LOS ANGELES – Buzznet, which operates the web’s largest community of pop culture web sites with an audience of 40 million unique monthly users, announced that it has changed its name to Buzz Media, Inc. The newly-named company will focus on the continued growth of its socially programmed web sites, including Celebuzz, Buzznet, the Superficial, SocialiteLife, What Would Tyler Durden Do, Stereogum, Idolator, Just Jared and Absolute Punk.

In addition, Buzz Media announced that it has secured a new round of financing totaling $12.5 million. Focus Ventures, a Palo Alto, California based venture firm with more than $830 million under management, joined the latest round. Existing investors, including Anthem Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures, also participated in the round.

Buzz Media’s unique social programming platform enables its professional editorial teams to leverage the programming contributions from its audience of millions of passionate and knowledgeable members. This approach allows the company to cost-effectively program thousands of topics in a deep and dynamic manner, driving a large, engaged, influential and loyal audience across its leading pop culture branded properties.

“This latest round of financing further validates our strategy of using social programming to build the most authentic and authoritative pop culture brands on the web,” said Tyler Goldman, CEO, Buzz Media. “In these challenging economic times, it’s also extremely efficient.”

Buzz Media will use the funds for the continued growth of its portfolio of leading pop culture properties. More than 40 million people worldwide visit Buzz Media properties every month. The company’s pop culture focused portfolio includes leading online music and celebrity destinations.

“Buzz Media’s unique publishing approach has not only allowed it to build the leading pop culture brands on the web, it has also enabled the company to produce highly programmed campaigns within its portfolio of leading branded properties for advertisers to engage its large and influential audience,” said Steve Bird at Focus Ventures. “We believe that these types of highly targeted and content-rich experiences are a major part of the future of advertising on the web, and are pleased to lead this new round of funding.”

Focus Ventures, Buzz Media’s newest backer, specializes in privately held, expansion stage technology companies. Other investments have included EqualLogic, acquired by Dell, Pure Digital, and Six Apart.

About Buzz Media Inc.

Buzz Media Inc. is the web’s largest pop culture community. By utilizing its proprietary social media platform, the Buzz Media team brings together professional news content, respected voices in the industry, and user-generated input to create the most up-to-the-minute, deep and dynamic content on the web, allowing passionate members the ability to consume, create, and connect. Celebuzz is a pop culture and community destination presenting the most comprehensive and colorful coverage on celebrity. Buzznet is one of the fastest growing online music communities providing fans the platform to create in-depth music experiences surrounding artists and bands they love.

For more information, please visit: buzz-media.com.

Gabriels portal search technology is based on the Endeca Information Access Platform designed to offer search simplicity with the analytical power of business intelligence. Through Endeca Search, Guided Navigation®, and Content Spotlighting capabilities, Gabriels delivers superior experience to site visitors, while offering site owners the tools needed to create contextual advertising and premium placement opportunities.

Gabriels’ Endeca-powered technology provides vertical portals for over 300 media properties including such organizations as Scripps Networks, Network Communications Inc., The New York Times Company, Hearst Newspapers, Freedom Communications Cox Newspapers, Scripps Newspapers and Lee Newspapers.

“Online advertising revenue is critical to the survival of today’s newspapers as they work to replace rapidly declining print dollars with more targeted and transparent online sources of income to meet the needs of their changing audience,” said John Andrews, vice president, Industry Solutions for Endeca. “Gabriel’s Endeca-powered offerings have the potential to expand revenue opportunities through a proven classifieds serving platform, providing the engaging experience that visitors’ desire without the need for internal development resources. It’s a win-win for newspapers and other resource constrained publishers struggling to find new opportunities to grow revenue.”

Michael Gabriel, CEO founder of Gabriels Technology said that “the combination of Gabriels customized search products and leveraging the investment of Endeca technology provides the best in class online search and access capabilities for the consumer to find the home, car, job or product they are looking for efficiently and effectively. That experience increases overall site activity, as measured by important metrics like site visitors, click-through rates, and duration per visit.”

