Digital Courier Technologies, Inc. Agrees To Acquire Special Interest VideoE-commerce Company
DCTI Strengthens its E-commerce Business with Thousands of Affiliates,
Proprietary Product Database, Established Customer Lists and Exclusive Product
Offerings
PARK CITY, Utah and SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Courier
Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: DCTI) announced today that it has agreed to
acquire Video Direct Corporation and its marketing, promotional and customer
service affiliate, Total Marketing Services, both of Long Branch, New Jersey.
Video Direct is a leading Internet and direct response marketer of special
interest videos. The acquisition is expected to close by late January,
subject to standard conditions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Video Direct's 13,000 title database of videos in dozens of categories
from fitness, health and personal growth, to travel, sports, home improvement
and cooking, will be offered exclusively through the Videos Now web site,
www.videosnow.com, beginning early next year. "Because of the searchability
of the Internet and the fact that an overwhelming majority of Internet users
are information seekers, the Special interest and instructional genres of
videos are in tremendous demand. The addition of these categories will be a
tremendous enhancement to Videos Now and serve to further differentiate it
from our competitors," stated R.J. Pittman, CEO of Digital Courier. "The
video industry predicts that special interest product sales will account for
up to 30% of all online video sales, up from 14% in the brick and mortar video
stores. Videos Now will be the online leader in meeting that demand," Pittman
added.
In addition to the proprietary product database, Videos Now will acquire
Video Direct's 6,000-plus independent affiliates, 60,000-plus customers
(including hundreds of schools and libraries), 100,000-plus affiliate
prospects, and several hundred exclusive product licenses. "The acquisition
of these assets will accelerate our 1999 sales and help us gain valuable
market share," stated Mitchell Edwards, Chief Financial Officer of Digital
Courier. "Video Direct has generated over $6 million in revenues through its
highly targeted online marketing efforts." In addition, Videos Now will
expand Video Direct's successful off-line direct response strategies to
targeted customer groups to increase revenues and promotion of Videos Now.
"We are extremely excited about the opportunities in front of us because
of DCTI's technical capabilities," stated Peter Heumiller, President of Video
Direct. "We were approached by several online video retailers but felt that
DCTI was best equipped to dramatically expand our successful affiliate and
virtual storefront programs. They are also committed to our strategy of
analyzing our extensive sales trend data to aggressively acquire and produce
Special interest content to sell as videos, DVDs and be delivered as Video On
Demand segments. This will dramatically increase profit margins and provide
Videos Now with exclusive product offerings to promote," he added. Video
Direct's management staff has over 45 years in combined video retail, direct
response, fulfillment and production experience. They will play key roles in
further developing DCTI's e-commerce strategies and customer support center
services in Salt Lake City.
The acquisition also positions Videos Now to accelerate its strategy of
developing tens of thousands of affiliate virtual storefronts of highly
targeted product offerings on established niche content sites. Web sites will
be able to access Videos Now titles in categories as wide ranging as
children's learning, parenting, crafts and hobbies, music instructional,
computer training, academic studies, documentaries, biographies and business
training. Through this program, web sites can allow their visitors to access
selected targeted products directly in Videos Now in exchange for a commission
on sales.
Videos Now, which debuted in November of this year on AOL, AOL.com, and
Digital City, offers one of the world's largest Internet destinations for
buying VHS and DVD movies. The categories of Video Direct's Special interest
videos are synergistic to the multiple and diverse programming channels of
Videos Now partners such as America Online. "The addition of these Special
interest video titles to Videos Now will allow for additional promotional
opportunities in specific channels," stated Pittman. "We feel they will add
tremendous value to the online shopping experience."
DCTI recently announced that its online book and video superstores will
begin linking their customer communities to each of the sites www.booksnow.com
and www.videosnow.com. The Company also plans to add over 200,000 music
titles to its Videos Now web site, beginning in early 1999 with movie
soundtracks offered exclusively through the Videos Now Smart Shopper automated
service.
Digital Courier Technologies Inc. supplies businesses and major web
portals with sophisticated e-commerce, payment processing and content delivery
software. The software is based on a powerful matrix of server-side Java
software components. Its netClearing division offers sophisticated and secure
credit card and payments processing services and technology on the Internet.
Its current content offerings, which utilize the powerful e-commerce and
content delivery software, include: WeatherLabs, a premiere online weather
information service (www.weatherlabs.com), Videos Now, which launched on
America Online last month (www.videosnow.com), and Books Now
(www.booksnow.com). Among Digital Courier's strategic partners utilizing the
Company's software and/or services are major Internet companies such as
America Online, Excite, Netscape, @Home and Preview Travel.
SOURCE Digital Courier Technologies, Inc.
CO: Digital Courier Technologies, Inc.; Video Direct Corporation; Total
Marketing Services
ST: Utah, California, New Jersey
IN: MLM CPR
SU: TNM
12/23/98 09:00 EST prnewswire.com |
