Compete and 24/7 Real Media Partner to Bring Greater Accountability to Online Advertising

BOSTON, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Compete, a Kantar Media company, and 24/7 Real Media, Inc., a leader in global digital marketing, today announced a partnership that provides advertisers and agencies with new levels of assurance that the sites in their media plans deliver their target audiences. Combining comprehensive audience analyses derived from Compete's online consumer panel with the precision targeting of the Global Web Alliance, this new partnership enables advertisers and agencies to verify existing behavioral segments, and also create custom segments to ensure their ad campaigns include the highest-indexing online properties for their desired audience.  

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100209/NE51540LOGO )

"Ensuring that ads reach the intended audience is of tantamount importance," said Ari Bluman, president of North American sales and operations at 24/7 Real Media, Inc. "Our partnership with Compete adds even further precision to online targeting by giving advertisers access to verified consumer segments and the ability to create private channels based on customized behavioral profiles. This solution will be invaluable for companies looking to get maximum ROI from their ad spend."

The 24/7 Real Media-Compete partnership is the first media planning solution to validate the different audiences within an ad network's reach. Using its unique ability to analyze consumer behavior across the entire Web, including search term usage and activities within brand sites, Compete creates robust segment definitions and then applies these to the channels offered within the Global Web Alliance, 24/7's leading ad network. These channels include News & Media, Entertainment, Home & Garden, Family, Women's Interest, Men's Interest, Business/Personal Finance, Travel, Sports, Shopping, Health and Automotive. The two companies have already validated these 12 channels within the Global Web Alliance, and can also create proprietary segments and channels for advertisers who are interested in increased customization. Armed with third-party validation, advertisers and agencies can precision-target consumer segments online and confidently create high-performing sales or brand-building campaigns.

The partnership between Compete and 24/7 Real Media provides online advertisers with:

• Increased accountability by using objective, third-party data from Compete's consumer panel to validate audiences within 24/7's Global Web Alliance;
• The ability to create customized, behaviorally targeted segments for current and future campaigns; and
• The ability to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on critical branding, behavioral and sales metrics.

"Advertisers want greater control over the planning, execution and measurement of their online campaigns, and we provide assurance at every stage in that process," said Stephen DiMarco, chief marketing officer at Compete. "As advertisers commit to spending a larger portion of their budgets online, our solution will ensure that what's planned and what results -- from an ROI standpoint -- are always one and the same."

About Compete

Compete, a Kantar Media company, helps the world's top brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Leading marketers such as Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Hyundai Motor America, Upromise, Chrysler, and Verizon Wireless rely on Compete's services to create effective online experiences and highly profitable advertising campaigns.  Compete's online behavior database -- the largest in the industry -- makes the Web as ingrained in marketing as it is in people's lives. Compete was founded in 2000 and is located in Boston, MA, with offices throughout the U.S.  For more information about us, please visit http://www.competeinc.com/, or to join the conversation visit http://www.compete.com/.

About Kantar Media

Established in more than 50 countries, Kantar Media enables exploration of multimedia momentum through analysis of print, radio, TV, internet, social media, and outdoors worldwide. Kantar Media offers a full range of media insights and audience measurement services through its global business sectors -- Intelligence, Audiences and TGI & Custom. Combining the deepest expertise in the industry, Kantar Media tracks more than 3 million brands and delivers insights to more than 22,000 customers around the world. (www.KantarMediaNA.com).

About 24/7 Real Media, Inc.

24/7 Real Media, Inc. a WPP company, (Nasdaq: WPPGY) is the leading global digital marketing company, empowering advertisers and publishers to engage their target audiences with greater precision, transparency and ROI.  Using its award winning ad serving, targeting, tracking and analytics platform, powerful search marketing technology and global network of specialized Web sites, the company has turned the art of reaching audiences across virtually any digital medium into a measurable science.  The company is headquartered in New York, with 18 offices in 12 countries throughout North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.  For more information, please visit www.247realmedia.com.

24/7 Real Media: The Science of Digital Marketing.

24/7 Real Media is a member of the NAI and adheres to the NAI privacy principles that have been applauded by the FTC. These principles are designed to help ensure Internet user privacy. For more information about online data collection associated with ad serving, including online preference marketing and an opportunity to opt-out of 24/7 Real Media cookies, go to: www.networkadvertising.org .

SOURCE Compete