About Gabriels

Gabriels Technology based in Manhattan is the leading private-label ecommerce technology provider for architecting and developing custom web applications. Gabriels supports over 300 media properties across North America and Europe utilizing scalable technology to support content rich, high traffic sites, including hosting services within a mission critical environment. Gabriels expertise includes creating advanced search technology, Endeca, database programming, data management, and .NET development. For more information: gabriels.net or paul@gabriels.net

About Endeca

Endeca is a leading provider of enterprise search and information access software and solutions. Solutions built on Endeca’s technology deliver the clearest visibility into information, driving hundreds of millions of dollars in measurable cost savings and increased revenue for our customers. Powering these solutions is Endeca’s Information Access Platform™, a major Enterprise Search innovation based on a fundamentally new architecture for building high-ROI applications that let users easily find and act on any structured and unstructured data across the enterprise. More than 250 million end users around the world access information via Endeca solutions, which are in use at more than 600 leading organizations including: ABN AMRO, Boeing, Cox Newspapers, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Dell, Ford Motor Company, Hyatt, IBM, John Deere, the Library of Congress, Texas Instruments, and Wal-Mart.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Endeca has operations in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information: endeca.com or info@endeca.com.

____________________________________________________________________________
2008 Holiday Season vs. Corresponding Days* in 2007
Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore, Inc.

Holiday Season                            Millions ($)
                                                       2007      2008      Pct Change
November 1 – December 23         $26,332    $25,537       -3%
____________________________________________________________________________
*Corresponding days based on corresponding shopping days (Oct. 27 – Dec. 18, 2007)
 
“The 2008 online holiday shopping season has declined 3 percent versus year ago, falling behind our expectation of flat sales this year,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “This marks the first time we’ve seen negative growth rates for the holiday season since we began tracking e-commerce in 2001. The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough season for retailers, both offline and online.”
 
Q4 E-Commerce Spending to Date
The growth rate for Q4 2008 to date compared to the same period a year ago will end up looking marginally worse than the holiday season results. For the period of October 1 – December 28 compared to the same calendar days in 2008, e-commerce spending is down 4 percent to 36.8 billion. The fourth quarter of 2008 will also mark the first full quarter to record a negative growth rate since comScore began tracking e-commerce.
____________________________________________________________________________
Fourth Quarter-to-Date E-Commerce Spending
Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore, Inc.

Q4-to-Date                               Millions ($)
                                                     2007       2008      Pct Change
October 1 – December 28         $38,376     $36,803      -4%
____________________________________________________________________________
 
Apple and Amazon among Top Traffic Gainers in December
Despite soft online sales this holiday season, consumers continued to shop online for the best deals. In the period of December 1-24 vs. the corresponding shopping days last year, several top retailers achieved growth in visitation to their sites. eBay remained the most visited retail site with 85.4 million visitors but saw a slight decline of 4 percent in visitors, while three of the top five  most visited sites recorded gains. Amazon Sites grew 7 percent to 76.2 million visitors, followed by Wal-Mart (up 4 percent to 51.5 million visitors), Target (down 1 percent to 46.8 million visitors) and Apple Inc. (up 19 percent to 35 million visitors).
____________________________________________________________________________
Traffic Growth to Top Retailer Sites
Dec. 1 – Dec. 24, 2008 vs. Corresponding Days* in 2007
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix

                                      Unique Visitors (000)
                                                     2007      2008     Percent Change
Total Internet                           171,113    179,997       5%
eBay                                           88,894     85,442      -4%
Amazon Sites                             70,975     76,240       7%
Wal-Mart                                    49,632     51,546       4%
Target Corporation                     47,338     46,837      -1%
Apple Inc.                                   29,450     35,017      19%
Best Buy Sites                              28,602     28,555       0%
JCPenney Sites                            21,329     18,918     -11%
Toysrus Sites                              19,817     18,075      -9%
Sears.com                                   18,010     18,413       2%
Circuit City Stores, Inc.               19,466     15,456     -21%
Overstock.com                           18,911     15,951     -16%
AmericanGreetings Property       17,273     14,666     -15%
Hewlett Packard                         15,217     19,425      28%
Dell                                            17,279     14,305     -17%
Macy’s Inc.                                 15,715     15,868       1%
____________________________________________________________________________
*Corresponding days based on corresponding shopping days (Oct. 27 – Dec. 19, 2007)
 
comScore’s Summary of  2008 Holiday Online Retail Spending by Key Time Period
____________________________________________________________________________
Online Non-Travel (Retail) Holiday Consumer Spending
Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore, Inc.

                                             Millions ($)
                                                         2007       2008       Pct Change
January – October                           $93,551    $102,144        9%
November 1 – December 23*          $26,332     $25,537       -3%
November 27 (Thanksgiving Day)*       $273        $288        6%
November 28 (Black Friday)*                 $531        $534        1%
December 1 (Cyber Monday)*                $733        $846       15%
Heaviest Online Shopping Day              $881        $887        1%
                                   (Dec. 10)     (Dec. 9)  
____________________________________________________________________________
* Versus Corresponding Shopping Days in 2007 Relative to Thanksgiving
 
About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

RESTON, VA – comScore (NASDAQ : SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, reported its tracking of holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 35 days of the November – December 2008 holiday season. For the holiday season through December 5, $14.92 billion has been spent online, essentially the same level compared to the corresponding days last year. For the five days beginning with December 1 (Cyber Monday), the kick-off to the heaviest part of the online shopping season, sales totaled $3.74 billion, up 9 percent versus year ago. Two individual days in the past week achieved more than $800 million in online spending: Monday, December 1 (“Cyber Monday”) with $846 million, and Tuesday, December 2 with $823 million.

_______________________________________________________________________
2008 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2007

Non-Travel (Retail) Spending

Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases

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

Source: comScore, Inc.

Holiday Season to Date Millions ($)

2007 2008 Pct Change

November 1 – December 5 $14,903 $14,922 0%

Dec .1 (Cyber Monday) – Dec. 5 $3,419 $3,743 9%
_______________________________________________________________________
*Corresponding days based on equivalent shopping days relative to Thanksgiving (October 27 – November 30, 2007)

“The online holiday shopping season has picked up noticeably since Thanksgiving as consumers have given in to the holiday spirit – and very attractive retailer discounts,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Particularly encouraging is the growth of 9 percent in online sales that has occurred since Cyber Monday. While this growth is certainly a positive development in this tough retail season, it also needs to be put into perspective. With the compressed time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year – five days shorter than last year – we need to see continued strong growth during the critical weeks between today and Christmas if this year’s shopping season is to at least match that of last year.”

Top Performing Retail Categories Since Cyber Monday

The fastest growing product categories during the period from December 1 through December 5 were Sport & Fitness (up 35 percent) and Consumer Electronics (up 24 percent), which saw sales surge as a result of significant price reductions on many items, including flat panel TVs. Apparel & Accessories, the second largest retail category in terms of dollar sales (after Computer Hardware) during this period, also experienced strong gains (up 16 percent). The softest retail categories include Music, Movies & Videos (down 24 percent) and Jewelry & Watches (down 22 percent).
_______________________________________________________________________

Growth in Retail E-Commerce Categories by Dollar Sales Since Cyber Monday

Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
Dec. 1- Dec. 5, 2008 vs. Corresponding Shopping Days in 2007
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore, Inc.

