advertisers the ability to reach all of their health targets in one single, transparent buy. AdRx Media is a product of the ValueClick Media division of ValueClick, Inc.

About ValueClick, Inc.

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) is one of the world’s largest online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and robust revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick’s performance-based solutions allow customers to reach their potential through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate and search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and e-mail technology, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, PriceRunner and Smarter.com. For more information, visit www.valueclick.com.

ENCINO, Calif. – Video didn’t kill the radio star… and neither will a recession nor a tumbling ad market. During what was a tumultuous year for both radio and advertising, Bid4Spots (www.Bid4Spots.com) said its online marketplace for radio airtime roughly doubled in size. The company today reported a 93 percent increase in total ad revenue generated for radio stations in 2008, compared with 2007.

Bid4Spots president and CEO Dave Newmark will be speaking at Radio Ink’s Convergence ’09 conference, held in San Jose, Calif., early next week. His session, titled “How the Most Successful ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Media Buying Model Really Works,” is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10.

Bid4Spots hosts a weekly online auction every Thursday, where radio stations sell airtime for the next broadcast week and advertisers can buy premium inventory at reduced rates. What sets it apart from other media marketplaces that have failed: it’s a reverse auction, designed from within the industry by radio and advertising veterans who worked closely with stations and advertisers to build a system that works for both.

Total advertiser participation in Bid4Spots’ weekly auctions increased by 11 percent in 2008 – much of which was generated because existing advertisers are increasing their use of the system. The Bid4Spots network includes more than 3,200 advertisers, and at least 11 percent of that total had never used radio advertising in the past.

“We’re extremely proud of the growth we’ve experienced, because it’s a clear sign that what we’re doing is helping advertisers and stations connect with each other in a way that works for everyone,” said Newmark. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t come. We’ve got a thriving network of 2,500 stations and 3,200 advertisers that come together at the same time every Thursday to do business with each other in a live online auction. We doubled that activity last year, even in the midst of predictions of doom and gloom, and as industry heavyweights struggled. We could only do that with a winning formula.”

Newmark says one of the factors in the company’s continued success is an original auction design process that was painstaking in its detail, focused on creating the best possible user experience. Newmark and his wife and fellow radio entrepreneur, Patty, tapped their long-standing relationships in both radio and advertising. They worked with parties on both sides to understand and accommodate the non-negotiable needs of each.

Stations, for example, did not want the auction system to compromise the integrity of their existing rates for scheduled buys. So the Newmarks limit Bid4Spots’ marketplace to last-minute airtime, and keep rates confidential – masked by the system’s ranking index.

For advertisers, the Bid4Spots system makes radio airtime accessible – with no contracts, no negotiations with stations and no previous radio buying experience necessary. The Newmarks are committed to nurturing those relationships and helping advertisers know how to use the system to get maximum results.

Complementing Search: ‘One of the Best Ways to Drive Listeners Online’

Ben Kiblinger, co-founder and managing director of online marketing agency RevUpNet (www.RevUpNet.com), uses Bid4Spots to buy radio airtime for his clients – many of whom want to drive traffic to their websites, and all of whom want measurable customer acquisition results.

“Bid4Spots is one of the best ways to drive radio listeners online,” said Kiblinger. “I’ve seen our search numbers double as soon as we start running a radio campaign using Bid4Spots. It’s a proven way to get people online to sign up for a product or service. Bid4Spots has become part of our long-term strategy for our clients, especially this year as measurable return on investment becomes even more important. With Bid4Spots we’re able to deliver better value to our clients.”

About Bid4Spots

Launched in September 2005, Bid4Spots (www.Bid4Spots.com) is the industry’s only online reverse auction marketplace for last-minute radio airtime. The Bid4Spots network includes more than 3,200 advertisers and 2,500 radio stations nationwide. Participants come together every Thursday to do business with each other in a live online auction. Bid4Spots makes radio easy, affordable and accessible for businesses of all sizes, giving advertisers access to desirable stations, airtimes and audiences. Radio stations gain a revenue stream by selling inventory that otherwise would have remained unsold, in a safe format that protects the integrity of their existing rates for scheduled buys. Founded by radio advertising veterans Dave and Patty Newmark, Bid4Spots is based in Encino, Calif.

LOS GATOS, Calif. – Commercials aired during Super Bowl XLIII have been watched online more than 28 million times since Sunday and one ad banned from broadcast made the top 20 most popular list, according to a viral video tracking report issued today by BayTSP.

As of 10 a.m. Pacific time Wednesday, the trailer for “Transformers 2” held the top spot with more than 3.6 million views and 721 copies uploaded to video hosting sites. The trailer for “G.I. Joe” moved up to second place with more than 1.6 million views and 279 copies posted online.

“Based on viewership rates, it appears that people waited until they got to work on Monday to start watching a lot of the commercials,” said Mark Ishikawa, CEO of BayTSP. “Our analysis shows that the Super Bowl remains a reliable outlet for getting a TV commercial to go viral.”

BayTSP is tracking propagation and viewership of more than 50 commercials aired during Super Bowl XLIII across more than a dozen video hosting sites, including YouTube, Daily Motion and YouKu. Viral video tracking and measurement is part of BayTSP’s larger business intelligence service used by the entertainment industry, advertisers and marketers to analyze consumer interest in feature films and television shows.

One of the most interesting findings from the analysis is that a commercial for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which was rejected for broadcast, racked up more than 564,000 views on 15 versions posted to video sites, making it No. 13 of the top 20 most popular commercials.

Included below is a list of the number of unique clips for the top 20 commercials aired during the game and the number of unique views:
Title                                                Number of Videos           Unique Views
Transformers 2 Trailer                                        721         3,674,500
G.I. Joe Trailer                                                     279         1,681,896
Pepsi: Stay Forever Young                                     33         1,635,703
Career Builder: It’s Time                                       45         1,548,146
E-Trade Financial: Babies                                     30         968,060
Pre-released – SoBe: NFL Ballerinas                     19         858,643
Angels and Demons Trailer                                  38         747,802
Fast and Furious Trailer                                       67         715,154
Pre-released – Pedigree: Adoption                       21         705,562
Pepsi Max: I’m Good                                            14         657,941
Doritos: Crystal Ball                                             34         614,999
Bud Light: Conan goes to Sweden                        29         587,168
PETA: Banned ad                                                   15         564,649
Coca Cola: Bugs Heist                                          43         500,783
Bridgestone: Potato Heads                                   28         470,996
General Electric: Scarecrow                                  10         470,344
Year One Trailer                                                   18         462,712
Cheetos: The Birds                                               20         428,744
Pepsi: MacGruber                                                 17         422,175
Budweiser: Clydesdale Circus Love                      30         407,353

BayTSP provides business intelligence services to the entertainment industry, advertisers and marketers to identify where movies and television shows are posted online, what content is most popular and how many people are watching. Coupled with BayTSP’s enforcement services, content owners can better target and manage their online promotions. The data is also used to negotiate and monitor revenue sharing agreements with content distributors.

About BayTSP

BayTSP, founded in 1999, provides online copyright monitoring, enforcement, measurement and monetization services for the entertainment industry, software and videogame makers and the publishing industry. The company has its headquarters in Los Gatos, California. For more information, contact (408) 341-2300 or visit www.baytsp.com .

- GreenChek Commences Internet Marketing Campaign for Distribution Network
GreenChek Technology Inc. (OTCBB:GCHK), a leading globally focused provider of hydrogen fuel cell technology reports that they are implementing a new Internet marketing campaign designed to develop a North American distribution partner network. GreenChek has entered into exclusive discussions with CyberMesh Systems Inc, regarding the implementation of this campaign. Modeled after Barack Obama’s successful grassroots Internet presidential campaign, the initial goal is to establish 30 regional distribution partners in 2009, growing by 30 distributors annually to 90 regional distribution partners by the end of 2011. The estimated potential gross revenue from this project for 2009-2011 is $76.8M.

NEW YORK – Lotame, a platform enabling targeted advertising to customizable audiences through social media, announced it has partnered with two innovative technology providers to maximize the value of online brand advertising campaigns. With Vizu’s brand advertising measurement system and Amplify’s computational linguistic technology, Lotame can provide third party data on the success of advertising campaigns based on impact on the audience’s intentions and how they talk about the brand following the campaign.

