SANTA MONICA, Calif. and NEW YORK, July 13, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- iMedia International (OTCBB:IMNL) and the New York Daily News have entered into a strategic partnership agreement to distribute iMedia's flagship publication, Hollywood Previews(tm). Distribution is slated to begin in October 2006.
Interactive CD video magazines will be produced by iMedia and distributed as inserts in the New York Daily News on the last Sunday of each month. It represents the first time that multimedia content and television commercials will be delivered on a regularly scheduled basis to newspaper readers in the greater New York City area.
"We are a newspaper that consistently seeks to provide our loyal readers enhanced value and our advertisers with the greater exposure," said Joe Stella, vice president of entertainment and travel advertising for the Daily News. "Our partnership with iMedia gives us immediate access to an abundance of entertainment, travel and other multimedia content. We believe that the engaging, interactive experience of Hollywood Previews(tm) will open doors to new, younger audiences, and help us increase our readership. We also look forward to accessing the multimedia and broadcast budgets of our advertisers that, until now, have been impenetrable."
The Daily News is the second major U.S. newspaper to complete an agreement with iMedia to distribute Hollywood Previews on a full-circulation basis. Previously, iMedia announced its first strategic partnership with the Dallas Morning News, a Belo (NYSE: BLC) Company, and launched its first issue of Hollywood Previews(tm) in Dallas on April 30 of this year. This partnership with the Daily News will increase the monthly circulation of Hollywood Previews(tm) to more than 1.5 million copies, positioning the iMagazine as one of America's most widely circulated entertainment publications.
"This contract represents a major milestone for us, as New York City is a principal advertising market in this country, as well as one of the world's most influential and exciting hubs for music, movies and entertainment," said David MacEachern, CEO of iMedia. "The Daily News is a major, top-tier newspaper that attracts readers of all ages and demographics, and we believe this strategic partnership agreement will allow iMedia to continue to expand our reach and deliver a supercharged multimedia experience to every Daily News reader."
Integral in bringing the Daily News and iMedia together was Universal Press Syndicate, iMedia's exclusive newspaper syndication company and one of the largest independent newspaper and online content syndicates in the world.
About Hollywood Previews(tm)
Hollywood Previews(tm) is the world's first interactive video magazine on disc. Each issue contains movie trailers, music videos, free music downloads, video game previews and a host of exclusive entertainment content. It seamlessly delivers the internet allowing viewers to click-through directly to advertiser's and sponsor's websites. Although an internet connection enhances the experience, it is not required in order to view the two hours of multi-media content contained on each disc.
About the Daily News
The Daily News, New York's "Hometown Newspaper," continues to be the newspaper with the largest readership in New York City and the sixth largest in America. The May 2006 release of the Scarborough Report underscores the Daily News' continued dominance of both the New York DMA and in New York City. As reported by Scarborough, the daily readership of the Daily News is 2,695,100, compared to 2,061,300 for the New York Post and 1,808,800 for The New York Times. Sunday readership for the Daily News is now 2,807,500.
About iMedia International, Inc.
iMedia International, Inc. is a digital publisher of proprietary interactive video magazines, and producers of custom digital media solutions for Fortune 1000 companies. iMedia partners with the publishers of newspapers and magazines to create unique digital supplements or interactive enhancements for their traditional print publications. iMedia's digital technology has ushered in a new paradigm in the delivery of advertising and content. By converging print, audio, video and the internet, viewers now have the ability to experience a truly interactive, mixed-media experience in a way that seamlessly melds content, sponsorships and advertising messages. iMedia's products have proven to engage viewers at a greater rate, and for longer periods of time, than print, audio or video advertising alone. A key feature of iMedia's technology is its iReporting(tm) real-time, online tracking system, which provides quantitative data on disc viewer-usage patterns, displaying in numbers the effectiveness of iMedia's marketing and promotional campaigns. iMedia also offers expert digital media solutions services, including: strategic planning, content aggregation and production, disc audio/video design, authoring, editing and compression, disc packaging, manufacturing and distribution.
Forward-Looking Statements
The information in this news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon assumptions that in the future may prove not to have been accurate and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including statements to the future financial performance of the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations or any of its forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause results to differ include, but are not limited to, successful performance of internal plans, product development and acceptance, the impact of competitive services and pricing, general economic risks and uncertainties, and various other information detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date thereof. Please refer to the full filing of the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-QSB at http://www.sec.gov.