Retail Category Y/Y Percent Change in Category Sales ($)

Sport & Fitness 35%
Consumer Electronics 24%
Apparel & Accessories 16%
Toys 16%
Books & Magazines 10%
Video Games, Consoles & Accessories 9%
Computer Hardware 2%
Home, Garden & Furniture 0%
Flowers, Greetings & Gifts -8%
Jewelry & Watches -22%
Music, Movies & Videos -24%
_______________________________________________________________________

Visitors to Top Retailer Sites Since Cyber Monday

During the five-day period since Cyber Monday, traffic to the retail site category is up 2 percent versus year ago, with many sites drawing a substantial number of visitors. eBay topped the list with 36 million unique visitors, while three of the top ten retailer sites saw gains versus year ago: Amazon Sites (up 10 percent), Wal-Mart (up 7 percent), and Apple Inc. (up 29 percent).

_______________________________________________________________________
Visitor Growth at Top Retailer Sites

Dec. 1- Dec. 5, 2008 vs. Corresponding Shopping Days in 2007

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

Source: comScore, Inc.

Unique Visitors (000)

2007 2008 Percent Change

Retail Site Category 118,393 121,271 2%
eBay 40,180 36,631 -9%
Amazon Sites 26,859 29,505 10%
Wal-Mart 18,183 19,514 7%
Target Corporation 16,273 15,905 -2%
Apple Inc. 9,290 11,943 29%
Best Buy Sites 9,350 8,561 -8%
JCPenney Sites 6,657 6,435 -3%
Overstock.com 6,930 5,874 -15%
Toysrus Sites 6,434 5,969 -7%
Dell 6,740 5,611 -17%
_______________________________________________________________________

comScore’s Summary of 2008 Holiday Online Retail Spending by Key Time Period
_______________________________________________________________________
Online Non-Travel (Retail) Holiday Consumer Spending

Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases

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

Source: comScore, Inc.

Millions ($)

2007 2008 Pct Change

January – October $93,551 $102,144 9%

comScore Holiday Season Forecast (Nov-Dec) $29,169 $29,200** 0%**

November 27 (Thanksgiving Day)* $273 $288 6%

November 28 (Black Friday)* $531 $534 1%

December 1 (Cyber Monday)* $733 $846 15%
_______________________________________________________________________

* Versus Corresponding Shopping Day in 2007 Relative to Thanksgiving
**Forecast

About comScore

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

“The sheer volume of submissions coupled with the extraordinary level of creativity that cut across such a wide swath of platforms and technologies speaks to the vitality of the interactive advertising industry,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “Interactive advertising is breaking new ground in engaging consumers in ways that we had not even dreamed of, and the pace of change will only continue to accelerate.”

This year, submissions jumped by nearly 40 percent, and were sent in from hundreds of leading agencies, representing traditional advertising agencies and native digital shops which entered work across virtually every major vertical industry.

The gala’s ultimate honor, Best in Show, went to TEQUILA\ and Nissan for its “Rogue Launch.” TEQUILA\ and Nissan took home additional honors for digital video, digital integration and VOD and interactive television, winning golds in all three categories. “The Rogue Launch” was based on consumer insights geared to Generation X males who wanted to still feel “in the game” and tap into a sense of playfulness. The campaign was credited as the most successful new car launch in Nissan’s history.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners, last year’s Best in Show agency winner, won two golds this year in Product Launch and Business-to-Business for its campaign “Adobe Layer Tennis” for the launch of Adobe’s Creative Suite 3. And in a testament to the breadth and variety of brands’ interactive campaigns, some marketers were honored in multiple categories for work with different agencies. BMW, for example, was honored for its work with three different agencies—Dotglu, JOGO Media and GSD&M Idea City across the categories of Direct Response and Lead Generation, In-Game Advertising and Social Marketing, respectively.

The MIXX Awards are the only juried advertising competition that evaluates all critical components of the interactive marketing mix, including strategy, creative, execution and results. To view the complete gallery of the MIXX Winners please visit: www.mixx-awards.com/gallery

The Complete List of 2008 MIXX Award Winners:
Best in Show

Nissan and TEQUILA\ for “Rogue Launch”

Brand Awareness and Positioning
GOLD: American Express OPEN and Digitas for “OPEN Forum”

SILVER: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! and BlockDot for “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Now You Know Better!”