“Our customers have come to expect the rich campaign reporting we do, and analysis provided by both Amplify and Vizu add another layer of insight that complements our own insight into unique social data,” said Scott Hoffman, CMO for Lotame. “When looking into third party measurement providers, we were intent on finding innovators, who could add unique value to our advertising clients. These partners help us demonstrate value in ways that can’t be determined by a click on the ad.”

Amplify’s patented computational linguistic technology mimics the process of human understanding to automatically extract the meaning of text in digital content. By automatically scanning for the significant topics, attitudes and pending decisions within any text, Amplify enables Lotame to assess the tone of conversations about brands before, during and following campaigns. Lotame also uses Amplify to determine user interests and provide brand safety to enhance its targeting of ads to receptive audiences.

“In an environment where advertisers are looking to maximize the value of every banner view and social media publishers are looking for ways to improve the value of their ad inventory, this partnership is helping to define what is possible in social media-powered advertising,” said Mark Redgrave, CEO of Amplify. ”By focusing on the social media user, his or her demonstrated interest and what they go on to say about the brand, Lotame has connected advertising value to the real engine of social media – the people.”

Vizu’s Ad CatalystSM is designed to increase brand marketers’ confidence in online advertising. Ad Catalyst provides a service that measures ad campaign effectiveness, allowing brands and advertisers to easily improve the return-on-investment for their online branding campaigns. Ad Catalyst goes beyond counting click-through rates to measure how online ads impact viewer perceptions of key brand attributes. Brand lift, as measured by the Ad Catalyst service, offers a more relevant metric than CTR for brand building campaigns.

“Lotame is redefining the value proposition of online advertising, and particularly social media,” said Dan Beltramo, CEO of Vizu. “Part of the education process in getting brands to expect more from their online campaigns is showing the increase in real world metrics like purchase intent and brand attitudes. Our integration with Lotame represents an excellent use of our technology that is proving very satisfying to savvy advertisers.”

About Lotame

Lotame provides a platform for easily building and addressing customizable consumer audiences based on social media activity in addition to implied or stated interests. Lotame has specifically designed its patented Crowd Control platform to take full advantage of the unique attributes of social activity, using participation and user generated content as a foundation for improved campaign performance. Lotame is a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Please visit www.lotame.com for more information.

About Amplify

Amplify (www.openamplify.com) is a web service that brings human understanding to content. Using patented Natural Language Processing technology, Amplify identifies the significant topics, brands, people, perspectives, emotions, intentions, actions and timescales contained in text – delivering real-time XML data that enables advertisers, publishers, ad networks to take the guesswork out of brand safety and targeting decisions.

About Vizu

Vizu is the leading online brand advertising measurement system. Our Ad Catalyst real-time measurement infrastructure for assessing ad campaign effectiveness provides powerful benefits for publishers and advertisers. Through the use of Ad Catalyst, our clients gain actionable Brand Lift data on their online advertising campaigns, giving them a powerful advertising ROI metric. Vizu is a privately-held company based in San Francisco, CA, with backing from leading venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Greycroft Partners. For more information visit: www.vizu.com – Advertise With confidence.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. – Lyris, Inc., the online marketing expert, announced that executives Blaine Mathieu, CMO, and Erick Mott, communications director, will present at the 2009 Email Evolution Conference. Mathieu will join industry leaders from Kaiser Permanente and Convince & Convert to deliver a presentation titled “Search & Email: The Yin & Yang of Online Marketing,” and discuss how leading companies are optimizing the intersection of search and email.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. MT

WHERE: Westin Kierland, Scottsdale, AZ

Erick Mott will moderate a discussion on the case study, “Lessons Learned from a Cool, Cause-Marketing Initiative,” led in partnership with the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, which Lyris supports, and a volunteer-team of Email Experience Council members from many different organizations. He will also present how social media and online communities can help cause-marketing initiatives.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 10:15 a.m. MT

WHERE: Westin Kierland, Scottsdale, AZ

Lyris will be exhibiting in the Experience Hall at Booth #204. Conference attendees and those unable to join can connect with Lyris presenters and discuss related topics on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Jointly organized by the DMA and The Email Experience Council, the 2009 Email Evolution Conference is organized by and for email marketers. For more information, visit: http://www.the-dma.org/conferences/emailevolution/index.shtml.

About Lyris, Inc.

Lyris, Inc. (OTCBB:LYRI) is the online marketing expert delivering the right mix of software technology and industry knowledge to help its customers simplify their marketing efforts and optimize campaign ROI. Through the delivery of the industry’s first on-demand integrated marketing suite, Lyris HQ, and knowledge-sharing community, www.lyrishq.com, to secure and reliable on-premise solutions, including Lyris ListManager, Lyris provides customers the right tools to optimize the management, collaboration and execution of their online and mobile marketing initiatives. These sophisticated, yet easy-to-use tools provide marketers a suite of best-of-breed applications for managing email marketing campaigns, publishing and managing Web site content, creating landing pages, optimizing Web sites and search engine marketing. Clients include ACCESS Systems Americas, Adobe, American Apparel, Body Glove, Johns Hopkins University, JupiterMedia and Nokia. For more information, please visit www.lyris.com. The company is based in Emeryville, Calif.

NEW YORK – AOL’s Platform-A announced a multi-faceted strategic relationship with FreeCreditReport.com®, the leading provider for online consumer credit reports, scores and monitoring. The partnership will fully leverage Platform-A’s diverse slate of advertising solutions, including deep customized content integration within AOL’s properties and a variety of broad-based campaigns across Platform-A’s networks, http://www.platform-a.com/, ensuring the ability to harness the full power of digital media advertising.

“Our new partnership with FreeCreditReport.com touches almost every advertising solution available at Platform-A. FreeCreditReport.com has given us a clear mandate – use all the tools at our disposal to help them reach a massive consumer base,” said Lynda Clarizio, President of Platform-A. “In the current economic climate, advertisers are looking for results and value. Platform-A can promise what no one else in the industry can deliver – a cost-effective way to ensure scale, targeting and measurement. We are thrilled to begin 2009 with the FreeCreditReport.com expansion and look forward to serving their needs in the coming year.”

“Following a successful 2008 with Platform-A, we are excited to expand our relationship with AOL in a way that allows us to leverage all of their advertising solutions,” said Mike Dean, Chief Marketing Officer of Experian’s Consumer Direct Business. “FreeCreditReport.com simplifies the confusing world of credit information to give consumers more control over their finances.”

As the industry’s largest digital advertising platform, reaching more than 91% of the Internet population, according to comScore Media Metrix, Platform-A’s assets provided in the deal will include the key sites on AOL’s newly formed MediaGlow programming network, Platform-A’s industry-leading display network, behavioral and contextual targeting tools, and the exclusive ability to build creative materials that best communicate to key audiences.

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. 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. Platform-A now reaches more than 91% of the online audience in the U.S., and has expanded its reach to key countries in Europe. Platform-A, along with MediaGlow and People Networks, represent the three core businesses for AOL.

* Average monthly unique visitors for Q4 2008, according to comScore Media Metrix.

About Platform-A

Platform-A, AOL’s advertising business, reaching over 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 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/.

About FreeCreditReport.com

FreeCreditReport.com provides consumers with quick, easy and cost-effective access to personal credit histories, ongoing monitoring of changes to credit reports, as well as access to educational materials. The leading provider of online consumer credit reports, credit scores, credit monitoring and other credit-related information, FreeCreditReport.com serves millions of active members and has delivered more than 98 million credit reports on the Web. For more information, please visit www.freecreditreport.com, a Web site owned by ConsumerInfo.com, Inc., an Experian company.

About Experian

Experian is a global leader in providing information, analytical and marketing services to organizations and consumers to help manage the risk and reward of commercial and financial decisions.

Combining its unique information tools and deep understanding of individuals, markets and economies, Experian partners with organizations around the world to establish and strengthen customer relationships and provide their businesses with competitive advantage.

For consumers, Experian delivers critical information that enables them to make financial and purchasing decisions with greater control and confidence. Clients include organizations from financial services, retail and catalog, telecommunications, utilities, media, insurance, automotive, leisure, e-commerce, manufacturing, property and government sectors.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Experian has corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, and has operational headquarters in Costa Mesa, Calif., and Nottingham, UK. The Group employs approximately 15,500 people in 38 countries worldwide, supporting clients in more than 65 countries around the world. Revenue for the year ended March 31, 2008, was $4 billion.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

As a research scientist and cultural anthropologist, Ito primarily focuses on how children and young adults use communications technologies to establish and build relationships. She has studied a wide range of new media practices, from the production, distribution and marketing practices of children’s software to the cultural effects of online gaming, social communities and other forms of digital media.

