CBS Outernet Joins Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB).

New Members Arena Media Networks, CBS Outernet and Zoom Media Join Group

NEW YORK, April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB) today announced the addition of three new members, including Arena Media Network, CBS Outernet and Zoom Media. These companies join a growing roster of out-of-home video advertising networks dedicated to promoting the adoption and use of their networks by the advertising community.

  The new member companies include:

  -- Arena Media Networks; the leading digital media network for advertising
     in sports and entertainment venues.
  -- CBS Outernet; a leading provider of in-store digital video networks in
     highly targeted consumer environments, including grocery stores,
     pharmacies, and other retail locations., currently installed in
     approximately 1,500 stores nationwide.
  -- Zoom Media; indoor network provider to over 5,000 venues, including
     fitness centers, indoor soccer facilities, bowling centers, family
     entertainment centers, restaurants and nightclubs.

"Joining OVAB was the logical next step for CBS Outernet and further validates our commitment to the digital out-of-home space," said Virginia Cargill, President of CBS Outernet. "As the media industry shifts more attention to digital platforms, we continue to realize the importance of reaching consumers where it makes sense and where they can be most engaged with relevant messages. By strategically aligning our business with the group, we can work to reach a common goal of standardized practices for the media community at large."

OVAB's expanding membership, which consists of more than 26 member companies, has grown nearly 400 percent since inception in 2007. In addition, the group's Agency Advisory Board continues to rapidly expand with key executives from agencies like MediaVest, Initiative, DMG, Starcom and Horizon Media. Currently, 22 agencies participate within the OVAB Agency Advisory Board. As the bureau continues to foster relationships with the advertising community, the Agency Advisory Board and general membership work together to identify objectives and educate the advertising community about the power and availability of out-of-home video networks. The first mission of the OVAB and the AAB was to develop and define comparable, logical audience metric guidelines for this media so that they could more easily integrate them into their clients' strategic plans.

"Electronic out-of-home advertising is not some futuristic fantasy. It's here. If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck it's probably a duck," said David Verklin, CEO, Aegis and a member of the OVAB Agency Advisory Board. "Electronic out-of-home advertising looks like TV and acts like TV and therefore advertisers are coming to the realization that place based narrowcast networks are an effective surrogate to traditional television. OVAB is simply expediting the adoption curve."

"As media fragmentation continues to splinter audiences, advertisers need more accountability out of their media buys," said Suzanne Alecia, president of OVAB. "Since OVAB's inception, the group has been dedicated to making it easier for advertisers to plan, buy and evaluate the effectiveness of digital out of home networks through the creation of best practices and guidelines. OVAB is working with the agency and advertising community on developing logical, comparable Audience Metrics Guidelines that will be announced later this year."

Recently, OVAB presented phase one of the Audience Metrics Guidelines to the AAAA's Media Research Committee. Later this year, the group will formally announce those guidelines in addition to an online media planning tool they are developing. The tool is designed to give agencies all the information they need to help them more effectively include this category in their strategic communications plans, and will provide demographics, market information, creative specifications and more. For more information on OVAB, including events, news and more, log onto http://www.ovab.org/.

ABOUT OVAB

Founded in 2007, the Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB) represents leading out-of-home video networks and the advertising community that is actively engaged in planning, buying and evaluating the effectiveness of the medium. On behalf of its members, OVAB seeks to foster ongoing collaboration between agencies and out-of-home video advertising networks; provide standards, best practices and industry-wide research; and promote the effectiveness of out-of-home video advertising. For more information, please visit http://www.ovab.org/.

CONTACT: Aimee Yoon of Dotted Line Communications, [phone], [e-mail], for OVAB

Web site: http://www.ovab.org/