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Major Acquisitions Establish Internet REIT as a New Force in Online Advertising
Friday, May 19, 2006
Contacts:
| Kari Moe Straley |
Leyl Master Black |
| Marketing Alchemist |
Marketing Alchemist |
| 415-215-6423 |
415-378-6395 |
| kari@marketingalchemist.com |
leyl@marketingalchemist.com |
Firm Amasses 400,000 Domains, 50 Million Monthly Visitors; Acquires Netster.com
HOUSTON, May 19, 2006 - Internet REIT (iREIT), a leading supplier of high-value Internet
traffic to advertisers, today announced its acquisition of the Netster.com web portal and major
portions of the Netster domain name portfolio. Netster is the latest in a series of strategic
acquisitions for iREIT, which has acquired over 50 portfolios of Internet traffic in the past
fifteen months, including such high-value domains as Bands.com, OfficeSupply.com and
AfricanAmericans.com. The addition of the Netster portfolio gives iREIT more than 400,000
domain properties under management and brings the company's total portfolio of traffic up
to 50 million visitors per month.
While most Internet advertising networks "lease" their traffic from third-party Web sites,
iREIT owns all of its traffic since this traffic is generated from the company's Web sites.
Owning its traffic gives iREIT a tremendous advantage in the space: iREIT has the flexibility
to sell its traffic to Google, to Yahoo! or directly to an advertiser.
"iREIT is working in partnership with top domain name portfolio owners to build the world's
largest, most profitable and highest-quality portfolio of Internet domain names that have
traffic on par with the world's leading media properties. iREIT's acquisition of the Netster.com
portal and high-quality components of the Netster portfolio marks a key milestone towards this
goal," said Bob Martin, chief executive officer of iREIT. "Netster not only brings significant
traffic to our portfolio, but also offers synergistic qualities that will accelerate monetization
of other sites in our network. We look forward to further developing the portal to offer more
functionality and generate more high-quality traffic." "Netster was looking for a larger platform
to take the portal to the next level in the fast-growing Internet traffic marketplace. After
looking at the top players in our space, we knew that iREIT was the place where domainers and
others who really understand the value of our traffic were converging," said Blake Bookstaff,
co-founder, Netster.com. "Joining forces with iREIT gives Netster the additional resources to
enhance functionality, expand the site, and add value across the entire portfolio."
Direct Navigation: The Untold Story Behind Internet Advertising
Traffic reaches iREIT's sites primarily through "direct navigation", the practice of locating
a Web site by typing directly into the browser's address bar. Direct navigation is one of
three ways companies such as Google are supplied with advertising traffic. With its recent
acquisitions, iREIT is now a leading supplier of traffic to Google.
Direct navigation comprises more than six percent of the US and UK search advertising markets
and could exceed $1.2 billion in ad revenue by 2007, according to Susquehanna Financial and
RBC Capital Markets. Direct navigation is a high-value component of the advertising mix:
it offers measurable results, high-volume traffic, better rates than search engines and more
data than keyword search marketing.
"While the boom in Internet advertising has shined a spotlight on Google, Yahoo, MSN and ASK.com,
direct navigation is now emerging as the next great opportunity in the industry," said Marc
Ostrofsky, co-founder of iREIT. "With our fast-growing portfolio of domains, our ability to
effectively monetize the portfolio, and our deep understanding of the Internet advertising
ecosystem, iREIT is well-positioned to take advantage of the explosive growth in this market."
About Internet REIT
Internet REIT (iREIT) is a leading supplier of high-value Internet traffic to advertisers. iREIT
is working with top domain name portfolio owners to build the world's largest, most profitable
and highest-quality portfolio of Internet domain names, with traffic on par with the world's
leading media properties. iREIT's portfolio of high-quality domains includes premier properties
such as the Netster.com portal, Bands.com, AfricanAmericans.com, NativeAmericans.com,
VietnamWar.com, OfficeSupply.com, and many others. iREIT is a privately held company based in
Houston, Texas. For more information about iREIT, please visit www.ireit.com. |