Ito has worked on a variety of research projects, including the recently completed study titled Kids’ Informal Learning with Digital Media, a three-year project examining how new media and digital technologies change the way children learn, play, socialize and participate in everyday life. She also coordinated 24/7: A DIY (do-it-yourself) Video Summit, an Internet video event that taught amateur video makers about digital and online video production and Internet distribution.

As an author, Ito co-edited Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life and co-wrote Networked Publics, a study of how social networking technologies transform the way people interact in day-to-day situations. She holds two doctorates from Stanford University in education and anthropology, and is currently a research scientist at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy (University of Southern California). Prior to this position, Ito worked for the Institute for Research and Learning, Xerox PARC, Tokyo University, the National Institute for Educational Research in Japan and Apple Computer.

The Technology Luncheon will also feature the presentation of the prestigious NAB Engineering Achievement Awards. Since 1959, the awards have honored individuals who have made outstanding achievements and contributions in the broadcast engineering profession.

About the 2009 NAB Show

The NAB Show will take place April 18 – 23, 2009 in Las Vegas (exhibits open April 20). It is the world’s largest electronic media show covering filmed entertainment and the development, management and delivery of content across all mediums. Complete details are available at www.nabshow.com.

About NAB

The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America’s broadcasters. As the voice of more than 8,300 radio and television stations, NAB advances their interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.

“Jonathan combines great expertise about the Canadian online market and experience in search, marketing, sales and partnerships that will be integral to our continued growth in Canada,” says Penry Price, Vice President, Advertising Sales, Google North America. “On behalf of all my colleagues at Google, we welcome Jonathan to the team.”

Jonathan also previously served as General Manager of AOL Canada Inc. and as Vice President, Audience for AOL Canada Inc. Before working for AOL, Jonathan managed the sales team at Internet startup Bird On A Wire, a business focused on creating and monetizing hosted Internet infrastructure. Jonathan is a graduate, with Honours, from the University of Toronto, and has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management.

Google Canada’s advertising sales office opened in 2002, and moved into their new office space on Dundas Street in Toronto in October 2008. Google also has Canadian engineering offices in Waterloo and Montreal.

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.

Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company product names may be trademarks of the respective companies of which they are associated.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Brand.net, the first online advertising network focused exclusively on Brand advertising, has launched the Brand.net Quality Certification Platform, the industry’s first comprehensive solution to address advertisers’ need to place their Brands in controlled, high-quality ad environments. Through extensive work with leading Brand advertisers and their agencies, Brand.net’s founders identified this as the number one issue holding Brands back from making Online a core component of their Brand advertising programs.

The Brand.net Quality Certification Platform combines an innovative fixed grading system with its proprietary Page-Level Content Filtering technology to give Brand advertisers unprecedented control over and confidence in the content environments where their ads are shown. IBM Proventia® Web Filter Technology from IBM Internet Security Systems was selected by Brand.net to enhance its technology and will be an integral component of Brand.net’s Page-Level Content Filtering solution. By analyzing both text and image content, the IBM Proventia® Web Filter is designed to block more unwanted Web content than any other filtering solution available, enhancing Brand.net’s ability to analyze web content quickly and accurately.

“Our Quality Certification Platform, which includes IBM Proventia® Web Filter, provides the most advanced content filtering solution available in online advertising. It is a key component of our evolving portfolio of technology that ensures that our Brand advertiser and agency customers have access to the highest quality inventory available in the market today,” said Brand.net Cofounder Andy Atherton. “As with all aspects of our business, the Brand.net Quality Certification Platform was developed in collaboration with our clients. Since our launch, we have worked with dozens of online Brand advertisers on over 50 campaigns. The platform being introduced today leverages this experience and is custom built based on the specific requirements of our clients.”

Brand.net follows a three step process to ensure the highest quality online content environment for advertisers. First, Brand.net buys online from top quality publishers and evaluates each site on over a dozen attributes. Second, each site is assigned a control grade, which objectively describes the type of content, and how it is organized and moderated. This fixed grading system establishes a standardized way to communicate with advertisers and agencies about the degrees of risk associated with some content environments. Finally, during the ad serving process, Brand.net’s unique Page-Level Content Filtering technology screens the content on the individual pages within each site where ads will be placed. This industry leading combination of proprietary process and technology enables Brand.net to provide dramatically higher quality inventory than other ad networks.

To learn more about Brand.net’s Quality Certification Platform, visit: www.brand.net/quality

About Brand.net

Brand.net is the first online advertising network focused exclusively on Brand advertising. The Brand.net team has a combined 50+ years of online Brand advertising experience with leading online publishers. Our deep online display advertising expertise, supported by our innovative technology, guarantee that Brand advertisers and agencies will reach the right target in the right context, efficiently and measurably. Brand.net was founded in 2007 and has offices in New York, Chicago, and Silicon Valley. For more information, please visit: www.Brand.net.

SAN FRANCISCO – Lyris, Inc., the online marketing expert, announced social media enhancements to the Lyris HQ integrated online marketing suite. With Lyris HQ, marketers are now able to leverage their email marketing campaigns and messaging to empower recipients to share and discuss news and relevant topics with colleagues, fans and friends on popular social networking sites including Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. Marketers can also analyze how well social media is performing in terms of reach, interaction and ROI on social networking and originating sites, with no extra integration or technical know-how needed. An added component of this new functionality is the ability for marketers to better understand, segment and report inbound engagement from many social networking sites.

Marketers that want to tap into Web 2.0 with Lyris HQ can now:

* Leverage email marketing campaigns and messaging on 10 social sites including Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Digg, Furl, StumbleUpon, Newsvine, del.icio.us, Google Bookmarks and Reddit; the Web 2.0-version of forward to a friend.
* Use new Web analytics to easily track where interest and results are coming from and see real-time measurement from social networking and viral marketing efforts.
* Maximize integrated marketing strategies and scale messaging across networks by using tools to measure metrics, track click-throughs and gauge the success of Web 2.0 initiatives.

“We are always looking for ways to enhance our email communications and broaden the reach and value of our online marketing efforts,” said Sylvia Sierra, senior vice president of corporate audience development, Access Intelligence. “We’re seeing more of our professional audience engage in social networks and are excited to see Lyris adding this new functionality.”

Consumers are more actively engaged on social networks than ever before and the demand for these services continues to grow. According to IDC’s “U.S. Consumer Online Attitudes Survey Results Part III,” more than three-quarters of social networking users visit social networking sites at least once a week, and no less than 57 percent visit daily.1 However, marketers still face challenges. A recent JupiterResearch study found that 30 percent of social marketers said figuring out which tactics suit their campaign goals continues to be their top challenge when engaging with social networks.2

Marketers believe social media has an impact on marketing results, but many struggle with capturing key metrics and justifying spend on Web 2.0 initiatives to senior executives. Lyris HQ’s integrative nature allows marketers to understand how successful a company’s social media campaigns are, whether or not they are linked to an email campaign. They can see, on a granular basis, when and from where an end user arrives to their site and what message or conversation generated the response.

“End users are spending more time on social networking sites and expect better content and more meaningful conversations as a result. Marketers see the need and opportunity to engage with users on social networking sites, but many don’t have the resources or ability to manage new campaigns, track their effectiveness and justify the spend,” said Blaine Mathieu, chief marketing officer, Lyris, Inc. “Lyris HQ’s social media enhancements allow marketers to broaden the reach and ROI of their online campaigns to the ever-growing number of users spending time and consuming content on social networking sites.”

Availability

Lyris HQ’s social media enhancements are available immediately to new and existing customers. For more information please visit: http://www.lyris.com.

About Lyris, Inc.

Lyris, Inc. (OTCBB:LYRI) is the online marketing expert delivering the right mix of software technology and industry knowledge to help its customers simplify their marketing efforts and optimize campaign ROI. Through the delivery of the industry’s first on-demand integrated marketing suite, Lyris HQ, and knowledge-sharing community, www.lyrishq.com, to secure and reliable on-premise solutions, including Lyris ListManager, Lyris provides customers the right tools to optimize the management, collaboration and execution of their online and mobile marketing initiatives. These sophisticated, yet easy-to-use tools provide marketers a suite of best-of-breed applications for managing email marketing campaigns, publishing and managing Web site content, creating landing pages, optimizing Web sites and search engine marketing. Clients include ACCESS Systems Americas, Adobe, American Apparel, Body Glove, Johns Hopkins University, JupiterMedia and Nokia. For more information, please visit www.lyris.com or connect on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lyris. The company is based in Emeryville, Calif.

