AltaVista Unveils Streamlined Look-and-Feel with New Logo and Exciting New Programs for Advertisers
Phases Out Pop-Up, Pop-Under and Skyscraper Advertising in Favor of More Targeted Ads to Better Address Advertisers' and Users' Special Interests
PALO ALTO, Calif.,November 12, 2002 - AltaVista Company, a leading global provider of search services and a majority-owned operating company of CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI),today unveiled a new streamlined user interface complete with a new logo and several exciting new advertising programs designed to maximize appeal to both advertisers and search users. In August of this year, AltaVista became one of the first online properties to phase out pop-up ads, and the company is structuring new advertising programs to maximize the matching of advertiser ads with users' search interests. Today's announcement is made concurrently with the company's announcement of new features and functionalities designed to advance the overall user search experience (see separate press release, "AltaVistaŽ Advances Internet Search with New Features and Functionality for 'Power of Precision' Searching").
Search engines empower consumers and business buyers to research products and services, and to evaluate alternatives. According to a 2001 report from Jupiter Research, the research of products and services accounted for 78% of Internet usage in 2001. 1
"We've streamlined the look-and-feel of our site and redesigned our logo to reflect our reenergized focus on our core strength -- Internet search. We think users will appreciate the new look as well as all the new features of our 'Power of Precision' initiative," said Jim Barnett, Chief Executive Officer for AltaVista. "In addition, because the online buying process today almost always starts with a search, we are offering a range of new targeted advertising programs we believe will appeal to a wide array of advertisers."
Eliminates Pop Up and Skyscraper Ads, Extends Paid Listings
AltaVista eliminated
Pop-up and pop-under ads on its U.S. site in August of this year, and will continue
to phase them out from its other country sites over the next several months. The
company has also phased out the 'skyscraper' ads that were located on the right-hand
margin of the search results pages, replacing them with additional paid listings.
"We've added several exciting new advertising opportunities aimed at making AltaVista the most advertiser-friendly search site to do business with, while at the same time retaining complete respect for the user experience," said Jeff Lehman, Chief Revenue Officer for AltaVista Company. "Additionally, we believe that the more focused advertising becomes, the less intrusive and more effective it is in a search environment. Search users consider the combination of highly targeted advertising along with precise search results to be a more complete search experience and more beneficial to their overall needs. This is the core of special interest marketing and our wide range of ad programs surrounding search are what make us unique in the search advertising community."
1"Activities, Actions and Transactions of the Online Users" Jupiter Research, 2001.
New Advertising Programs
In response to changes in the online advertising
market, AltaVista has created a number of new advertising programs to help advertisers
better target their audiences and deliver the appropriate information to users in
search of product and retail resources.
New Products
Multimedia Extend Your Search (EYS) is ideal for advertisers with a strong offering relevant to a media category (images, audio, video). With targeted results on the advertiser's site, these can be targeted to one or all media categories. For example, a user query about 'cars' can direct the person to sites with image collections of automobiles or video clips of important races.
About AltaVista Company
Internet search pioneer AltaVista Company is a leading
global provider of search services and technology. The company continues to advance
Internet search with new technologies and features designed to improve the search
experience for all users. Built on a foundation of over 50 technology patents, with
innovations in multilingual and translation support, AltaVista provides integrated
search results to give users immediate access to relevant information including
Web pages, multimedia files and up-to-the-minute news. Headquartered in Palo Alto,
Calif., AltaVista is a majority-owned operating company of CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI).
For more information see http://www.altavista.com/.
AltaVista is a registered trademark and AltaVista Prisma and Tracer are trademarks of AltaVista Company. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements include without limitation statements that AltaVista's users will want to use the new features of AltaVista's search services and that advertisers will want to place advertisements using AltaVista's Tracer ads. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the implementation of the new features and services described herein may not be successful or may not generate revenue or other economic benefit for AltaVista. For a discussion of other risks that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, see CMGI, Inc.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year. AltaVista undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.