BRONZE: U.S. Army and Universal McCann for “U.S. Army Halo 3 Experience”

Product Launch
GOLD: Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for “Adobe Layer Tennis”

SILVER: Verizon and Campfire for “My Home 2.0”

BRONZE: P&G/Downy and Digitas for “Discovering Radiance”

Direct Response and Lead Generation
GOLD: ING of the Americas and BBDO Atlanta for “ING Numbers”

SILVER: BMW North America and Dotglu for “1 Series Interactive Launch”

BRONZE: McDonald’s and OMD for “Dollar Menunaires”

Business-to-Business
GOLD: Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for “Adobe Layer Tennis”

SILVER: Dell and T3 for “Times Square We believe: in small business”

BRONZE: Motorola and BBDO New York for “Cityscape”

Public Service/Not-for-Profit
GOLD: The Ad Council / U.S. Department of Justice / National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Merkley + Partners for “Think Before You Post”

SILVER: The Bridgespan Group and Sapient Interactive for “One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference”

BRONZE: Roundabout Theatre Company and Situation Marketing for “Sunday in the Park with George – Connect: The Dot Project”

Search Marketing
GOLD: Honda Certified Used Cars and RPA for “Custom Search Program”

SILVER: Covad Communications and Geary Interactive for “Localized Search Campaign”

BRONZE: Adobe Systems Incorporated and Adobe Search Marketing for “AIR/RIA”

Super-Rich Media
GOLD: Apple Inc. and TBWA\Media Arts Lab for “ Don’t Give Up”

SILVER: Apple Inc. and TBWA\Media Arts Lab for “Banging, Knocking & Hiding”

BRONZE: HBO and Deep Focus for “Flight of the Conchords”

Multicultural
GOLD: U.S. Army and Sensis for “Leaders Among Us”

SILVER: The Home Depot and The Vidal Partnership for “Colores Origenes “Mixer” Campaign”

Widget Marketing
GOLD: Honda Civic and RPA for “Honda Civic Tour: Panic at the Disco”

SILVER: Kimberly-Clark and MindShare for “Huggies Baby Countdown”

BRONZE: Samsung and Cheil Worldwide for “Juke by Samsung”

In-Game Advertising
GOLD: BMW and JOGO Media for “BMW M3 Challenge”

SILVER: Nissan and OMD for “Forza 2”

BRONZE: The Coca-Cola Company and MediaVest for “Sprite NBA Gaming”

Digital Video
GOLD:

Nissan and TEQUILA\ for “Rogue Launch”

SILVER: Neutrogena and Tribal DDB Worldwide for “The Wave Power Cleanser”

BRONZE: Microsoft Small Business Products and Cole & Weber United for “Microsoft Small Business Summit”

Social Marketing
GOLD: Alberto-Culver Company and Carat for “Extreme Style by VO5”

SILVER: BMW and GSD&M Idea City for “1 Series – Facebook Graffiti Contest”

BRONZE: Verizon and Campfire for “My Home 2.0”

International Award
GOLD: Vodafone and OgilvyOne Worldwide, Athens for “Livefeeds”

SILVER: Air New Zealand and Host for “Home Sweet As”

BRONZE: Coke Europe and Sapient Interactive for “Coke Burn Alter Ego”

Mobile Platforms
GOLD: Virgin Atlantic Airways and McKinney for “ Love from Above”

SILVER: MasterCard Worldwide and MRM Worldwide for “Peyton Pep Talks with Peyton Manning”

VOD and Interactive Television
GOLD:

Nissan and TEQUILA\ for “Rogue Launch”

SILVER: AXE and BrightLine iTV for “Art of Skin Contact”

BRONZE: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! and BrightLine iTV for ”Sprays in the City”