1 IDC, U.S. Consumer Online Attitudes Survey Results Part III, By Karsten Weide and Caroline Dangson, http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS21540708

2 JupiterResearch, Social Marketing Scorecard, 2008, By Emily Riley and David Card, http://www.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/research:concept/1231/id=100429

PALO ALTO, Calif. – PubMatic (www.pubmatic.com), an ad revenue optimization company that works with over 5,500 online publishers, enhanced its Dynamic Default Optimization technology that allows publishers to ensure maximum revenue from every ad impression, despite ad network defaults. PubMatic also released a white paper, available for download at www.pubmatic.com, detailing the new technology.

Dynamic Default Optimization is a proprietary technology developed by PubMatic that provides publishers with management of defaults across multiple ad networks in real-time, resulting in 30 – 300% increase in revenue for publishers. Defaulting occurs when an ad network is unable to fill an ad impression on a Web site with a paying ad. By working with over 5,500 publishers and 300 ad networks, PubMatic has found that ad networks default 56% of the time on average and as much as 87% of the time. Prevailing trends in the online advertising industry indicate that defaulting will become even more commonplace in 2009.

Most publishers with significant inventory manage their ad networks’ default impressions by setting up a ‘static’ daisy chain of ad networks based on expected ad rates from these ad networks. However, setting up a static daisy chain is a very manual and cumbersome process that consumes a lot of time and is ineffective because ad network pricing is constantly changing. PubMatic’s technology can identify the ad network that can best monetize an impression in real-time, ensuring the publisher makes the most revenue possible from their ad space.

Benefits from Implementing Dynamic Default Optimization

* Increased revenue for publishers – Dynamic Default Optimization ensures that the publisher maximizes the value of every impression. Publishers who have deployed Dynamic Default Optimization have seen substantial increases in eCPM:

Entertainment: + 51.4 %
Gaming: + 148.3%
Men’s Interests: + 148.4 %
Music: + 121.8 %
Real Estate: + 138.6 %
Reference: + 177.9 %
Social Network: + 215.7

* Reduced complexity and ease of management for publishers – Dynamic Default Optimization removes the need for extra ad operations resources to manually manage a static ad network daisy chain, freeing them up to focus on their core business of providing online content to the user and higher value direct sales.
* Cost reduction and more access to premium inventory for ad networks – Ad networks save on ad serving costs by getting quality impressions and filling more of the impressions they receive with ads.
* Better user experience – Users are shown more relevant and better ads that load on a Web page in a more timely fashion, and therefore enjoy a better user experience.

“The status quo method of setting up a static daisy chain of ad networks to reduce money lost from ad defaulting is greatly flawed,” said Rajeev Goel, Co-Founder & CEO of PubMatic. “The only way a publisher can ensure maximum revenue from every single ad impression is to know which ad network can best monetize each impression in real-time – and PubMatic’s Dynamic Default Optimization is the only solution that makes that possible for publishers.”

The PubMatic-issued white paper entitled, “Death to the Ad Network Daisy Chain: Generating More Revenue from Default Ad Impressions,” is available at www.pubmatic.com for download. The white paper offers in-depth analysis of what defaulting is, why it happens, and how online publishers can employ a defaulting monetization strategy that will maximize the value of every ad impression.

About PubMatic

PubMatic is an ad revenue optimization service. PubMatic provides more than 5,500 web publishers real-time ad optimization, which significantly increases revenue while simplifying ad network management. PubMatic works with hundreds of leading ad networks and has created thousands of new publisher/ad network relationships. PubMatic is venture backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Nexus India Capital, and Helion Ventures.

LOS ANGELES – CallFire™ announced free 1-hour Call Tracking consultations for companies interested in tracking telephone calls back to the original advertisement. Advertisers using internet, radio, TV, or print can easily purchase hundreds or thousands of unique telephone numbers that are then allocated to individual advertisements. CallFire’s call tracking interface lets advertisers trace and visualize which campaigns are driving the most telephone calls.

Use Call Tracking to get answers to tough questions.

* Which campaigns drive the most phone calls to my sales team?
* Which infomercial resulted in the most telephone inquiries?
* Which campaign resulted in a high-volume of calls, but very few sales?
* What time do most listeners hear my messages?

Track conversions in real-time and pause underperforming campaigns.

Call Routing and tracking campaigns can provide call statistics in real time. This cost-saving data can cut the fat from marketing campaigns by revealing underperforming ads and allowing your company to re-allocate budgets to campaigns with a high impression-to-call ratio.

Buy Toll Free Numbers or local telephone numbers.

* Handle thousands of simultaneous calls and even vanity numbers.
* Display unique numbers for individual Adwords, Yahoo, Radio or TV campaigns.
* Use local telephone numbers for geo-targeted campaigns.

To schedule a free consultation, please submit your contact information here and a representative will get back to you shortly: https://www.callfire.com/dialer/usersignup.do

Developers interested in Call Tracking APIs, please visit: http://www.CallFire.com/CallPeer for a listing of our latest APIs and developer tools.

To learn more about CallFire products and services, please visit: http://www.callfire.com/dialer/cm/info/products_and_services.html

To speak with a CallFire representative, please call 877.897.FIRE.

About CallFire

CallFire provides highly-scalable and affordable cloud telephony solutions, including Voice API, Voice Broadcast, Virtual Call Centers, Hosted IVR, Call Tracking and VoiceXML services. CallFire is a privately-held company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. CallFire’s products enable various industries, including collections, government entities, healthcare, non-profits, political organizations and universities to simply and affordably set up call campaigns or virtual call centers through an on-demand, pay-as-you-go, api-driven platform. CallFire’s Hosted Call Center API enables developers to integrate predictive dialing via web services. For more information on CallFire, please visit www.callfire.com.

San Mateo, California – February 2, 2009 – Jivox, the online video advertising service that helps small and medium-sized businesses reach local customers, today announced a one-of-a-kind, comprehensive online video advertising affiliate program. The Jivox affiliate program provides online publishers and marketing agencies with a number of different options for offering online video advertising services to customers and advertisers.

The Jivox online affiliate program offers three tiers of participation:

* Publisher partnership: Online publishers make available a co-branded version of the Jivox online video ad service to their advertisers and market the Jivox service across their sites.
* Agency partnership: Advertising, marketing and creative services agencies offer online video advertising services to their clients and manage client relationships through a Jivox master account.
* Referral partnership: Publishers refer their advertisers and web site visitors to Jivox, where they can easily create, publish, and manage their own targeted video ads.

All Jivox affiliate partners will receive specific customer promotions and savings to drive Jivox registrations and sales targeting; highly effective business-building links, creative assets, and proven Best Practices to drive conversions; and a monthly newsletter with updates on promotions, best-converting links and more.  In addition, publisher partners will receive a custom access page  that is co-branded and hosted by Jivox, as well as a publisher portal that enables them to administer and manage advertiser campaigns internally.

“The Jivox affiliate program allows all our partners to participate in the fast-growing online video advertising category by providing three levels of integration into our online video platform,” said Jim Gustke, vice president of marketing and product management at Jivox. “The Jivox online video service is a modular platform that includes ad creation, online hosting and targeting, and access to the online publisher network, which allows our partners to offer all or some of its components. No matter how our partners choose to integrate, by signing up as a Jivox online affiliate, they can give their customers access to highly effective, locally targeted video advertising,”

Online video advertising is one of the fastest-growing forms of online marketing because it commands the highest engagement and ROI of almost any online advertising method. Video ads generate nearly twice the click-through as banner ads and engage customers in an entertaining brand experience. Jivox helps smaller companies tap the power of video advertising, offering a complete, self-service online platform to create, place, and track high-impact video ads at a cost-effective price.

For more information on how to join the Jivox affiliate program, visit www.jivox.com/affiliate.html.

