CMP's TechWeb(TM) turns unique search feature into unique ad opportunity on the World Wide Web; Publisher also signs on to Beta Test I/PRO Internet usage service to provide more information to its web advertisers.

MANHASSET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 1995--CMP's TechWeb, already home to eight advertisers on the World Wide Web, is beta-testing a new advertising program that gives computer marketers direct access to the users most likely to buy their products.

The new ad program, currently being tested by two dozen advertisers, is made possible by TechWeb's search capability. Called TechSearch(TM), it enables users to search, at no cost, the entire CMP technology archive - more than a year's worth of every CMP publication - by subject, company name, product category, technology, event name or other relevant key words.

Advertisers can take advantage of the special interests of TechWeb users by placing links to key words in CMP's editorial database. Each advertiser in the TechSearch trial has chosen several key words - e.g., router, hub, modem, browser - and any time a user runs a search using one of those words, the advertiser's name or logo appears on the screen as a hypertext link to its own home page or special message.

"For both advertisers and users, our TechSearch capability offers a unique opportunity," said Mitchell York, Publishing Director of CMP's Interactive Media Group. "We can program an advertiser's promotional message anywhere. If a user searches for articles on document management, for example, Adobe Software's logo - hypertext-linked to its own home page - appears at the top of the story selected by the user and then again at the top of each relevant story the user clicks on," York said.

Advertisers and users alike reap the benefits of TechSearch. It gets advertisers close to their target customers and, according to York, drew endorsements from users who said they like this service because it makes it so easy for them to get information about the products they need to purchase for their organizations. CMP plans to formally make TechSearch advertising available to its customers in June. Advertisers participating in the trial include Silicon Graphics, Texas Instruments, Adobe, Novell, Advanced Micro Devices, Digital Equipment and Motorola.

Advertisers Get More for Their Money: A New Accountability Via I/PRO Internet Tracking

Internet advertising, a new medium for high-tech marketers, is on the "must" media plans of a rapidly growing base of savvy marketers, but until now, there hasn't been a third-party standard usage measurement available, York said, To better provide usage measurements, CMP has committed to participate in a beta-test with Internet Profiles Corp. (I/PRO) a Palo Alto, Calif.-based independent Internet tracking service.

With this new service, CMP will be able to precisely track, monitor and analyze TechWeb site usage by the total number of users, time spent per page, sections read within each document and the geographic and organizational origin of users. "This will give an advertiser precise audience measurements and help it compare how its ad is doing on TechWeb versus other Internet locations," York said.

CMP is one of five companies beta testing I/PRO's service, which will be available commercially in May. "We think I/PRO will offer our customers the accountability and impressive usage statistics they need to make informed media buying decisions," York said.

Since CMP launched TechWeb at Comdex/Fall in November 1994, it has signed on eight advertisers for its home pages and lead editorial positions: NetworkMCI, Mathworks, 3Com, Data General, Progress Software, Northern Telecom, Digital Equipment Corp., and Novell.

Currently users are viewing more than 160,000 individual documents a week on TechWeb, with growth of over 5% a week, with CMP's print subscribers making up a significant part of TechWeb's audience. The company's just-released 1995 Interactive Media Study revealed that 51% of its print subscribers use the Internet. In another recent study completed for TechWeb, 70% of a random sampling of 1000 TechWeb users identified themselves as professionals involved with high-technology (as purchase decision-makers/influencers) or as working at a high-technology manufacturer/distributor.

CMP Publications Inc. is a leading provider of high-tech publishing, marketing and information services reaching the entire spectrum of the high-technology market. Through its 17 publications, it reaches the builders of technology with "Electronic Engineering Times," "Electronic Buyers' News," and "OEM Magazine"; the sellers of technology with "Computer Reseller News," "Computer Reseller News/Germany Computer Retail Week," and "VARBusiness"; and the users of technology with "InformationWeek," "Interactive Age," "CommunicationsWeek," "CommunicationsWeek International," "Informatiques Magazine," "Network Computing," "The Internet Business Report," "WINDOWS Magazine," "HomePC" and "NetGuide." All of these publications are available on the Internet through TechWeb (http://techweb.cmp.com/techweb).

CONTACT: CMP Publications Inc.

Barbara Kerbel, 516/562-5218

Elizabeth Stern, 516/562-5162

Catherine Jarrat Koatz, 516/562-7827

E-mail: [e-mail]