Brand Destination Site
GOLD: MasterCard Worldwide and MRM Worldwide for “Priceless.com”

SILVER: American Airlines and TM Advertising for “AAdvantage Milestones”

BRONZE:
Pabst Brewing Company and Cole & Weber United for “The Tales of Colt 45”

Digital Integration

GOLD:

Nissan and TEQUILA\ for “Rogue Launch”

SILVER:

Liberty Mutual and Hill Holliday for “The Responsibility Project”

BRONZE:

ING of the Americas and BBDO Atlanta for “ING Numbers”

Cross-Platform Integration
GOLD: Liberty Mutual and Hill Holliday for “The Responsibility Project”

SILVER: ING of the Americas and BBDO Atlanta for “ING Numbers”

BRONZE: Verizon and Campfire for “My Home 2.0”

MIXX 2008 Judges:

Marketers:

* Cheryl Guerin – VP, Global Digital Marketing, MasterCard Worldwide
* Jenny Howell – Manager of Interactive Marketing, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
* Carole Irgang – SVP, Integrated Marketing Communications, Kraft Foods
* Carol Kruse – VP, Global Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company
* Tim Murphy – Senior Director Digital Marketing, Anheuser-Busch
* David Roman – VP, WW Marketing Communications, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company
* Debbie Jo Severin – VP, Marketing, Covad Communications Group, Inc.

Agencies:

* Marty Cooke – Chief Creative Officer, SS+K
* Jean-Philippe Maheu – Chief Digital Officer, Ogilvy North America
* Hans Neubert – Executive Creative Director, Avenue A | Razorfish
* Michael Prieve – Chief Creative Officer, Doremus New York
* Alan Schulman – SVP, Executive Creative Director, Executive Director of User Experience, imc2
* Baba Shetty – EVP Chief Media Officer, Hill Holliday
* Joanne Zaiac – President, Digitas, New York

Publishers:

* Heidi Browning – SVP, Client Solutions, FOX Interactive Media
* Mark D’Arcy – Chief Creative Officer, Time Warner Global Media Group
* Jane Grenier – VP, CondéNet
* Wonya Lucas – EVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Discovery Communications
* Suzie Reider – Director of Advertising, YouTube
* David Sturman – Chief Technology Officer for Massive (a Microsoft company)
* Lauren Wiener – SVP, Meredith Interactive Media

MIXX Awards Sponsors:
Adweek Media
Brightcove.com
Broadband Enterprises
Comcast Spotlight
Forbes.com
International Data Group (IDG)
Microsoft Advertising
Terra Networks
Traffiq
ValueClick Media
Yahoo!

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

IDG TechNetwork Ad Director Dan Shaw explained, “ Today around 30% of UK IT users and buyers visit sites outside the largest 50 (Source : Hitwise April 2008 ) These sites are growing in share and importance and have highly engaged audiences who visit these sites due to a strong sense of loyalty and because they find the content highly relevant and useful. The IDG TechNetwork makes executing campaigns into these sites simple and effective and acts as a complement to the direct relationships marketers they have with the larger sites”

Recent IAB figures show that 40% of all online advertising is channelled through networks (Source: IAB online research July-Dec 2007) but until now these have tended to be broad based and limited in their ability to target vertical niches. Unlike large advertisng networks that aggregate and sell remnant inventory, the vertical ad networks powered by Adify will enable IDG TechNetwork to focus on selling high value, branded and targeted advertising programmes, generating additional revenue across the network.The IDG TechNetwork is the first vertical network delivering extended reach to IT professionals and users and focuses on the ‘long tail’ that has grown in share of the UK audience.

Christian Harris, owner and founder of BIOSMagazine.co.uk highlighted the benefits to his company of the partnership. “We have limited resources to pitch advertising budgets from the big IT clients and agencies but collectively and in partnership with IDG we are able to get onto campaigns without incurring the cost and challenges of running our own sales team. For a small business such as ours it leaves us free to do what we are good at – developing compelling content and at the same time receive ad revenues to enable us to further grow our business.”

