Federated Media Publishing Partners with Automattic to Provide Exclusive Representation for WordPress.com Community of Independent Publishers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Federated Media Publishing, which in conjunction with recently acquired Lijit Networks, Inc. powers the Independent Web, today announced an agreement with Automattic to provide advertising representation rights to the WordPress.com community of more than 24 million blogging sites.

“They have ardent followings and they present information in a very focused, conversational format, which is exactly the type of media offerings found in the rest of our existing portfolio. They really are an excellent fit for us.”

WordPress.com publishers currently write about almost every imaginable consumer and business topic, which makes it the perfect place for brands to engage with communities that are already discussing the topics they care about. Federated Media Publishing’s advertising programs will now be available as an opt-in program open to all WordPress.com publishers in the United States.

A Third Option to Standard Traditional and Social Media Buys

Brands are intimately familiar with the process of buying media from giant media conglomerates, portals or one of the numerous social media sites, but now they have a third option. This partnership will offer brands their first opportunity to advertise on the largest, most powerful independent online platform in existence today, effectively letting them reach the most passionate communities on the Independent Web.

The combined power of Federated Media Publishing and WordPress.com will allow brands to execute cohesive, content-driven campaigns using a variety of marketing solutions including:

Content Curation – Now brands can take advantage of FMP’s industry-leading, content curation expertise across the entire network of FMP and WordPress.com sites – no matter what the subject.
Sponsored Content Posts – Advertisers can bring true value to audiences by becoming a seamless part of their media diet rather than interrupting it. Sponsored posts now integrate marketing messages respectfully and appropriate to the conversation happening on a specific site’s page.
Conversation Targeting – By targeting conversations instead of just key words, FMP’s proprietary semantic technology will help brands reach previously untapped audiences across the WordPress.com publisher base.

FMP Now Has Scale to rival Yahoo!, AOL and Google

Directly on the heels of Federated Media Publishing’s acquisition of Lijit Networks earlier this month, FMP combines the best premium conversational marketing programs, user engagement and analytics tools available to advertisers on the Independent Web.

The Federated Media Publishing, Lijit Networks and WordPress.com combination will reach nearly 247 million unique visitors in the U.S., according to data from Quantcast. The combined entity will truly be the ‘advertising superpower’ referenced recently by industry experts.

Quotes

“WordPress.com contributors epitomize the idea of passionate and influential publishers on the Independent Web,” said Deanna Brown, CEO, Federated Media Publishing. “They have ardent followings and they present information in a very focused, conversational format, which is exactly the type of media offerings found in the rest of our existing portfolio. They really are an excellent fit for us.”

“FMP is the perfect partner for us to offer opt-in, premium advertising to WordPress.com users for the first time ever,” said Toni Schneider, CEO of Automattic. “FMP has years of experience in bringing together leading brands and top bloggers and will now be able to bring that experience to our network of tens of millions of bloggers and hundreds of millions of readers.”

About Federated Media Publishing

Federated Media Publishing powers the best of the Independent Web. We believe that the majority of meaningful engagements across digital media occur via high-quality independent sites and services. These sites leverage top digital talent to attract influential audiences who together create meaningful dialogue. Brands benefit from improved loyalty and increased sales when they become part of this authentic experience. Learn more at www.federatedmedia.net.

About Lijit Networks Inc.

Lijit Networks, Inc. was incorporated in June 2006 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. By providing innovative advertising services, audience analytics, and reader engagement tools to over 70,000 online publishers, commercial websites and content networks, Lijit helps publishers grow their website, build their business and make more money. Lijit connects publishers with premium online advertising campaigns that are highly targeted and contextually relevant to the publisher’s audience. Learn more at www.lijit.com.

About Automattic and WordPress

Automattic offers a network of web services for online publishers including WordPress.com, VIP hosting and support, Akismet, Polldaddy, IntenseDebate, Gravatar, and more. The Automattic network attracts over half a billion worldwide unique visitors every month. Visit www.automattic.com to learn more.

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