Healtheon and Yahoo! Team to Deliver Expanded Health Information to Users
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--June 23, 1999--Healtheon Corp. (Nasdaq:HLTH), a leading e-commerce provider for healthcare, and Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet media company, today announced a premier content and online marketing agreement designed to give consumers research capabilities and access to some of the most respected healthcare information on the Internet.
Under the agreement, Healtheon has an integrated presence on Yahoo!® Health (http://health.yahoo.com), as well as targeted advertising and promotional activities throughout the Yahoo! network of Web properties as part of Yahoo!'s Fusion Marketing Online(TM) (FMO) program.
Healtheon is a featured sponsor of the health channel on Yahoo! Chat (http://chat.yahoo.com) and appears in health-related areas of Yahoo! News (http://dailynews.yahoo.com), where Yahoo! users have access to Healtheon's Medical Library, an efficient search tool that provides consumers with quick and easy access to reliable sources of health, pharmaceutical, news, nutrition and fitness information.
Healtheon also is the sponsor and provider of the Yahoo! Health daily consumer poll, providing questions ranging from up-to-date immunization records to current issues in healthcare. To participate in the poll, users simply submit their responses online. They are then automatically connected to the Yahoo! Health poll results page that features links to health-related information and services from Healtheon.
In addition to providing health information and services, Healtheon will sponsor four promotion sweepstakes on the Yahoo! front page where users will have an opportunity to win prizes worth more than $20,000, including two grand prize spa vacations.
''Healtheon's medical expertise and leadership position in the healthcare community combined with Yahoo!'s global reach and recognition among consumers pushes the standard for healthcare information on the Internet to a new level,'' said Matthew Moore, general manager of consumer services for Healtheon.
''Together we will provide engaging healthcare resources and tools that help consumers manage their personal healthcare information online -- just as many are doing with their personal finances.''
''Healtheon's suite of healthcare-related services and information help make Yahoo! Health one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date health care information offerings available to consumers on the Internet,'' said Ellen Siminoff, vice president of business development and strategic planning at Yahoo!.
''Through this agreement, Healtheon is using several elements of Yahoo!'s Fusion Marketing Online program, specifically designed to leverage our media, communications, and commerce services to meet marketing objectives effectively and reach a global audience of users.''
The FMO approach to online marketing offers one-stop shopping for companies seeking to secure a measurable presence on the World Wide Web through a full range of marketing options from targeted advertising, promotions and direct marketing.
About Healtheon
Healtheon, founded in 1996 and based in Santa Clara, Calif., is a pioneer in providing Internet-based, business-to-business and consumer-to-business electronic commerce services that link doctors and consumers with healthcare institutions, enabling them to efficiently and conveniently manage their business and personal healthcare needs.
Healtheon's services simplify the business and clinical processes of healthcare, provide more timely access to information, provide faster and more convenient service, and lead to higher quality, more affordable care. The company recently announced definitive agreements to acquire MedE AMERICA Corp. and merge with WebMD Inc. Healtheon can be reached through its Web site at healtheon.com.
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Now consider... (Note Softbank involvement and WebMD merger with Healtheon.)
Reader's Digest Launches Healthcare and Internet Strategies Through Alliance With WebMD
WebMD to Help Develop New Reader's Digest Health Site, Building on Consumers' Trust in Magazine as Source of Health Information
PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1999-- Alliance to Leverage Audience of World's Most Widely Read Magazine and WebMD Partnerships Through Extensive Cross-promotion
Millions of Co-Endorsed Reader's Digest Magazines to be
Distributed by WebMD to Physicians Over Five Years
The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (NYSE:RDA) has taken the first step in its health information and Internet strategy through an alliance with WebMD, a leading healthcare Web site. The alliance includes the development of a Reader's Digest health site and the exchange of health-related content. It also includes the promotion of both parties' sites and health-related products across the Reader's Digest family of magazines, WebMD's site and the co-branded online and on-air properties of WebMD partners.
The company also announced it has made a $13 million strategic investment in WebMD, Inc., which is a privately held company. WebMD has reported that it has forged strategic partnerships with other investors, including Microsoft Corporation, E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, Excite, Inc., Intel Corporation, Covad Communications Group Inc., and Softbank America Inc. WebMD also recently announced its plan to merge with Healtheon Corporation (NASDAQ:HLTH) to create one of the largest Internet companies in the healthcare arena.