At launch The IDG TechNetwork has over 45 sites live which already represents in excess of 5,000,000 UK ad impressions per month. Partner sites already committed include Edugeek, Bios magazine, Financial Sector Technology, Retail Systems, Spiceworks, Technology Bites, System Management News, Data Center Knowledge, and Digital Inspiration.

Mediacom signed the first campaign to go live on the TechNetwork for Dell. Chris Pullon, Media Planner on the account, said: “The IDG TechNetwork has allowed us to take Dell’s message to an untapped audience. The internet has led to a fragmented number of sites, and it is important we explore routes to reach those buyers. Mediacom has always sought new opportunities to allow our clients to gain the broadest reach and the TechNetwork will give us one further option when planning for clients”.

IDG joins Adify’s existing global partners such as Time Warner, NBC Universal, The Guardian and Reuters. Adify is the world’s leading solution for creating, managing and commercialising vertical ad networks used by over 100 network builders and thousands of website publishers worldwide.

Commenting on the IDGTechNetwork Emmet Geaney, Senior Account Manager, Adify said, “We are delighted to have been chosen to enable the creation of the UK’s first technical vertical network. Our platform links selected partner sites into a unique advertising offering which maximises the opportunities presented by an ever fragmenting online audience, whist efficiently managing all back office complexities. The pace of take up that the IDG TechNetwork has already demonstrated from both partner sites and advertisers is extremely impressive – and this network looks to swiftly become an established and highly credible option for both the brand and agency advertising communities.”

IDG has gained a strong reputation for the growth and development their own sites such as pcadvisor.co.uk and Techworld.com and is now sharing its experience in content delivery, site design and sales representation skills with many smaller sites. Qualifying sites are required to successfully pass through rigorous selection criteria. Potential sites are evaluated for quality, originality and objectivity of editorial content as well as meeting design and commercial criteria in order to ensure that the network consists of first class partners who can deliver strong and effective marketing solutions.

Only the IDG TechNetwork specifically concentrates on reaching technology buyers in their favoured media environments. As the premier advertising network operated by an established technology publisher, its expert understanding of optimising enterprise, SMB and consumer technology sites ultimately gives these more focussed web players a distinct competitive advantage.

Partner sites signing up to the TechNetwork will benefit from being part of a high-quality vertical network. With an exclusive focus on the technology market, IDG is well positioned to represent these quality sites to key agencies and clients – all sites will have the IDG seal of approval (checked for content, design and independence), ensuring advertisements appear only on credible sites. Member sites will also gain access to IDG best practices (such as SEO) through regular seminars and briefings

Agencies and advertisers benefit in the same way. Because this is a vertical network that is fully transparent, agencies can now plan campaigns and increase the number of sites included while still dealing with just one point of contact.

Advertisers can target specific sites and channels, concentrate on contextual content and editorial focus, and even eliminate specific sites from their programs.

About International Data Group (IDG)

International Data Group (IDG) is the world’s leading technology media, events, and research company. IDG’s online network includes more than 450 Web sites spanning business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment, and video games worldwide. IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers in 85 countries including CIO, CSO, Computerworld, GamePro, InfoWorld, Macworld, Network World, and PC Advisor. IDG’s lead-generation service, IDG Connect, matches technology companies with an audience of engaged, high-quality IT professionals, influencers, and decision makers.

IDG is a leading producer of more than 750 technology-related events including Macworld Conference & Expo, LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, Entertainment for All Expo (E for All), DEMO, and IDC Directions. IDC, a subsidiary of IDG, is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events. Over 900 IDC analysts in more than 90 countries provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends.

Additional information about IDG, a privately held company, is available at www.idg.com. Note: All product and company names are trademarks of their respective companies.

About Adify

Adify Corporation is the premier vertical ad network management company and an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, one of the nation’s leading media companies and providers of automotive services.