Lifetime Television and RealNetworks Launch Games Series and Marketing Partnership

Lifetime Television and RealNetworks Launch Games Series and Marketing Partnership

Exclusive Lifetime Presents Series To Be Supported By On-Air and Online Promotions

NEW YORK and SEATTLE, July 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lifetime Television, the most popular women's television network, and leading digital entertainment services company, RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNWK), today announced a new partnership to create Lifetime Presents, a series of downloadable casual games specifically targeting the predominantly female audience of both Lifetime Television and RealArcade(R). Real, one of the world's largest developers, publishers and distributors of casual games with a global reach of over 40 million monthly unique users, will ad-enable specific titles to run video promotions for Lifetime programming beginning in the summer of 2007.

The Lifetime Presents partnership enables women to discover premium casual games with embedded ad content specifically targeting their preferences and sensibilities. Lifetime Presents will be supported by on-air and online promotions across the many Lifetime Television platforms. Additionally, Real will run Lifetime promos within its ad-enabled games, allowing consumers longer periods of free game play in exchange for viewing contextual ads that appear between levels or during natural pauses in the game. Real has seen tremendous growth for in-game advertising, doubling its ad-enabled game portfolio from 12 to 24 games over the past six months, serving up more than 9 million ad-enabled downloads in the past year.

"We are pleased to partner with RealNetworks and to be involved with a project that brings quality online games to a large audience of women viewers. Real's outstanding collection of exclusive content makes creative opportunities like this possible." said Kris Soumas, vice president of Games and Interactive for Lifetime Television. "LifetimeTV.com's Games section is flourishing, and we look to this new endeavor to continue to drive the growth of Lifetime Games as well as our leadership position in women's entertainment across multiple platforms."

The Network's Games initiative has seen explosive growth. Its Game section is a popular online destination for women, seeing its traffic triple since section's re-design in November 2006, and becoming the top section on LifetimeTV.com. In addition, Lifetime Games has published more than 20 award-winning, original web games that are played millions of times each month. This year, Lifetime began publishing original downloadable games as well.

"Real's pedigree for developing and publishing casual games for major consumer brands is second to none. The Lifetime Presents series offers a unique opportunity to further our relationship with a valued partner and deliver more integrated games to consumers," said Charles S. Merrin, vice president of North American Games at Real. "Lifetime Television clearly understands what it takes to market casual gaming content effectively, via custom game development, in-game advertising and on-air programming support."

The Lifetime Presents series will feature the release of new games each quarter, beginning with "Sally's Salon" on July 25, 2007. "Sally's Salon" (developed by Games Cafe, Inc. and published and produced by Real) allows players to direct lead character Sally through a virtual beauty salon by performing beauty services, hiring employees, and customizing salon services.

The Lifetime Presents partnership marks the latest collaboration between Lifetime Television and RealNetworks. Since 2004, the two have been offering downloadable casual games on the LifetimeTV.com site. RealArcade has also released Lifetime Games, a series of original games developed by Lifetime.

ABOUT LIFETIME

LIFETIME is the leader in women's television and one of the top-rated basic cable television networks. A diverse, multi-media company, LIFETIME is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. LIFETIME Television, LMN, Lifetime Real Women, Lifetime Home Entertainment, and Lifetime Online (http://www.lifetimetv.com/) are part of LIFETIME Entertainment Services, a 50/50 joint venture of The Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company.

ABOUT REALNETWORKS

RealNetworks, Inc. is providing ways for consumers to be entertained on any screen (PC, home entertainment system, portable device or mobile phone) anywhere. Its digital entertainment products include RealPlayer(R), the acclaimed Rhapsody(R) music service, one of the largest Casual Games destinations RealArcade, and a variety of mobile entertainment services offered to consumers by leading wireless carriers around the world. RealNetworks' corporate information is located at http://www.realnetworks.com/company.

RealNetworks, RealPlayer, Rhapsody, RealArcade and the Real logo are registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. All other trademarks, names of actual companies and products mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: meggers@real.com

Source: RealNetworks, Inc.

CONTACT: Carolyn Nurnberg, +1-212-843-9316, cnurnberg@rubenstein.com, for
Lifetime Television, or Ryan Luckin, +1-206-892-6330, rluckin@real.com, for
RealNetworks, Inc.

Web site:

http://www.realnetworks.com/
http://www.lifetimetv.com/

-------
Profile: intent