Break Media Achieves Record Growth in 2008 and Launches Creative Lab to Focus on Original Content Development

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Break Media, the Internet’s premier entertainment community for men, today announced highlights of its growth in 2008, as well as the formation of an internal development and production organization named the “Creative Lab.” This new team, consisting of proven writers, directors and producers, will be dedicated to creating original content on behalf of branded advertisers as well as humorous content for Break Media’s growing audience base of men aged 18-34. The Creative Lab will immediately benefit from access to Break Media’s 60 million unique monthly visitors, one of the largest male-skewing focus groups for content development and test marketing. With the formation of this group, Break Media becomes the most comprehensive content development resource and distribution channel for advertisers seeking to target the young male demographic.

“We formed the Creative Lab to build upon this momentum. Now, we have the unique ability to create a high volume of premium content and distribute it to a significant online audience of men 18-34.”

“In the past few months, Break Media has generated more than 35,000,000 views for content produced on behalf of our advertiser clients and for the enjoyment of our audience,” said Keith Richman, CEO of Break Media. “We formed the Creative Lab to build upon this momentum. Now, we have the unique ability to create a high volume of premium content and distribute it to a significant online audience of men 18-34.”

In conjunction with the formation of the lab, Break Media has named Jonathan Small Vice-President of Creative Lab and Editorial, and Tara Leone Vice-President, Production and Distribution.

Break Media is also announcing highlights of its record growth in 2008:

Revenue/Advertiser Growth:

Revenue grew more than 100% from 2007 to 2008, with significant triple digital growth from in-video and branded content advertising.
Added a significant number of new advertising clients and now partners with top brands across every key vertical.
Continued innovation of ad campaigns with production of over a dozen original branded entertainment series and introduction of new engaging ad units built for network distribution.

Audience Growth:

Overall unique visitors to Break Media properties increased 274% from December 2007 to December 2008. (ComScore Media Metrix, December 2008)
Currently the 14th largest domestic video provider as measured by unique viewers and videos viewed. (ComScore Video Metrix, December 2008)

Site Expansion:

Started or acquired seven new male-targeted properties in 2008, including audience favorites Chickipedia, Cage Potato, Holy Taco and Screen Junkies.
New properties already reach close to 7,000,000 cumulative monthly unique visitors.

Premium Content:

Expanded diverse premium content offerings, adding partners such as Hulu, Sony Pictures, Video Jug, Howcast, Revision 3, Agility Studios, Next New Networks, FEARnet and Collegiate Images.
Renewed partnership with the NBA, and continues to offer daily NBA highlights and re-caps.
Launched innovative Movie Trailers Channel, showcasing a comprehensive listing of current and upcoming new releases in high-resolution.
Continued commitment to intellectual property rights with renewal of Audible Magic agreement and expansion of relationship to include video fingerprinting.

Industry Achievements and Research Initiatives

Formed the Online Video ROI Council to analyze and discuss the effectiveness of online video advertising - Council includes industry-leading brands, agencies and technology vendors.
Conducted primary research regarding online video effectiveness with such clients as technical partner Panache.
Performed proprietary research into attitudinal and behavioral patterns of men 18-34. The research can be downloaded at: http://breakmedia.break.com/file_download/3/breakmedia_kit.pdf

About Break Media:

Break Media is the Internet's premier entertainment community for men. Break Media consists of wholly owned branded properties such as Break.com, Cage Potato, Chickipedia, Holy Taco, Wall Street Fighter and Screen Junkies as well as a publisher network that counts over 100 member sites. Between these two channels, Break Media reaches over 60 million men worldwide on a monthly basis. Founded in 1998, Break Media offers advertisers unique opportunities to market directly to a young, male demographic through innovative ad formats that introduce relevant brands to the audience on a targeted, integrated basis. For more information, please visit http://breakmedia.break.com/.