erinMedia Forms Alliance with Navigauge; Plans to Acquire Assets by Year-End

erinMedia Forms Alliance with Navigauge; Plans to Acquire Assets by Year-End

Combination Would Position erinMedia as Sole Cross-media Provider of Domestic Ratings Services Across Television, Radio and Outdoor

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Television ratings provider erinMedia, LLC today announced that it has reached an exclusive Strategic Alliance Agreement with Atlanta-based Navigauge, Inc., which would enable erinMedia to acquire Navigauge's key assets and intellectual property in the fourth quarter of 2005, subject to the execution of a definitive agreement. The erinMedia / Navigauge tandem would position erinMedia as the nation's only ratings company poised to provide cross-media, sector-specific ratings services across the three mass communication mediums of television, radio, and outdoor. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the Agreement, the terms of which were not disclosed.

"We would be extremely pleased to add the complementary and cutting-edge power of Navigauge to our growing arsenal of technology-driven media measurement systems. Navigauge's passive in-car measurement devices are vastly superior to the diary methodologies still used to monetize over $20 billion annually in U.S. radio advertising," said Frank Maggio, Chairman and CEO of erinMedia. "Much like erinMedia's passive measurements of TV viewing, taken at the point of consumption, the Navigauge methods deliver accurate and relevant results without relying on a listener's memory, sometimes even days later!"

Frank Foster, erinMedia President, welcomes the synergies. "From its inception, erinMedia has been all about developing industry leading technology to provide accurate estimates of audience size and demographic makeup. We believe in the power of patents, intellectual property and open markets. This alliance and an ultimate acquisition will further our vision, and create new opportunities for advertisers and media companies, since their targeted messages in television, radio and outdoor can be measured in a meaningful way."

Founded in 2001, Navigauge provides demographic, second-by-second radio ratings products through analysis of data collected using patent-pending passive monitoring devices installed in panel members' vehicles. The Navigauge technology -- which also uses Global Positioning System software -- also allows Navigauge to "geo-code" billboard locations, enabling the company to provide timely, current, and board-specific outdoor advertising rating and demographic data. This outdoor industry rating service provides a superior, passive solution for an industry hungry for modern, passive and consistent ratings products.

Former Navigauge Sr. VP of Media Drew Simpson admits that, despite having received near unanimous endorsement from prospective clients of Navigauge's products, including Viacom-owned Infinity Broadcasting, superior product alone did not assure deployment. "Most or all radio broadcasters in larger markets have signed long-term, high-dollar contracts. Over time, this has removed nearly all of the ratings dollars from the radio marketplace," Simpson confirms. "Despite our ability to provide superior ratings products for the most important, dominant and discriminating venue of broadcast radio consumption -- the vehicle -- Navigauge was still relegated to being an 'add- on' or 'custom research' line item for radio station and ownership group budgets." Simpson notes that competing for existing budgeted dollars is the key to success, and believes erinMedia may provide the momentum needed to open the market to competition. "A proportionate reduction in the amount of money currently spent for in-home and at-work radio ratings appears to be an idea that may gain traction, particularly if we are able to open the market to competition."

Navigauge's combination with erinMedia would serve as a vital cross-media component of Maggio's proposed complete restructuring of the television and radio ratings industries, to be unveiled in mid to late August. "The mantra must be that competition should drive innovation at the pace needed to keep the respective media relevant. Mass media participants must be able to agree to adopt sector-based ratings, individually, and at one time. This makes the broad assumption, of course, that the markets can or will be opened."

On June 16th, erinMedia joined "reactive" cable and satellite network ReacTV in a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Nielsen Media Research (NMR). In their complaint, the companies cited NMR's practice of using long-term staggered contracts with broadcast networks, and its attempted or announced acquisition of potential competitors, such as erinMedia or AudioAudit, respectively. For more information about this lawsuit, please visit http://www.weshouldallcount.com/.

About erinMedia:

erinMedia, LLC is a privately held media research company focused on understanding television audience behavior in all its forms -- cable, broadcast, satellite, linear, non-linear, and interactive. With over 135 patent-pending claims, erinMedia's proprietary IDM(TM) methodology combines privacy-compliant tuning data passively collected from advanced set-top boxes, with independently gathered demographic data. erinMedia then produces accurate, near-census based, and timely next-day minute-by-minute analysis into audience composition and viewing behavior -- without the use of personally identifiable viewer information. For more information, please visit http://www.erinmedia.net/ or call 941.739.4500. erinMedia is an entity of The Frank Maggio Companies. For more information on The Frank Maggio Companies, please visit http://www.frankmaggio.com/.

Source: erinMedia, LLC

CONTACT: Dawn Dixon, Communications Director, for erinMedia, +1-727-828-
3688 x305 (O), +1-727-776-0025(M), dd@fmtvi.com

Web site: http://www.erinmedia.net/
http://www.weshouldallcount.com/
http://www.frankmaggio.com/

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