Company Press Release
Metromedia International Group Launches EstonianWeb Portal
Averaging Over 50,000 Hits Per Day
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 2000-- First Step in Maximizing Its Extensive Asset Base
Metromedia International Group, Inc. (AMEX: MMG - news), which through its Communications Group is the owner of various interests in communications joint ventures in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and other emerging markets, today announced the successful launch of its first portal website in Estonia. The portal, UunoWeb (www.uuno.ee), which was developed by Metromedia's Estonian radio group, is the first step in the development of a network of national language portal websites in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Metromedia International Telecommunications Inc. (MITI), the core communications unit of Metromedia International Group, will, in the next twelve months, rollout national language portal websites in Hungary, Russia, Latvia and the Czech Republic, thereby uniquely leveraging the marketing power of its eighteen radio stations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to create the first transnational network of consumer-oriented entertainment portals in this part of the world. In addition, the Company is working to develop a full range of Internet service offerings related to all of the Company's assets in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
The UunoWeb portal features all the functionalities of a general portal site including real time local and international news, search engines, classified and personal sections, TV and radio schedule information, SMS - short message service, forums and chat rooms. Users can access real-time information about the song playing on Metromedia's flagship Estonian radio station, including information on the artist, engage in voting and polling, and purchase CDs on-line. Users have the ability to listen to the latest newscast in Real Audio, updated every half hour. This service will be extended to provide mobile users the ability to access this information and more using WAP (wireless access protocol) services.
The portal also contains banner ads and a full database of current advertisers, including product mini-websites and Real Audio versions of product commercials, offered through UunoWeb's proprietary software. This proprietary software, the only one of its kind in use in Eastern Europe, will form the basis of the development and rollout of Metromedia's portal network. In addition, UunoWeb has peering agreements with other sites such as Yahoo, AltaVista and Rolling Stone, enabling the station to generate revenues each time these sites are accessed via the portal.
In the first ten days, the site has amassed more than half a million pages viewed, averaging over 50,000 hits per day. Currently, the most popular services are the SMS service, the personals, real-time song information and news headlines, with close to 10,000 hits a day between them. Users are expected to double as the portal continues to be promoted on the Company's six Estonian radio stations and additional functionality is added to the website.
James Hatt, the President and Chief Executive Officer of MITI, said, ``Almost immediately, UunoWeb has shown the ability to utilize the mass marketing exposure of our Estonian radio stations, while offering these services and capabilities at minimal incremental cost and generating additional revenues. Through our eighteen radio stations, we have weekly access to the homes of more than eight million people in our markets. Partnered with the wealth of entertainment content that our radio stations create, including exclusive celebrity interviews and audio sound bites, we are best positioned to create an interactive, multimedia-enabled portal brand that will quickly become a household name in these markets. We have also identified a lack of localized content in these markets and the ability to deliver this content in the language of these markets is a core strength. The Estonian web portal is the first in a series of portal launchings intended to leverage our significant assets in radio, fixed, wireless and wireline technologies so as to offer a full range of Internet services to our customers in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.'
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