Softbank Interactive Marketing's Interactive Media Sales Group signs on as Media Sales Organization for Interactive Imaginations' Commonwealth Network; Softbank to Bring Advertisers to Internet's First Network of Emerging Web Sites

Business Wire, June 25, 1996

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 1996--Interactive Imaginations, the company that created the increasingly popular Riddler entertainment site on the world wide web, today announced that Softbank Interactive Marketing's Interactive Media Sales Group has been signed on as the media sales organization for the company's rapidly growing Commonwealth Broadcasting Network.

The Network, launched on June 5, is designed to bring advertising dollars to small and emerging web sites that might otherwise be hard to reach.

The announcement marks the first time that Interactive Imaginations has formed a relationship with an outside media sales organization. Earlier last week, Softbank announced that it has signed agreements to handle media sales for Netscape and NBC Interactive's Olympic site and Intellicast Weather.

Launched with over 500 emerging web sites as charter "affiliate" members, the number of web sites participating in the Commonwealth Broadcasting Network doubled within the first week. The network is currently reporting daily impressions of over 360,000, with more than 8,100 pages represented. Advertisers currently supporting the Commonwealth Broadcasting Network include Snapple, Microsoft, Apple, Random House, Encyclopedia Britannica and The Cobb Group of Magazines. Recently, Ziff Davis and the Cobb Group extended their commitment to the network for an additional six months.

"Through the Commonwealth Broadcasting Network, Interactive Imaginations is allowing advertisers to reach consumers that are trafficking sites that offer `personal relevance' -- like legal advice or movie reviews," says Bob Colvin president of Softbank's Interactive Media Sales Group. "They've created a broadcasting model that goes beyond impressions and extends into actual advertiser/consumer relationships," adds Colvin. "And that's what successful Internet marketing is going to be all about."

There is no fee for a web site to become an affiliate member of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Network. Sites can become members regardless of traffic or size. Participating sites are paid based on impressions they deliver. While Interactive Imaginations does not disclose advertising dollars, sites on the network are receiving advertising income and marketing exposure that they probably wouldn't have received outside the network.

"Small and emerging web sites, operated and designed by entrepreneurs, artists and academics, tend to capture an audience with the high-demographic profile that advertisers covet," says Michael Paolucci, Chairman and CEO of Interactive Imaginations. "With the continued growth of the Internet, we believe that within the next two years emerging sites, like those participating in the Commonwealth Broadcasting Network, are going to form the backbone of an advertiser's media buy. As we help these sites develop, by lending both financial and technical support, we're dramatically expanding the advertising industry's options in Internet media buying -- much in the same way that the rise of network television affiliates did in the 1950s."

Prior to its launch on June 5, the Commonwealth Broadcasting Network had been under development for six months, with beta testing beginning in April.

Interactive Imaginations was founded in September 1994 by Michael Paolucci and John Waller and was one of the first Internet-oriented companies to be headquartered in New York's Silicon Alley. The company is privately held and plans to develop a diverse portfolio of entertainment offerings for the World Wide Web. Its Riddler site (www.riddler.com), which was the first independent web site built specifically to gain support from national advertisers, pioneered one-to-one marketing on the Web.

CONTACT: Ken Kerrigan/Renee Edelman Greg Stuart

Edelman Worldwide Interactive Imaginations

212/704-8155/8174 212/598-9455

kkerriga@edelman.com stuart@riddler.com

renee@edelman.com