AmericanGreetings.Com Announces Strong Valentine's
Week Subscription and Traffic Performance
More than 150,000 new members subscribe during Valentine's
week;
Property ranked No. 11 for week ending Feb. 17
CLEVELAND, Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AmericanGreetings.com,
the Internet's largest provider of electronic greetings, announced
strong Valentine's week subscription and traffic results for its
network of pay sites, which includes its flagship site, AmericanGreetings.com,
as well as BlueMountain.com, eGreetings.com, and free sites BeatGreets.com
and PassItAround.com. AmericanGreetings.com changed its business
model in December to emphasize subscription services, and is very
pleased with its subscriber and traffic results since the conversion.
AmericanGreetings.com CEO Josef Mandelbaum noted that the company's
strategy to focus on two primary revenue streams, advertising and
subscriptions, is showing promising results. "While we are happy
to have achieved the break-even milestone last quarter, our goal
going forward is to become a positive contributor to earnings,"
Mandelbaum said. "The strategy we are using to achieve this goal
is consistent with traditional media companies in cable television,
newspapers and magazines, and the initial transformation has been
encouraging."
70,000 subscriptions on Valentine's Day; Total approaching 1
million
The company added more than 150,000 subscribers during Valentine's
week with more than 70,000 on Valentine's Day alone and has a total
subscriber base that is approaching 1 million consumers, despite
having a subscription option in place for less than three months.
"This performance not only gives us the largest subscriber base
of any non-Internet service provider on the Web, it confirms our
belief that people are willing to pay for premium content," Mandelbaum
said. "We also believe consumers value our unique features, such
as
the ability to access our site even during the busiest holidays
and the ability to 'create and print' personalized projects at home."
No. 11 ranking Among Top Web Properties
The American Greetings network of sites drew more than 6 million
unique visitors at home during Valentine's Day week, claiming the
No. 11 spot according to the Nielsen//NetRatings top Web properties
list. AmericanGreetings.com also attracted more than 2.6 million
unique visitors at home, jumping 63 percent over the previous week.
Bluemountain.com drew 2.8 million surfers at home, soaring 86 percent,
while eGreetings.com posted a 57 percent week-over-week growth to
1.2 million visitors.
"As the first major holiday of the year, Valentine's Day is important
to specialty gifts and occasions sites as a gauge of the traction
they've gained from the winter holidays," said Betty Yeh, an Internet
analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings. "For AmericanGreetings.com, this
barometer is especially key due to the switch to a paid model at
the three largest sites in its network. The gains in visitors in
the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day indicate that they are finding
a core audience and should also help these subscription-based sites
continue to gain momentum throughout the year." "Maintaining a large
volume of traffic to our sites is a priority for us, as advertisers
are attracted to the enormous reach of our networks," Mandelbaum
said. "While several of our sites are now fee-based, a certain amount
of content is always free and available to subscribers and non-
subscribers alike." AmericanGreetings.com, BlueMountain.com and
eGreetings.com all have a low annual fee for holiday and special
occasion cards (e.g., birthday and anniversary), while the most
popular category of cards, everyday cards (e.g., "say hi," "miss
you"), remains free.
Strong Growth at Free Sites
Free sites BeatGreets.com and PassItAround.com boasted strong
traffic results for the week, with 486,220 and 305,936 unique at-home
visitors, respectively. BeatGreets.com, which began as the music
channel for eGreetings.com before spinning off into its own unique
destination in August, has grown 81 percent to a traffic peak of
more than 2 million monthly at-home and at-work unique visitors
since its launch. BeatGreets.com features exclusive music greetings
from 300 artists, 200 of which are platinum, including Blink-182,
Alicia Keys and Enrique Iglesias. PassItAround.com, which launched
in November 2001, features inspirational, fun, cute and workplace
greetings designed for people to share with multiple friends or
family members. Since its launch, the site has grown 242 percent
to more than 700,000 unique monthly at-home and at-work users in
January 2002. The most popular greeting on PassItAround.com is "Osama
Stomp," which has been sent 550,000 times since its introduction
in December 2001.
About American Greetings
American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM)
is the world's largest publicly held creator, manufacturer and distributor
of greeting cards and social expression products. Its staff of artists,
designers and writers comprises one of the largest creative departments
in the world and helps consumers "say it best" by supplying more
than 15,000 greeting card designs to retail outlets in nearly every
English-speaking country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings
employs more than 21,000 associates around the world and drives
more than $2 billion in annual sales.
About AmericanGreetings.com
AmericanGreetings.com is the online greetings and personal expression
subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM).
In January 2002, the AmericanGreetings.com network of sites was
one of the world's top 15 Web properties with more than 20 million
unique monthly visitors, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. AmericanGreetings.com
and its affiliates offer the largest creative selection available
on the Web and, through partnerships with AOL and MSN, reach nearly
22 percent of all active Internet users.
The statements contained in this release that are not historical
facts are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ
materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties,
including but not limited to the viability of online advertising
as a revenue generator, the public's acceptance of online social
expression products and subscriptions thereto and the ability to
sustain historical subscription conversion rates throughout the
remainder of
the year and going forward.
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