WorldGate Announces Preliminary Results of Major Interactive TelevisionCustomer Usage Study
National Channel HyperLinking Operations Center Opens
TREVOSE, Pa., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- WorldGate Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: WGAT) and Nielsen Media Research announced today preliminary results from one of the first major interactive television usage studies conducted in the U.S. Initial data from the WorldGate Channel HyperLinking(SM) study indicates that television viewers are continuing to use the WorldGate(SM) Service, in excess of thirty hours a month or an hour a day on average. The study, conducted with Nielsen Media Research and national and local advertisers working in conjunction with a cable operator in Ohio, showed that on a monthly basis approximately 79% of WorldGate subscribers are using Channel HyperLinking to immediately link to content related to the programs they are watching. This combined usage resulted in approximately three interactive sessions per day per household.
Additionally, WorldGate announced this week the opening of the WorldGate National Channel HyperLinking Operation Center. Located in Trevose, Pennsylvania, the Center is the core of WorldGate's Channel HyperLinking technology and represents a major milestone in the delivery of interactive TV for cable households nationwide. "The Center is a key logistical component in creating a clearinghouse for the necessary data management facilitating the bridge between programmers, advertisers and cable operators. The Center serves as the distribution point for Channel HyperLinking data enabling interactive programming and advertising for MSO head-ends throughout the country," said Hal Krisbergh, CEO, WorldGate Communications. The data collected will be used by advertisers and programmers to better understand the effectiveness of Channel HyperLinking as they continue to create for the interactive television medium. The preliminary WorldGate Channel HyperLinking Study results announced today have been aggregated and analyzed at the National Center and at Nielsen Media Research.
The Channel HyperLinking study began in the summer of 1999 and will run through the end of the fourth quarter. WorldGate, Nielsen Media Research and Massillon Cable Television, working with national and local advertisers, will continue the in-depth research examining the consumer response and usage of the interactive television experience.
"We are proud to be able to provide the first tangible data on how consumers are reacting to the interactive television experience," said Bob Gessner, Massillon Cable TV vice president. "The WorldGate Interactive Television Service is proving to be very successful. After eight months our customers remain extremely excited about using the television portal for daily access to the Internet and programming/advertising related content." Sprint, the first national advertiser to provide interactive ads in Massillon, Ohio reported to WorldGate that they are experiencing promising early results.
"Results from a few early interactive TV ad campaigns run on the WorldGate system indicate click-through rates well in excess of typical Internet banner ad campaigns," said Jerome Samson, Director of Technology and Business Strategy at Nielsen Media Research. "Additional study will help us better understand viewer behavior as they use interactive television technologies."
"Interactive TV advertising is a much more cost effective means to reach the audience," said Gerard Kunkel senior vice president, WorldGate Communications. "Channel HyperLinking provides the first opportunity to go interactive with television advertising. The click-through rate has far exceeded our expectations, and in a brand new medium certain advertisers are already realizing rates up to 5 times that of their relative Internet banner advertising campaigns, with several ads having achieved click-through rates as high as 2%. This is an astounding response given the infancy of this medium."
Analysis of the marketing study, indicated that approximately 31% of those surveyed had used the Channel HyperLinking feature during an interactive advertisement during a one week period. "Given that only 2.4% of the advertisements currently being aired in the study are now interactive, this is a very impressive result. We expect to see more people interacting with advertisements as more ads become Channel HyperLinking enabled and consumers become more accustomed to the experience," said Kunkel, "We are very happy with the results we're seeing in Channel HyperLinking on programming as well." WorldGate is able to offer Channel HyperLinking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week across 88 channels, representing 63,360 interactive programming hours a month.
"Our data further indicates that, notwithstanding the significant usage of the WorldGate Service in general, the duration of an average Channel HyperLinking session lasts just over 2 and a half minutes on programming and approximately 1 minute on interactive ads. This data suggests that our users are truly interacting with the programming and advertisements and then promptly returning to the television content. Numbers like these are important to share individually with our partners," said Kunkel. "They can see how their content is resonating with their viewers to help them make the most of this new medium. By understanding how subscribers are interacting with programming content, cable operators can begin to address the interactive audience in ways that will encourage viewing and interactivity. This will result in a new advertising medium positioned somewhere between TV and the Web."
About WorldGate Communications, Inc.
Headquartered near Philadelphia, WorldGate Communications has the first commercially deployed service that enables cable subscribers to access a full array of low-cost Internet services and e-mail through their television sets and the cable television infrastructure rather than a personal computer and telephone. The WorldGate Service marries WorldGate's proprietary technology with the television set platform and either the existing advanced analog or digital cable converter along with a remote control or wireless keyboard to bring the Internet to cable subscribers. Using advanced analog converters; the Service operates at more than 2 times the speed of a standard 56 Kbps telephone modem. With digital converters, the Service can operate at 27 Mbps, over 2.5 times faster than a typical cable modem.
In addition, the Company's Channel HyperLinking technology, which allows viewers instant access from the program they are watching to a related Web site or locally available information sources, has more than 70 network partners. For more information, interested parties may go to www.wgate.com. WorldGate Communications' stock is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol WGAT.
WorldGate, Ultra-Thin Client, Channel HyperLinking, and WISH TV are service marks of WorldGate Communications, Inc. Headquartered near Philadelphia, WorldGate Communications has the first commercially deployed service that enables cable subscribers to access a full array of low-cost Internet services and e-mail through their television sets and the cable television infrastructure rather than a personal computer and telephone.
About Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is the leading provider of television audience measurement and related services in the United States and Canada. Its services provide audience estimates for all national program sources, including broadcast networks, cable networks, Spanish language television, and national syndicators. Local ratings services estimate audiences for each of the 210 television markets in the U.S., including electronic metered service in 47 markets. Nielsen Media Research provides competitive advertising intelligence information through Nielsen Monitor-Plus, and Internet usage and advertising information through Nielsen/NetRatings. Nielsen Media Research is a wholly-owned subsidiary of VNU USA. Additional information is available at nielsenmedia.com.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Expressions of future goals and similar expressions including, without limitation, expressions using the terminology "may," "will," "believes," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "predicts," "forecasts," and expressions which otherwise reflect something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development and market acceptance of products and technologies and other factors described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
SOURCE WorldGate Communications, Inc.
CO: WorldGate Communications, Inc.; Nielsen Media Research; Massillon Cable TV
ST: Pennsylvania, Ohio
IN: CPR TLS
SU:
11/17/1999 12:37 EST prnewswire.com |
