GETTY IMAGES' ART.COM INCREASES COMMITMENT TO ONLINE PARTNERS
PR NEWSWIRE - May 19, 1999 09:30
Including AOL, Netscape, Excite, DoubleClick and Yahoo!
Web's Leading Source of Framed and Unframed Art Increases Targeted Advertising
on Leading Portal Sites
SEATTLE, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Art.com, the leading online sites for art and art-related products, announced today that it has increased its advertising commitment on websites including AOL and its subsidiary Netscape (NYSE: AOL), Excite (Nasdaq: XCIT), DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK) and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO). Art.com, the consumer brand of Getty Images, Inc. (Nasdaq: GETY), plans to use increased visibility on these leading portal sites to extend its reach into existing and new markets for the more than 100,000 images available on its e-commerce site www.art.com. Art.com's 1999 online advertising expenditures are anticipated to increase at least seven- fold over 1998.
With one of the web's largest collections of framed and unframed art, Art.com makes art more accessible, affordable, and easier to select and purchase. Through increased use of targeted advertising and sponsorships on key web portal sites, Art.com's aim is to increase its exposure to audiences interested in purchasing decorative art for homes, offices, college dormitories or as gifts, thus continuing to strengthen its presence in the estimated $9 billion consumer market for art and art related products. In the very near future, selected content from Getty Images' other branded collections will be added to the Art.com site, increasing the number and variety of images available on the site.
"Our success with online advertising, on AOL, Yahoo! and other sites, is illustrated by the more than 400 percent increase in user sessions on the site during the first four months of 1999. This increase demonstrates the value of advertising on the most popular and trusted brand-name portals on the web, said Bill Lederer, Chief Executive Officer of Art.com. "We remain fully committed to building on our lead in the consumer art marketplace and our increased advertising expenditures reflect this commitment."
Art.com also intends to strengthen its presence on web sites that appeal specifically to women, its largest customer segment. Sites such as iVillage (Nasdaq: IVIL), HomeArts and the Women.com network will also see increased sponsorship this year.
About Art.com
Art.com (www.art.com) is an inviting and engaging e-commerce destination that makes buying art accessible, personal and fun by offering information consumers need to learn about and purchase art. The site is an enriching, and convenient source for art, offering many of the world's great prints in one place. Art.com's expansive galleries feature great works by world-famous artists, such as Monet, Picasso and Ansel Adams, as well as original pop culture artists, such as Ronnie Wood. In addition to every day discounts, personalized product choices and a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee, Art.com offers three distinguishing features -- proprietary visualization software, seasonal and featured galleries, and the ArtClique(SM) Saver's Club. Art.com is the recipient of the respected Pinnacle Award for Overall Excellence and the eMarketer Web recognition Award. Art.com is the consumer brand of Getty Images (www.getty-images.com), a leading, global online provider of visual content (Nasdaq: GETY).
About Getty Images, Inc.
Getty Images, Inc. (Nasdaq: GETY), with 30 million photographs and more than 13,000 hours of film, is a leading international provider of visual content to both the professional and the consumer markets. The company's business-to-business image brands provide imagery to a diverse range of creative professionals in advertising and graphic design, magazine, book and newspaper publishing, broadcasting, production, and web and new media publishing. The company's consumer brand, Art.com, offers framed and unframed art and art related items to the estimated $9 billion consumer art marketplace.
Getty Images markets rights to images and footage through its websites, its international network of wholly owned offices in 17 countries, and agents in more than 50 countries. Headquartered in Seattle, the company has approximately 1,450 employees worldwide, and had revenues of $52.2 million in the first quarter of 1999. The company's 1998 revenues were approximately $185 million.
Getty Images' market-leading, visual content brands are:
Business-to-business
Tony Stone Images www.tonystone.com
Energy Film Library www.digital-energy.com
PhotoDisc www.photodisc.com
Hulton Getty www.hultongetty.com
Allsport www.allsport.com
Liaison Agency www.liaisonphoto.com
Consumer
Art.com www.art.com
For more information on Getty Images and its product brands please visit the company's website at getty-images.com.
SOURCE Art.com
-0- 05/19/99 /CONTACT: Laurie McEachron, Public Relations Director, 206-269-1769, laurie.mceachron@seattle.getty-images.com, or Mary Waters Sayer, Investor Relations Manager, 44-171-544-2973, mary.waters.sayer@getty-images.com, both of Getty Images; Michael Kahn, Director of Marketing of Art.com, 847-362-2500, mkahn@art.com; or Mark Fox, 212-885-0642 or Jane-Linn Vincent, 212-885-0417, mhardart@hillandknowlton.com, both of Hill & Knowlton/
/Web site: getty-images.com /Web site: art.com (AOL XCIT DCLK YHOO GETY IVIL)
CO: Art.com; AOL; Netscape; Excite; DoubleClick; Yahoo!; Getty Images, Inc. ST: Washington IN: CPR MLM ADV SU: PDT
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