About Jivox
Jivox helps small businesses reach customers with online video advertising. Jivox provides advertisers with an online, self-service tool to create high-impact video ads using stock footage, images, music or their existing video assets. Jivox ensures high-quality placement of customer ads through the Jivox Publisher Network, a locally focused network of premium publishers that includes hundreds of local TV and radio stations, newspapers, weather and other specialty websites, and offers geographic ad targeting at the city level as well as demographic and contextual targeting. Jivox is a privately held company based in San Mateo, Calif. For more information about Jivox, please visit www.jivox.com.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – AdMob, the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace, announced that it has launched its first advertising unit for Android applications, enabling developers to monetize their applications on this new device platform. The first developers to leverage AdMob’s new Android ad unit in their applications include AccuWeather, Jirbo, and TapJoy.

AdMob’s new Android ad unit will also allow brand and performance advertisers to reach the rapidly growing base of consumers engaging with applications on their Android devices. Advertisers will be able to use these ad units to drive customer actions such as going to the Android Market to download an application.

“Android’s open platform enables developers to build rich mobile applications that provide a great experience for users,” said Ali Diab, Vice President of Product Management for AdMob. “We are already seeing strong interest in developing applications for Android-based devices, similar to what we saw with the iPhone last summer, and are very excited to take the lead in helping developers monetize their applications on this fast-growing device platform.”

AdMob already serves ads on mobile Web sites on the Android platform and received more than 27 million requests in December 2008. Building on the initial success of the G1 device, Google’s new mobile platform looks to become a major force in the mobile industry with several new devices expected to come to market in 2009.

“We’ve partnered with AdMob to monetize our mobile services for several years now and continue to get great results working with them on our mobile Web site and in our iPhone application,” said David Mitchell, Director, Wireless Services, AccuWeather. “We are excited to extend this successful relationship with AdMob and start monetizing our new Android application.”

More than 6,000 mobile sites and 450 iPhone applications are a part of AdMob’s publisher network worldwide, giving the company unparalleled reach.

About AdMob

AdMob is the world’s largest and highest quality mobile advertising marketplace, serving more than 4.6 billion mobile banner and text ads per month. Incorporated in April 2006, AdMob allows advertisers to reach their customers on the mobile Web and enables publishers to increase the value of their mobile sites. AdMob makes it easy for publishers to monetize their mobile traffic and for advertisers to target and reach customers on the mobile Web in more than 160 countries.

AdMob has been named a 2008 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, one of Wired.com’s 2008 Companies to Watch, and VentureBeat’s Mobilebeat 2008 Best Overall Mobile Startup / Best Mobile Infrastructure Company. To learn more about AdMob, visit www.admob.com.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – PubMatic (www.pubmatic.com), an ad revenue optimization company that works with over 5,500 online publishers, is proud to announce being named as a 2009 “OnMedia 100” company for the second year in a row. OnMedia 100 winners demonstrate leadership among their peers in the following areas: market traction measured by revenue or customer growth and game-changing approaches and technologies that are likely to disrupt existing markets and entrenched players.

“It’s an honor for PubMatic to be recognized for its industry-leading approach in helping online publishers earn more money from their advertising,” said Rajeev Goel, Co-Founder and CEO. “We’re especially excited that we made the OnMedia 100 list for the second year in a row — it underscores the importance of PubMatic continuing to provide publishers with accessible, technology-based solutions that will improve their revenue.”

PubMatic works with over 5,500 publishers to optimize their advertising. “PubMatic’s service has helped raise our ad rates and revenue,” said Marve Frazier, CEO of Moguldom Media Group, which owns and manages ethnic community web sites including bossip.com, lossip.com and Jewssip.com. “Its industry insight and client support make it a very valuable partner, particularly in challenging economic times like these.”

PubMatic works with online publishers to automatically find the highest paying ad across hundreds of ad networks, and optimizes how ads are displayed in real-time. It uses over 50 targeting parameters to optimize every ad impression, enabling over 90% of its publisher customers to dramatically improve overall revenue. The company works with a publisher’s existing ad strategy and connects them to hundreds of ad networks while making it simple to manage them through one consolidated revenue dashboard.

About PubMatic

PubMatic is an Ad Revenue Optimization service. PubMatic provides more than 5,500 web publishers real-time ad optimization, which significantly increases revenue while simplifying ad network management. PubMatic works with hundreds of ad networks and has created thousands of new publisher/ad network relationships. PubMatic is venture backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Nexus India Capital, and Helion Ventures. Find out more at http://www.pubmatic.com.

VASP, video CMS and ad network revenues combined are forecast to increase by 41% in 2009 and 38% in 2010, according to a far-reaching online video services and analytics report published by AccuStream iMedia Research.

The report, Online Video Applications and Platforms: 2007–2010, unites the spectrum of extant video applications and platforms, and aligns them in relevant product category groupings.

Product groups include video overlay applications, advertising platforms, CMS platforms, platforms with inventory sales, search with inventory sales, integration services, indexing and metadata libraries with media sales.

Each product category is analyzed by business model (or models), entrants, revenue, participation structure, gross media spend delivered by platform, trends, account totals and media suite capabilities.

VASPs are integrated product packages with business units built to achieve profitability through scale, rapid response and increasingly, automation.

The top four VASPs are in-banner video advertising platforms (including Eyewonder, Eyeblaster, Pointroll and DoubleClick), and as a category generated an estimated $225 million in net revenue in 2008.

The following ten VASP providers had combined revenue estimated at $194.3 million, and include industry leaders such as Brightcove, Tremor Media, BBE, Worldnow, thePlatform and Internet Broadcasting.

An additional nineteen providers analyzed in the report generated 2008 revenue estimated at $74.4 million.

The VASP market is evolving, however. Video advertising platform total share is forecast to decline from 45.6% in 2008 to 35.6% in 2010.

Video services (including transcoding, custom player design and widgets) are forecast to grow from an 8.5% share in 2008 to 10.7% in 2010. Video indexing and metadata support is forecast to grow from 3.9% share in 2008 to 9.3%.

“VASPs are selling an ROI model in 2009, which plays well in a tight economy by focusing on ways to save clients money,” commented research director Paul A. Palumbo.

“Whether that’s more efficient allocation of marketing spend supporting strategic video publishing online or increasing paid media placement, VASPs are betting with their business models they can deliver better content performance.”

AccuStream Research (http://www.accustreamresearch.com) is a video, audio, download, subscription, VASP application and broadband advertising research firm.

SAN DIEGO – Though most signs point to a downward economy, interactive advertising, including local search, display ads and e-mail marketing, is expected to grow from 7.4 percent of the global advertising market at the end of 2007 to 21 percent by 2012 (source: The Kelsey Group). Encouraging further growth, ClickZ presents the Online Marketing Summit (OMS) San Diego, the only purely educational event of its kind – built around content that drives action and delivers insight that online marketers can build into their marketing plans immediately. The ClickZ Network is the world’s largest online resource of interactive marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion, research, and reference.

Set at the Westin Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego, California, from February 4-7, 2009, the Online Marketing Summit attracts marketers from leading companies who will gather to share best practices and learn from expert online practitioners. Leading educators in online marketing will facilitate a world-class forum of best practices in interactive marketing. Hands-on workshops, thought leadership panels, one-on-one usability and search engine optimization (SEO) classes and peer work groups are conducted by best-of-breed speakers and organizations.

The only objective of the OMS Summit is to educate attendees on how to execute the best known practices in online marketing. By incorporating feedback from past events, new “Acumen Tracks” will address various levels of expertise. Designed to meet the unique needs of beginner, intermediate, and expert-level practitioners, the content of the summit will allow attendees to educate themselves at a foundational level on a topic unfamiliar to them or dive deeper into a topic they want to learn more about.

The 2009 OMS Summit includes sessions on:

* Social Media Business Strategies
* Search Engine Marketing in-depth education
* Website Usability Primers
* Customer Experience Best Practices
* Web Analytics & ROI Tracking
* Planning & Budgeting for Online Success
* Email Marketing & Landing Page Tactics
* Website Strategy Thought Leadership
* Behavioral Targeting & Testing

“OMS is exclusively for marketing professionals interested in learning and networking,” said Aaron Kahlow, founder of Online Marketing Summit. “We’re sort of an ‘anti-conference’, and it’s working out for us. There is no expo hall, no conflagration of sponsor logos, and no sales-folk to interfere with the world-class education and networking opportunities on which we’ve built our reputation. It’s 100% peer to peer knowledge sharing. Can’t get any more direct than that.”

