NEW YORK and REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 9, 2003 — iVillage Inc. (Nasdaq: IVIL), a leading women’s media company and the number one source for women’s information online, and the MSN®
network, the world’s most popular online destination, today announced a content publication agreement. Under the agreement, MSN will present select iVillage content on its women’s channel, MSN Women, located at http://women.msn.com/ .
iVillage will provide editorially relevant content to MSN in the categories of Beauty, Fashion & Style, Relationships, Home & Food, and Career & Money. Content will include numerous columns, resources and expert opinions on a host of topics that are most important to women. The site is scheduled to be live on the MSN network this fall.
“Our promise is to make iVillage the Internet for women, and we believe our relationship with MSN will give women worldwide one of the deepest and broadest resources online,”
said Douglas W. McCormick, chairman and CEO of iVillage.
“People can go to the iVillage content on MSN Women and find the same quality resource women have come to expect and rely on at iVillage.com.”
With this agreement, the iVillage logo, as well as links to more information on related content at iVillage, will appear throughout the MSN Women channel and anywhere else iVillage content appears on MSN. In addition, iVillage has the opportunity to offer and promote its for-pay products and services.
“Our agreement with iVillage is a perfect addition to our strategy of working with industry leaders to offer premier content to MSN consumers,”
said Christopher Payne, vice president of MSN.
“We’re pleased to offer content from the number one source for women’s information online and believe the breadth and depth of content will make MSN even more useful for women.”
MSN recently launched other additions to its MSN Women channel, including a new site design, a Fashion & Style department, and new content from experts.
About iVillage Inc.
iVillage Inc. is a leading women’s media company and the number one source for women’s information online. iVillage operates the iVillage.com Web site, Women.com Networks, Inc. (operator of the Women.com Web site), iVillage Parenting Network, Inc., Public Affairs Group, Inc., Promotions.com, Inc., iVillage Consulting (formerly iVillage Solutions), and Knowledgeweb, Inc. (operator of the Astrology.com Web site). iVillage.com and Women.com are leading women’s online destinations providing practical solutions and everyday support for women 18 and over. iVillage Parenting Network is a holding company for Lamaze Publishing Company, a publisher of advertiser supported educational materials for expectant and new parents, and iVillage Integrated Properties, Inc., the operator of The Newborn Channel, a satellite television network broadcast in approximately 1,100 hospitals nationwide, and the publisher of Baby Steps magazine. Public Affairs Group is comprised of three divisions: Business Women’s Network, Diversity Best Practices and Best Practices in Corporate Communications, each offering extensive databases of pertinent information to subscribing companies and members. Promotions.com provides promotions and direct marketing programs that are integrated with customers’ offline marketing initiatives.
iVillage.com is organized into channels and communities across multiple topics of high importance to women and offers interactive services, peer support, content and online access to experts and tailored shopping opportunities. The major content areas include Babies, Beauty, Diet & Fitness, Entertainment, Food, Health, Home & Garden, Horoscopes, Money, Parenting, Pets, Pregnancy, Quizzes, Relationships and Work. iVillage facilitates use across content areas by providing a similar look and feel within each area and across the network, resulting in a consistent and strongly branded Web site.
Established in 1995 and headquartered in New York City, iVillage Inc. (Nasdaq: IVIL) is recognized as an industry leader in developing innovative sponsorship and commerce relationships that match the desire of marketers to reach women with the needs of iVillage.com members for relevant information and services. Membership to iVillage.com is free and provides features such as personal homepages, message boards and other community tools.
Average monthly page views for the iVillage Network of Web sites totaled nearly 365 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2003. In July 2003, according to comScore Media Metrix, iVillage ranked 29th among the top 100 Web and Digital Media properties with nearly 16 million unique visitors in the United States and had an average reach of more than 10 percent of the total online population. Also according to comScore Media Metrix, during this period visitors returned an average of more than 3 times per month.
About MSN
MSN attracts more than 350 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 34 markets and 18 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and ad sales to businesses worldwide. MSN 8 is the first Internet software product to have earned the trusted Good Housekeeping Seal. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/ . MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
iVillage Inc. has included in this press release certain
“forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning iVillage’s business, operations and financial condition. The words or phrases
“can be,” “expects,” “may affect,” “may depend,” “believes,” “estimate,” “project”
and similar words and phrases are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and iVillage cautions you that any forward-looking information provided by or on behalf of iVillage is not a guarantee of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, some of which are beyond iVillage’s control, in addition to those discussed in iVillage’s other press releases, public filings and statements by iVillage’s management, including (i) the volatile and competitive nature of the media industry, (ii) changes in domestic and foreign economic, political and market conditions, (iii) the effect of federal, state and foreign regulation on iVillage’s business, (iv) the impact of recent and future acquisitions and joint ventures on iVillage’s business and financial condition, (v) iVillage’s ability to establish and maintain relationships with advertisers, sponsors, and other third-party providers and partners, and (vi) the impact of pending litigation on iVillage’s business and financial condition. All such forward-looking statements are current only as of the date on which such statements were made. iVillage does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which any such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
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