Classmates.com Signs Advertising Contract With Weather.com

Business Wire, Sept 28, 1999

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 1999--

ClassMates.Com, the largest high school alumni community on the Internet, announced today a significant advertising deal with weather.com, the world's leading source of weather on the Web.

This one-year contract is part of an overall effort by ClassMates to raise market visibility with savvy net users.

With 2.5 million registered members from more than 30,000 high schools in the United States and Canada, ClassMates.Com is ranked as one of the 30 fastest growing web sites in the world. The site now ranks among the top 200 web sites in the United States, according to August, 1999 Media Metrix statistics. Each day, 10,000 new people register as ClassMates.Com members. The site generates 70,000 daily visits from people in search of old high school friends and classmates. ClassMates.Com members are able to reunite and communicate with their old friends through more than 30,000 active message boards that serve as precursors to national online reunions.

"We're excited about our extensive partnership with weather.com," said Randy Conrads, Chairman and CEO of ClassMates.Com. "Not only will we get the word out about ClassMates to millions of new people, but we'll be providing a valuable service to our existing members."

As part of this deal, weather.com will provide local weather reports for each of the high school alumni pages. ClassMates members from over 30,000 high schools throughout the country can find out the local weather in their hometown at any given time of day.

"We're always looking for ways to make our site more interesting and fun while giving more benefits to our members," said Conrads. "Our partnership with Weather.com definitely accomplished that."

ClassMates.Com was founded in 1996 by Randy Conrads and his wife Sharon Conrads. Since that time, ClassMates has grown to become the sixth largest overall online directory, according to Media Metrix, August, 1999.

The Weather Channel, Inc. based in Atlanta, is the nation's premier provider of weather information. The only 24-hour international weather network, The Weather Channel is seen in more than 72 million homes nationwide.

The Weather Channel Web site, weather.com, is one of the fastest growing sites on the Internet and the world's leading source of weather on the Web. Weather.com offers forecasts for more than 70,000 locations worldwide and features special lifestyle sections and online services that leverage both wireless and broadband platforms to create a one-of-a-kind online experience. Weather.com averages more than 130 million page views per month and is consistently ranked the top single-content news site by Media Metrix. Its marketing and distribution relationships include America Online, AOL.COM, AOL's Digital City, CompuServe, Go2Net, InfoSpace, iVillage, MindSpring, Netscape, and LookSmart; wireless alliances including GTE Airfone, Nokia, AT&T Wireless, Road Runner, SkyTel and Palm Computing.

The Weather Channel is owned by Landmark Communications, Inc., a Norfolk, Va.-based privately held media company with global interests.