quote.bloomberg.com
America Online Will Provide City Guides for Netscape's Site
Dulles, Virginia, Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- America Online Inc., the No. 1 online service, will provide 50 local
city guides for Netscape Communications Corp.'s Web site in an exclusive two-year agreement aimed at
increasing advertising revenue for both.
Terms weren't disclosed, though the companies said they'll share the revenue generated by the venture.
AOL will tailor its 50 Digital City Inc. guides, which provide information such as movie times and
restaurant reviews, for Netscape's World Wide Web site, the companies said.
Netscape has been adding services and features to its Netcenter Web site to appeal to more Internet
users as it tries to build the site into a so-called portal, or an online hub. America Online's network of city
guides is competing for advertising dollars and consumers with Microsoft Corp.'s Sidewalk city guides and
CitySearch Inc., which has filed with U.S. securities regulators for an initial public offering. ''We'll be
expanding not only our reach but consumer loyalty and frequency of visits with local content,'' said Mike
Homer, general manager of Netscape's Web site.
Netscape and AOL declined to comment on projections for revenue from the venture. America Online's
sales force will sell local advertising, while Netscape will handle national advertising, said Homer. The
service should be operational within 60 days, the companies said.
Mountain View, California-based Netscape also considered CitySearch and rival Zip2, though it chose
Digital City because of its local sales force, the large number of cities it covers and its programming
flexibility, Homer said. ''The only one we didn't consider was Sidewalk,'' he said. Sidewalk's parent,
Microsoft, and Netscape are in fierce competition for the Internet browser market.
Netscape's local city guides have been supplied by Excite Inc., which paid Netscape $70 million in cash
to offer Netscape- brand search and directory features. That two-year agreement called for Excite to
provide content for nine of Netscape's 17 channels, such as autos and lifestyles.
America Online, which has been focused on increasing its revenue from advertising since it switched to a
flat-rate subscription fee in late 1996, can sell Digital City advertising on AOL's service, its Web site,
CompuServe and now Netscape, said Digital City President Paul DeBenedictis. ''It becomes a dream
opportunity for advertisers because there's so much we can offer them,'' he said. |