“No marketer knows it all. And if they do, they’re probably speaking at OMS,” noted Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media’s Interactive Marketing Group, including Search Engine Strategies, SearchEngineWatch.com and the ClickZ Network. “If there’s a question you have, there’s likely a session that will answer it. Attendees will not only receive invaluable education and direction from each session, but they’ll also have the opportunity to network, collaborate and share ideas with interactive marketers from leading companies around the world.”

Discounted passes are still available and include access to the 2009 Resource Center to download the slide decks, professionally video recorded session and media from all the presentations. To register, visit https://www.onlinemarketingsummit.com/registration/default.php. For more details on the Online Marketing Summit event and other ClickZ events including free online marketing webinars visit www.ClickZEvents.com.

About the Online Marketing Summit (OMS)

The Online Marketing Summit (OMS) is truly unique from any other conference. There are no vendors, no salesmen, no exhibitors/booths and no pitching allowed. The application process ensures only attendees who are serious about trying to gain a competitive advantage through education. The environment facilitates networking and collaboration amongst like-minded marketing peers. This summer tour will be attended by at least 2000 professionals who are passionate about marketing. OMS is a not-for-profit organization with the simple mission to educate marketers on the emerging best practice of online marketing

About Incisive Interactive Marketing LLC — A Division of Incisive Media PLC

Incisive Media’s The ClickZ Network is the largest resource of interactive marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion, research, and reference in the world, online or off-. From search to e-mail, technology to trends, our coverage is expert, exclusive, and in-depth. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the Search Engine Strategies global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, LegalTech, Post, Real Estate Forum, Risk, Search Engine Strategies and The American Lawyer. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

ABCSearch added six new employees in the areas of programming, systems administration, client service and affiliate management. The company now employs a total of 30 staff in its Sherman Oaks, Calif., headquarters.

The company recently moved and tripled its office space to accommodate the staff expansion. The new address is 15303 Ventura Blvd, Suite 220, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.

In 2008, ABCSearch reached more than 6 billion searches per month throughout its entire PPC network of targeted search engines and niche-specific directories. The company also made major enhancements to ClickShield™, its proprietary and independently-certified fraud-monitoring technology which identifies and removes suspicious PPC traffic. With ClickShield, advertisers have the power to add and remove traffic sources on-the-fly based on real-time information. In this way they can make decisions based on a level of transparency not available elsewhere in the interactive advertising industry. ClickShield has been certified by ClickDefense™, a leading tracking, optimization and click fraud detection company.

“With our expanded staff and space, we believe we’re very well-positioned for an eventful 2009,” said Dan Yomtobian, CEO and president of ABCSearch. “As always, ABCSearch will stay focused on our advertisers’ best interests, protecting them from click fraud to the best of our ability, and providing them with the highest quality traffic possible.”

ABOUT ABCSEARCH

ABCSearch, a subsidiary of Internext Media Corp., is a world leader in online cost-per-click (CPC) advertising. With now over 6 billion searches a month through its network of targeted search engines and niche-specific directories, the company provides its advertisers with lower costs, improved results, quality traffic, and total control of targeted advertising. ABCSearch was recently certified by ClickDefense.com. To learn more about ABCSearch and its targeting capabilities, please visit http://www.abcsearch.com.

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Gigya, Inc., the leading widget and content sharing platform for the social web, today announced that Jake Winebaum has joined Gigya’s board of directors. Winebaum was until recently the chief executive officer and founder of Business.com. He is currently working on a new start-up. As a board member, Mr. Winebaum will provide strategic oversight to Gigya’s direction and progress.

“I am thrilled that Jake has agreed to share his time and expertise with Gigya,” said CEO Dave Yovanno. “The opportunity to add an internet media and publishing leader of Jake’s caliber to our board is extraordinary. With his track record of success in new media, and as a driving force behind bringing Disney into the Digital Age, Jake understands the intersection of digital and traditional media and will be a significant contributor to Gigya’s success.”

A media industry veteran, Mr. Winebaum co-founded eCompanies and prior to that served as chairman of Buena Vista Internet Group (BVIG), encompassing Disney.com, ESPN.com, ABCNews.com, ABC.com, and Family.com, and also as president of Disney Online, where he led the team that extended the Disney brand onto the Internet. Jake took on the role of president of Disney Publishing after The Walt Disney Company acquired FamilyFun magazine, a publication which he founded and for which he served as president, editor and publisher.

“Gigya is one of the most innovative companies helping to shape the next generation of the Internet, and it’s an honor to join their board,” said Winebaum.” The company is playing a critical role in how content is shared across a distributed and social web, and I’m looking forward to helping the team as they continue to grow and evolve.”

In addition to Yovanno, Winebaum joins current board members Michael Eisenberg of Benchmark Israel and Navin Chaddha of Mayfield Fund, as well as Eyal Magen, CSO and Eran Kutner, CTO, two of Gigya’s three co-founders.

About Gigya

Gigya’s technologies give people the power to socialize and share content across the web, providing publishers and marketers with powerful tools for increasing audience reach and engagement online. Reaching more than 174 million people each month, Gigya’s technology platform includes world-class sharing, analytics and monetization features. The company’s products simplify access to more than 50 unique web platforms, distributing content across the social web and bringing users’ social graphs to any site. Each day, millions of people use Gigya to engage with their friends and with content from Gigya’s publisher and advertiser clients such as CNET, DoubleClick, Electronic Arts, Levis, MTV, RockYou!, Toyota, Unilever and Walmart.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Efficient Frontier, the worldwide leader in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) technology and services, released the U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q4 2008. The report, the largest independent research in the search marketing industry, was based on an analysis of 92 billion impressions and 600 million clicks across a portion of Efficient Frontier customers, which includes some of the world’s largest brands. The results of the research indicate that Google has maintained its hold on the search advertising market with 76 percent market share, and Yahoo continued to increase its presence, gaining 3 percent market share year-over-year. Despite the economic downturn and reports of the erosion of other marketing channels in 2008, the index of Efficient Frontier customers included in the Q4 report saw a minimal 8 percent decrease year-over-year, while the retail sector saw a 9 percent uptick in spending year-over-year, an indication of the strength of the search marketing channel.

According to industry research firm, eMarketer, “search ad spending may not be recession-proof, but it is proving to be recession-resistant.” eMarketer estimates that although the rate of growth is projected to fall over the next three years, search ad spending growth will continue to be positive, in double digits every year until 2012 when it will rise again to nearly 14 percent.*

“Search engine marketing remains the most accountable sales and client acquisition channel on or offline,” said James Beriker, President and CEO of Efficient Frontier. “To continue to achieve stellar results, the current recession has made it even more critical for search marketers to know their metrics and manage campaigns based on actionable market, sales funnel and conversion data. The reason we work with more than 150 of the most sophisticated search marketers in 20 markets worldwide, and manage more spend than any other firm, is that we use math to automate the process of accurately modeling data and making the right overall strategy and keyword bidding decisions to deliver optimal performance, no matter the market dynamics.”

The Efficient Frontier report shows that Google’s market share leadership was backed by significant gains from Google Content, which experienced 63 percent growth in 2008, clearly reflecting Google’s ongoing focus on improving its targeting and monetization capabilities across the AdSense network. Yahoo, which increased its market share by 1.9 percent in Q3, added another 0.5 percent in Q4 to close out the year with a 3 percent annual gain and total 20 percent market share. Microsoft Live Search now represents 4.2 percent of total search advertising spend for advertisers in the Efficient Frontier index.

ROI Trends

Interestingly, a closer look at spending between the months of September and December 2008 revealed that ROI dropped in most verticals between September and October due to the economic downturn. This led advertisers to reduce budgets and focus on maintaining a positive return. This shift suggests that SEM advertisers have moved from a volume strategy to an ROI and efficiency strategy where budgets are adjusted dynamically to maintain a targeted ROI despite a reduction in search volume. Leveraging Efficient Frontier’s technology and services, its customer-base improved ROI in Q4 by 1 percent year-over-year and 3 percent quarter-over-quarter.

“When shifts in the online marketplace make it more difficult to deliver the desired results, advertisers must depend on the right technology to do the heavy lifting,” added Beriker. “This is where our customers have a distinct advantage. The move at the end of Q4 from a volume model to an ROI and efficiency model needed to happen instantaneously for advertisers to benefit. Our proprietary technology combined with the sophistication of our customers made that shift possible.”

