AdForce Extends Reach of Digital Advertising to Interactive Television; AdForce Solution Provides New Revenue Model for Cable Operators.

Business Editors

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 7, 2000

AdForce, LLC(R), a majority-owned operating company of CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq:CMGI) and a leading online provider of centralized, outsourced ad management and delivery services, today announced the next phase of its AdForce EveryWhere program -- extending AdForce's centralized, outsourced ad management and delivery services to the interactive television (ITV) marketplace. The AdForce ITV solution enables advertisers to reach interactive television's growing subscriber base with powerful viewer targeting capabilities and a wide selection of digital formats. In addition, this solution also offers a previously untapped advertising revenue stream to cable television operators, providing an economic platform to support the delivery of ITV content across their networks.

Interactive television enables cable subscribers to access the Internet using their television sets rather than a personal computer and telephone line, and allows users to toggle between traditional television broadcast content and the World Wide Web. AdForce's new ITV solution will manage and deliver targeted, online advertising campaigns integrated with interactive television content, viewable by subscribers when browsing the web or viewing cable broadcast programming via an ITV browser.

"Interactive television promises a new level of communication between advertiser and audience," said Dee Cravens, executive vice president of AdForce. "AdForce is providing advertisers the ability to reach an audience with informative, interactive promotions appropriately targeted to enhance, rather than compromise, a subscriber's experience."

AdForce's solution enables cable television operators to quickly and easily establish a new revenue stream with no up-front investment. In addition, AdForce offers cable network advertisers and programmers the unique ability to deliver Click-for-TV promotions on the web, driving ITV subscribers from the web back to television programming, rather than the programmers' web sites. Cable networks can promote their programming, and generate viewership utilizing AdForce's global infrastructure across North America, Europe and Asia.

"AdForce's new interactive television platform demonstrates our continued commitment to advance our centralized ad technology and achieve campaign ubiquity across a range of digital media," said Tim DePriest, director of strategy and new media at AdForce. "The combination of the interactivity found on the Internet with the growth in ITV services provided by cable and satellite operators presents a real opportunity to the advertisers who participate in this medium."

Technology

AdForce's ad delivery infrastructure integrates seamlessly with interactive television providers' technology and cable operators' head-end environments, enabling cable companies to receive and transfer ad content along with their web and/or broadcast content to subscribers easily. AdForce's interactive ad serving technology efficiently responds to audience requests quickly, delivering up to 12,000 digital images per second, on demand. AdForce supports multiple ad formats for the ITV medium, including HTML Scripts, drop down menus and I-frames, JavaScript banner ads, java applets, InterVu, Unicast and a variety of streaming formats.

Features and Benefits

The extension of AdForce's delivery capabilities into interactive television platforms furthers its value to advertisers and agencies. Through the AdForce infrastructure, advertisers may design and implement campaigns across a diverse array of digital media, including the World Wide Web, cellular phones, personal digital assistants, set-top boxes and other consumer electronic devices. Employing this new advertising solution provides advertisers intuitive campaign scheduling, profile-based targeting, detailed inventory management, reliable ad delivery, comprehensive tracking and accurate reporting. In addition to the increased flexibility and reach of campaigns, advertisers utilizing AdForce solutions will also benefit from a reduction in ad production costs, migrating creatives between the Internet and TV.

AdForce EveryWhere

AdForce EveryWhere is a new media advertising program to deliver targeted, interactive advertising messages to new digital platforms beyond the PC, including wireless devices, set-top boxes, cell phones, kiosks, point-of-sale devices, consumer electronic devices and interactive television. The service provides web publishers, advertisers, ad networks and digital content providers with innovative marketing options for delivering advertising and promotional content, thereby creating new opportunities for increasing revenues for partners, customers and future prospects. AdForce EveryWhere enables advertisers to reach the digital audience in every medium. Launched in March, 2000, the AdForce EveryWhere program has numerous customers in the beta testing phase. AdForce EveryWhere interactive television partners include ICTV, Set-top.com, WorldGate, and Liberate.

About AdForce (www.adforce.com)

AdForce LLC, a majority-owned operating company of CMGI, Inc.,(Nasdaq:CMGI) is the Force in Digital Marketing(TM) and a leading provider of centralized advertising services, enabling online publishers, rep firms and advertisers to leverage the unique advantages of the Internet as the first fully interactive medium. Deploying advanced scalable technology and backed by robust data centers, the AdForce service delivers billions of impressions monthly for some of the Internet's most prominent advertisers. AdForce provides a comprehensive suite of products, which allow advertisers and publishers to target, deliver, measure and analyze Internet advertising programs for the best results. AdForce has offices in Cupertino, CA, Costa Mesa, CA, New York, NY, Europe and Hong Kong.

About CMGI and CMGI @Ventures

With more than 70 companies, CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI) represents the largest, most diverse network of Internet companies in the world, including both CMGI operating companies and synergistic investments made through its venture capital affiliate, CMGI @Ventures. CMGI leverages the technologies, content and market reach of its extended family of companies to foster rapid growth and industry leadership across its network and the larger Internet Economy. Compaq, Intel, Microsoft, Pacific Century CyberWorks and Sumitomo hold minority positions in CMGI.

CMGI's majority-owned operating companies include Engage (Nasdaq: ENGA), NaviSite (Nasdaq: NAVI), 1stUp.com, Activate, AdForce, AltaVista, CMGion, CMGI Solutions, Equilibrium, ExchangePath, iCAST, MyWay.com, NaviPath, SalesLink, Tribal Voice, uBid, and yesmail.com. CMGI @Ventures has ownership interests in 57 companies, including Lycos, Inc. (Nasdaq: LCOS), Critical Path (Nasdaq: CPTH), MotherNature.com (Nasdaq: MTHR), Ventro (Nasdaq: VNTR) and Vicinity (Nasdaq: VCNT).

CMGI's corporate headquarters is located at 100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA 01810. CMGI @Ventures has offices there, as well as at 3000 Alpine Road, Menlo Park, CA 94028. For additional information, see http://www.cmgi.com and http://www.ventures.com.

AdForce, the AdForce logo, AdForce Everywhere and Force in Digital Marketing are trademarks of AdForce, LLC. All other products and services mentioned may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

This release contains forward-looking statements which address a variety of subjects including, for example, the expected benefits, features and functionality of the AdForce Everywhere program and its extension to the interactive television marketplace and the expected interoperability of the technologies and products of AdForce with those of third parties. The following important factors and uncertainties, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: AdForce's products and technologies may not successfully interoperate with those of third parties; adoption of new laws and regulations affecting the provision of Internet advertising services, including laws and regulations covering privacy, pricing and content; AdForce's success depends on the advertising needs of its customers and the continued demand for Internet advertising in general; and increased competition and technological changes in the markets in which AdForce competes. For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements, please refer to CMGI's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including CMGI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.