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Technology Stocks : INFOSEEK (GO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jach who wrote (8319)	12/7/1998 5:29:00 PM
From: Bob Logan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9343

SEEK Story today in Inter@ctive Week: Infoseek drops porn promos Disney-allied site becomes first portal to 'swear off sex dollars' -- could start trend. By Steven Vonder Haar, Inter@ctive Week Infoseek Corp., the navigation hub that finalized its alliance with The Walt Disney Co. last month, has pulled the plug on adult-oriented advertising at its portal site. The move makes Infoseek (Nasdaq:SEEK) one of the first major search services to stop accepting lucrative adult advertising that typically appears alongside search results produced for terms such as "sex" and "XXX." "We see ourselves as a global media company," Infoseek President Harry Motro said. "And we have to act like one." Infoseek's move to stop accepting adult ads may increase pressure on rivals to follow suit, potentially eliminating a significant source of revenue for navigation hub rivals such as Excite Inc. (Nasdaq:XCIT), Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq:LCOS) and Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), said Brian Oakes, an analyst at the Lehman Bros. investment firm. "This could be the beginning of a trend in which the portals are forced to swear off sex dollars," Oakes said. A fifth of the pie Adult advertising as recently as two years ago may have accounted for as much as 20 percent of revenue generated by the Web's original search engines, industry analysts estimate. Though no navigation hub breaks out the percentage of revenue generated from adult ads, the category now probably accounts for 5 percent to 10 percent of overall ad sales for the portals, according to industry executives. Infoseek is taking a cue from large companies that have increased focus on the navigation hub business in the past year. Neither Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com service nor America Online Inc.'s offering at AOL.com - two services that have redoubled efforts in the past year to draw online traffic - displays adult advertising. Not for us "We are turning down that business," said Charlotte Guyman, general manager for MSN.com sales and marketing. "It does not fit what MSN and Microsoft want to stand for. We want to make sure we have a great experience for the mainstream Internet user." The family orientation of the Disney brand may have influenced Infoseek's decision. However, Disney's role may not entirely explain the policy change. The media giant already owns properties such as the ABC Television Network, which broadcasts the controversial NYPD Blue series, and Miramax Pictures, which has produced adult-oriented movies, such as Pulp Fiction. "Disney is a family brand but also a media brand with a vast array of properties," said Mark Mooradian, program director at the Jupiter Communications LLC research firm. "Pulp Fiction may not be in the Disney image, but it still came out of Miramax." With its Go Network service, slated for trial release this month, Infoseek will offer added parental controls dubbed "Go Guardian." But even Motro said the combination of parental controls and new advertising policies alone will not produce a completely family-safe Web. "I don't want to create a false sense of security," he said. "You still have to use caution and take responsibility for your own behavior."