Additional Search Engine Marketing Trends

* Large vs. Small Advertisers: Small advertisers in the U.S. accounted for a greater decrease in search advertising spend than larger, more established brands. Advertisers spending less than $50,000 per month cut spending by 23 percent year-over-year, with many of the cuts coming between Q3 and Q4 of 2008. Companies that spent more than $200,000 per month only reduced spending by 9 percent over the same time period. These margins are typical during a recession when larger, more sophisticated brands aggressively utilize the search channel to drive revenue and sales while strengthening their position.
* Overall Impression Trends: Overall impressions for search engines are down 6 percent year-over-year. From Q4 2007 to Q4 2008, Google experienced a 3 percent decrease, while Yahoo lost 13 percent impression volume. Microsoft Live garnered 21 percent more impressions in Q4 than in Q3 2008 and gained 18 percent more impressions year-over-year.
* Click-Through Rate Trends: Overall click-through-rates (CTRs) in search were relatively flat year-over-year, gaining only 2 percent. While Microsoft Live Search had higher CTRs than all other search engines from Q1 to Q3 of 2008, it dipped below Google Search in Q4 2008. Google Search CTRs decreased by 2 percent year-over-year, while Yahoo CTRs improved 3 percent year-over-year. Google Content CTRs increased 150 percent year-over-year.
* Cost-Per-Click Highlights: Overall search cost-per-click (CPC) is down 5 percent year-over-year. In the last quarter of 2008, Google Search’s CPC declined by 8 percent, while Microsoft Live Search declined by 3 percent and Yahoo Search declined by 1 percent. Microsoft Live Search has consistently maintained a higher CPC than all other search engines, indicating that advertisers are willing to pay a premium for a high quality, albeit smaller audience.

Trends by Vertical Market

* Automotive: 15 percent decline in spending over 2007, due primarily to lower impression volume, reflecting weakness in consumer demand.
* Finance: 25 percent decline in spend over 2007, with impressions up by 5 percent reflecting high customer demand for financial services, with but fewer qualified conversions.
* Retail: 9 percent increase in spend over 2007, reflecting the strength of the channel in price comparison and shopping efficiency, particularly for more established online brands that increased spend to reach revenue goals.
* Travel and Entertainment: 24 percent decrease in spend year-over year, primarily due to reduced traffic volume, which is down in by 18 percent in the sector year-over-year.

The complete U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q4, 2008 is available for download from the Efficient Frontier website.

Research Methodology

Analysis for the Efficient Frontier report was based on data from a fixed sample of the overall Efficient Frontier U.S. customer base from Q4 2007 through Q4 2008, and covers nearly 92 billion impressions and 600 million clicks on search and content ads on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live Search. The report includes data from advertisers in the financial services, travel and entertainment, retail, automotive and business-to-business verticals.

About Efficient Frontier

Efficient Frontier is the worldwide market and technology leader in providing search engine marketing (SEM) solutions for large advertisers and agencies. Founded in 2002, Efficient Frontier pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory to SEM and today combines its core predictive modeling algorithms and bidding technology with comprehensive strategic and tactical value-added services to manage more than $750 million in annual search spend globally. The largest and most sophisticated advertisers and agencies partner with Efficient Frontier to achieve and sustain optimal campaign performance and growth in highly complex and competitive search marketplaces. The company has over 200 employees and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Hong Kong, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan and Australia. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information, please visit www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com/.

*eMarketer: Search Ad Spending: Reactions to a Recession, January 2009

PALO ALTO, Calif. – PubMatic (www.pubmatic.com), an ad revenue optimization company that works with over 5,500 online publishers, unveiled (www.pubmatic.com/adpriceindex) the PubMatic AdPrice Index for Q4 2008, a quarterly industry-wide measure of online ad network pricing for publishers.

The data reflected in the AdPrice Index shows a significant decline in Q4 2008 online display ad pricing compared to Q4 2007 for all sizes of websites and all vertical categories, underscoring the fact that the U.S. economy is in a recession and that the online advertising sector is not immune to it. However, there are signs of promise for the online advertising sector, demonstrating plenty of opportunities for advertisers, publishers and ad networks.

Data Findings from PubMatic AdPrice Index for Q4 2008:

* All sizes of websites (small, medium, and large) were down dramatically from Q4 2007; small, medium, and large sites dropped 52%, 23%, and 54%, respectively, from the previous year.
* All sizes of websites were down from Q3 2008 to Q4 2008, but the drops leveled-off, bucking the trend of larger drops from quarter to quarter throughout 2008; this may be an indicator that the online ad sector received enough of a boost from holiday advertising to keep ad rates steady.
* All vertical categories experienced significant drops in their ad pricing from Q4 2007; the biggest drop by a vertical was Business & Finance, which fell from an average price of $2.13 in Q4 2007 to $0.83 in Q4 2008 – a 61% drop.
* No vertical categories dropped by a significant amount from Q3 2008 to Q4 2008, with some verticals even improving from the previous quarter — the Technology, Sports, Entertainment, Gaming, and Music verticals all had higher ad price averages in Q4 of 2008 than in Q3 of 2008.

“Online ad pricing is a reflection of what is happening in the overall economy, and as a result, pricing has dropped significantly in almost all categories in the past year,” said Rajeev Goel, Co-founder and CEO of PubMatic. “However, with overall advertising budgets shrinking, the need for marketers to have more accountable advertising could bring more advertising dollars online in 2009 and start an upward trend as some vertical categories have already experienced.”

The data released today is part of a series of quarterly releases of the PubMatic AdPrice Index. Pricing data reflects net publisher monetization via ad networks and excludes ad networks’ share of ad spends as well as inventory sold directly by publishers to ad agencies or advertisers. Complete Q4 2008 data from the PubMatic AdPrice Index is available at (www.pubmatic.com/adpriceindex).

About the PubMatic AdPrice Index / Methodology

The PubMatic AdPrice Index is a monthly survey comprised of over 5,500 websites, approximately 85% of which are based in the US. The PubMatic AdPrice Index is prepared by leading independent statisticians and industry experts Albert Madansky, Ph.D. in the H.G.B. Alexander Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and recipient of the 2005 American Statistical Association Founders Award, and Michele Madansky, Ph.D., a media and market research consultant and former VP of Global Market Research for Yahoo!

About PubMatic

PubMatic is an Ad Revenue Optimization service. PubMatic provides more than 5,500 web publishers real-time ad optimization, which significantly increases revenue while simplifying ad network management. PubMatic works with hundreds of ad networks and has created thousands of new publisher/ad network relationships. PubMatic is venture backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Nexus India Capital, and Helion Ventures. Find out more at http://www.pubmatic.com.

The research report, Online Video Media Spend: 2003 – 2010, calculates multiple ad sales components corresponding to annual growth 2003 – 2010 by avail unit: pre-roll (short and long-form execution), In-banner video, overlays, in-game, podcast, player display and skins.

The report aggregates and separates media spend delivered though video platforms, VASP applications, direct sales teams, rep firms, ad serving engines, distributed or viral campaign management, search, discovery, curation, video indexers, and super syndicators.

The research report quantifies current, forecast and historical CPMs for all inventory formats attending monetization of online video.

Pre-roll inventory expanded by 12.6% in 2008 to 18.75 billion total avails, following a 16.8% uptick in 2007.

However, significant changes are taking place inside pre-roll inventory. First, insertion frequency for onsite experiences was capped at 1.5 (content views per avail) on average in 2008, reduced 13.7% from 2007.

Second, AccuStream is forecasting 27% growth in pre-roll inventory in 2009 and 2010 due to offsite exploitation through syndication (i.e. Hulu and others), and powerful indexing engines that find, categorize, store, package, amplify and distribute enhanced professional and semi-professional video.

Third, enhanced video verticals and accompanying metadata libraries are integrating with ad sales and distributed media platforms aggregating search, discovery, curated and brand produced infotainment video and monetizing it.

In-banner video impressions grew by 65% in 2008, and accounted for $1.5 billion in gross media spend. Video buys made through rep firms totaled $90 million in 2008. Overlay executions associated with video added $37.6 million.

“RFP velocity remained strong throughout 4th Quarter 2008, and while there are patches of caution, 1st Quarter 2009 closings are performing well,” commented research director Paul A. Palumbo.

“Video spend that followed audiences in 2008 are flowing to people, measurability, allocation efficiency and accountability in ‘09. Digital appears positioned to grow through the current economic cycle by attracting more ROI buyers.”

AccuStream Research (http://www.accustreamresearch.com) is a video, audio, download, subscription, VASP application and broadband advertising research firm.