WebMD's position in the Internet health information and services arena will enable Reader's Digest to move swiftly to establish its online health presence. WebMD's partnerships with strategically important companies will enhance the alliance's reach and bring strong cross-promotional benefits.
Through Reader's Digest, WebMD will gain access to the publication with the largest paid readership of any publication in the world, and one that enjoys an extraordinary level of trust with its customers. Together, Reader's Digest and WebMD plan to provide and promote to Web users a rich interactive area of health-related information, products and services from credible sources.
Under the terms of the alliance:
WebMD will help develop a new Reader's Digest health site for consumers in the U.S., expected to be launched by Fall 1999, bringing online users a wide range of healthcare content and services to be provided by both companies. Site content will be drawn from Reader's Digest's flagship magazine, its three health-oriented special interest magazines and its successful health-related books, and will be augmented by content from the WebMD site.
Reader's Digest's branded health-related content will be prominently featured on the WebMD consumer site webmd.com.
WebMD -- which offers a comprehensive suite of Web-based services to physicians -- will provide the monthly Reader's Digest magazine to its physician service subscribers, purchasing a minimum of three million copies of the magazine over five years.
The two companies will cross-promote the sites online, on air and offline through the Reader's Digest family of general and special interest magazines and through WebMD's marketing relationships and print advertising. WebMD will also purchase advertising in Reader's Digest magazines to promote its own Web site.
Each issue of the U.S. edition of Reader's Digest will include WebMD advertorial pages, including an ''Ask WebMD'' column and a calendar of online events that will occur on both sites.
Reader's Digest will also have the right to occupy a seat on the Board of Directors of WebMD until its merger with Healtheon is completed.
Terms of the relationship dealing with site development and the exchange of content are pending a definitive agreement expected soon.
Thomas O. Ryder, Chairman and CEO of The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., said: ''The Internet is a key element in our strategy to expand in the areas consumers care most deeply about, including health. Our brand has enormous equity in health information. Our products are known and trusted around the world as reliable sources of health information. Working with WebMD puts us on a fast track to build on that equity. And we look forward to the role that Healtheon will play in the announced merger -- making WebMD an even stronger presence in providing Internet-based services to health professionals.''
He noted that Reader's Digest customers have a clear propensity to purchase health-related items, with more than five million customers worldwide having recently purchased health-related products including books, videos and special interest magazines. Reader's Digest's recently released book, ''The Healing Power of Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs,'' has already sold 400,000 copies this year in the United States alone.
Alliance to Leverage Reader's Digest's Reach to Satisfy Demand for Healthcare Information
The new Reader's Digest health site is expected to address the fast-growing consumer demand for dependable access to credible health-related information, products and services. To attract visitors to the site, the companies will leverage Reader's Digest's nearly 100 million worldwide readership, which includes 12.5 million paid subscriptions and 50 million readers in the U.S. and has a deep reach into virtually every adult demographic. For example, among the Reader's Digest audience there are more personal computer owners than the circulation of the top three PC magazines combined.
Research conducted by Penn, Schoen Berland shows that 33% of the population turns first to the Internet to look for health-related information, with 31% turning to their doctors first. A Roper survey conducted for Reader's Digest in 1997 showed that the magazine's readers trusted Reader's Digest for health information more than any source except their physicians.
The Reader's Digest health site will empower consumers with all the resources they need to take charge of their health. Site features will include personalized and comprehensive health and wellness information, condition-specific background and news, online support communities, access to medical experts, online chats, bulletin boards, and more. WebMD's ''personalization'' technology will enable visitors to the Reader's Digest health site to create customized information portfolios for the material most relevant to them.
About Reader's Digest
The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global publisher and direct marketer of products that inform, enrich, entertain and inspire people of all ages and all cultures around the world. Worldwide revenues were $2.6 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1998. Global headquarters are located at Pleasantville, New York. Reader's Digest's web site address is www.readersdigest.com.
About WebMD
Atlanta-based WebMD, which is privately held and was founded in 1996, offers a comprehensive suite of Internet-based services and information for physicians as well as healthcare information services and online communities for consumers. WebMD can be reached through its Web site at www.webmd.com.
Statements relating to Reader' Digest, if not historical, are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by those statements. A discussion of the factors that could affect Reader's Digest's results is included in its reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
