Nuance Paves Way for Mobile Search, Drives New Opportunities for Ad Revenue

Business Wire, Feb 12, 2007

Nuance Makes Mobile Search Practical, Creates New Ad Revenue Opportunities;

Speech Drives Mobile Banner Advertising for USA Today

BARCELONA, Spain -- Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), a leading supplier of speech and imaging solutions, today announced that it is working with organizations such as Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) to tap into the growing market for mobile advertising revenue. As Nuance Mobile speech solutions make search on mobile devices more practical for consumers, it creates exponentially larger ad revenue opportunities in this burgeoning industry.

In 2006, mobile ad spending was an estimated $871 million worldwide, compared to $24 billion worldwide spending on Internet advertising. The missing piece in the mobile equation has been heavy use of search in mobile devices. According to research firm M:Metrics, only 15 percent of U.S. cell phone users surf the Web using their mobile devices, due in part to the difficult user interface of mobile search. By providing a speech interface that effectively eliminates the need to fumble with tiny keypads or navigate complex menus to perform a Web search, Nuance Mobile has the ability to dramatically increase the number of searches on mobile phones. Speech-based mobile search also improves the specificity of each search string, creating new opportunities for content-targeted mobile advertising.

"You can have all the content in the world, but if you don't offer an easy way to access it, nobody sees it and you lose ad opportunities," said Matthew Jones, director, mobile strategy and operations, Gannett Digital. "Speech is an ideal interface to give users easy access to our diverse array of content. The Nuance Voice Control service combined with USA TODAY content gives us a platform to deliver mobile advertising."

Nuance Mobile readily aligns with multiple ad revenue models including CPM, where advertisers pay for exposure of their message to a specific audience, and pay per click (PPC), in which advertisers pay based only on click-thru rates.

* Speech-Based Mobile Search Works for USA TODAY: Nuance Voice Control, a speech-enabled mobile search and messaging service, was the first service to unleash the potential for multiple advertising revenue models in a voice-enabled mobile search environment. Launched over a year ago, Nuance Voice Control allows users to press one button on their mobile phone and simply speak their mobile search request. Through a strategic content relationship with Gannett, Nuance Voice Control delivers access to USA TODAY's real-time, national content such as News, Money, Sports, Life and Weather. To access mobile content, a Nuance Voice Control user conducts a voice search, such as stating, "Weather in Boston, Massachusetts." The user then receives the information requested from the USA TODAY weather page.

* Pay-Per Click on Mobile Phones: Nuance Mobile also offers users a Find Business category and Web Search capabilities that enable completely open-ended content searches. When a user places a request such as "Find Business: furniture stores in Boston, Massachusetts," the user receives a Google search results page, similar to the results received if the user had typed the entry in a Google search box. This type of mobile search opens new contextual advertising opportunities similar to Google's flagship model of selling targeted ads linked to Internet searches.

* Directory Assistance for Mobile Phones: Nuance automates free Directory Assistance services for organizations such as AT&T and Jingle, where consumers receive free directory assistance subsidized by advertising targeted at the specific type of business and location the consumer is requesting.

"Nuance is working with a variety of content providers who want front row access to mobile subscribers," said Michael Thompson, vice president and general manager, telco, search and communications, Nuance. "Local search, navigation, and music search all require different advertising strategies. Gannet is blazing an innovative path with its current work on Nuance Voice Control, and we expect to generate similar relationships that create new opportunities for mobile advertisers."

About Gannett Co., Inc.

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is a leading international news and information company that publishes 90 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 1,000 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom's second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes nearly 300 titles, including 18 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for business and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications, and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share, and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.