San Mateo, California (PRWeb) January 21, 2009 – Jivox, the online video advertising service that helps small and medium-sized businesses reach local customers, today announced continued momentum over the past quarter as more companies discover the power of online video ads to attract local customers.  In Q4 of 2008, Jivox doubled its customer base and number of registered users from the previous quarter and reported four-fold revenue growth.  Jivox also tripled the number of ad views served on the Jivox Video Ad Network in this quarter.

Summary of key milestones in Q4:

Customer growth: Jivox doubled both its customer base and its registered users.
Revenue growth: Jivox achieved four-fold revenue growth.
Ad views: Jivox tripled the number of ad views served on the Jivox Video Ad Network.
New product features: Jivox released a number of new product features to extend the value of customers’ online video ads, including the ability to embed videos on a web site and upload videos to sharing sites like YouTube and local directories such as Local.com.
New partners: Jivox’s signed major partnership agreements with companies like Examiner.com, operator of a network of 60 local insider information Web sites; PixelFish, a leading provider of affordable and effective custom video ad solutions; and BigAdda, a leading youth networking web site in India
New brand customers: Jivox engaged with large brand customers for its subsidiary Jivox India, including LG, Sony and Nokia.

“While brand advertising overall has suffered in the face of the economic downturn, investment in online video advertising campaigns has never been stronger, as companies look for new, more cost-effective ways to promote their businesses online.  Online video has proven itself as a significantly more accountable and cost-effective form of advertising than many traditional forms of advertising,” said Diaz Nesamoney, CEO of Jivox. “We think 2009 is going to be the year online video advertising goes mainstream and makes significant inroads into the world of online advertising, to become a de facto format every business will use to reach customers.”

Jivox offers a do-it-yourself local online video advertising service, combining video ad creation tools, proprietary targeting technology and an extensive network of premium local publishers to help companies easily develop high-impact online video advertising campaigns. The Jivox Publisher Network has grown to include over 650 local TV, radio and newspaper websites across the country and now reaches more than 60 million unique viewers.

About Jivox
Jivox helps small businesses reach customers with online video advertising.  Jivox provides advertisers with an online, self-service tool to create high-impact video ads using stock footage, images, music or their existing video assets.  Jivox ensures high-quality placement of customer ads through the Jivox Publisher Network, a locally focused network of premium publishers that includes hundreds of local TV and radio stations, newspapers,  weather and other specialty websites, and offers geographic ad targeting at the city level as well as demographic and contextual targeting. Jivox is a privately held company based in San Mateo, Calif.  For more information about Jivox, please visit www.jivox.com.

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. – Ping Mobile (http://www.pingmobile.com), a full-service mobile agency, today announced a partnership with impreMedia, the No. 1 Hispanic News and Information Company in the U.S. in Online and Print, to offer unique mobile marketing and advertising options to its media clients using Ping Mobile’s flagship PingRewards platform.

ImpreRewards (http://www.imprerewards.com) will serve as the leading Hispanic targeted online and mobile service providing consumers with discounts and offers. In the current economic climate, impreRewards will provide an essential tool by informing consumers about brands that are making an effort to extend strong coupons and promotions. Providing this information directly to the mobile phone allows users to carry the coupon content and redemption information on-the-go and in certain cases makes the couponing viral. Users can forward the coupons on their mobile device to their friends and family in seconds.

Commenting on the launch, Shira Simmonds, President and Co-Founder of Ping Mobile, stated, “This partnership represents a tremendous opportunity for advertisers interested in reaching the Hispanic consumer and we are excited to partner with impreMedia, given their unparalleled Hispanic audience in both online and print. Because of the current economic climate, consumers are turning to mobile couponing and it’s these consumers who will benefit from the impreRewards portal.”

The new Spanish-language impreRewards aims to be the preferred Hispanic Web and Mobile portal. “Given the heavy mobile usage among Hispanic consumers, impreRewards is the perfect solution for any advertiser looking to target the Hispanic market,” said Arturo Duran, CEO of impreMedia Digital. “The solid technology behind Ping’s platform and the ease of use from both the advertisers’ and consumers’ viewpoint, will allow our users to feel comfortable using this exciting, new and innovative marketing tool in their preferred language.”

ImpreRewards is built upon the same platform and utilizes identical back-end technology as PingRewards. With this innovative platform, Advertisers have full control over campaign details, such as the content and timetable of each promotion. “Using impreRewards brands nationwide will be able to drive traffic directly to the point of sale within minutes,” said Mr. Duran.

Built as a user-friendly mobile coupon site, impreRewards is a free service for users that gives them control over the content they receive and how often they receive it. Users are able to opt-out anytime by replying with the keyword “STOP” and, most importantly, all consumer information remains secure. Ping Mobile’s coupon campaigns average a 56 percent redemption rate. Ping credits high conversion rates to their method of SMS distribution, which facilitates that the right messages are being sent to the right consumers. “We wanted to make sure that consumers weren’t going to be inundated with SPAM messages. The only promotions the user will receive are promotions the user wants and requests,” stressed Ms. Simmonds.

Consumers will be able to choose from a long list of advertisers including Footlocker, ESPN Shop, 1-800 Flowers.com, Ice.com, Mikasa, Diamonds International, and World of Watches.

“WorldofWatches.com is thrilled to be a part of this exciting new venture between impreMedia and Ping Mobile. We anticipate the success of mobile couponing to be of great value to us and look forward to offering customers amazing offers on over 3,500 name brand watches, straight to their mobile phones,” noted Izac Ben-Shmuel, CEO of the SWI Group.

ABOUT PING MOBILE

Ping Mobile is a fresh, young, creative full-service mobile agency, providing a complete range of mobile marketing, offers, promotions and content services, with a specialization in mobile offers and promotions. A strong focus on consumers, both through the unique PingRewards™ offering and vast experience in consumer marketing, combined with industry-leading consultancy, reporting, data analysis and client services packages, makes Ping Mobile the premier mobile marketing agency for clients of all sizes. Ping Mobile is headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, NJ with offices in Los Angeles, CA and Tel Aviv, Israel. For more information please visit www.PingMobile.com or www.PingRewards.com.

ABOUT IMPREMEDIA

ImpreMedia is the No. 1 Hispanic News and Information Company in the U.S. in Online and Print. ImpreMedia’s multi-platform offerings range from Online to Video, Mobile and Print and encompass 28 properties, including the portal http://www.impre.com and its McClatchy partners. 35% of all U.S. Hispanic adults use an impreMedia product. The company is also the nation’s largest Hispanic newspaper publisher with newspapers in the top 7 U.S. Hispanic markets, reaching 17 markets total and representing 64% of the U.S. Hispanic population. Its leading publications include La Opinión in Los Angeles and El Diario La Prensa in New York. York. For more information, visit: http://www.impremedia.com.

ImpreMedia portals and publications websites are: www.impre.com, www.imprerewards.com, www.lavibra.com, www.impreautos.com, www.laopinion.com, www.eldiariony.com, www.hoynyc.com, www.laraza.com, www.laprensafl.com, www.elmensajero.com, www.diariosrumbo.com, www.vistamagazine.com, and www.contigola.com.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Lateral Media, Inc. (OTCBB:ASND) announced that it has commenced operations and launched the Recycler Publishing Network of websites including www.expertautos.com, www.fordusedcarsales.com, www.hondausedcarsales.com and www.toyotausedcarsales.com

The websites are designed to help private party sellers of cars, boats, RVs, and motorcycles market and sell their listings using the Internet. The websites display inventory, allow buyers to communicate with sellers, and provide a series of useful and helpful tools and content to inform and educate buyers and sellers about private party transactions.

Lateral Media’s strategic focus will be acquiring various types of companies in performance marketing and online publishing. Lateral Media will attempt to accomplish this by utilizing the combined strengths of its media industry relationships and expertise of its officers and directors, including Jeffrey Schwartz, as Chairman and CEO of Lateral Media and Robert Ellin, Partner, Trinad Capital.

Jeffrey Schwartz stated, “We’re excited to launch this new network of websites. It’s a very cutting edge business model with new user-enhanced software. We are already getting positive feedback from customers, as our contact center has already staffed up with sales reps working on our behalf.”

Lateral Media is a development stage company whose mission is to build a unique combination of online publishing and performance marketing companies through asset acquisition, merger, exchange of capital stock, or other business combination with domestic or foreign businesses. For more information, please visit www.lateralmedia.net