24/7 Canada caps a successful 2005 with three significant technology client wins
24/7 Canada caps a successful 2005 with three significant technology client wins
Morningstar.ca, theChronicleHerald.ca, and Covers.com choose Industry-leading Open AdStream® online ad serving solution to power their Web sites
Toronto, January 26, 2006 - 24/7 Canada Inc., Canada’s leading Internet marketing solutions company and a division of 24/7 Real Media, Inc., today announced the addition of three prominent Canadian Web sites to a client roster that has grown dramatically since the launch of 24/7 Canada’s technology division in 2004. Morningstar.ca, a leading online destination for investors and financial advisors looking for information on investment funds; theChronicleHerald.ca, the Web site for Atlantic Canada’s largest newspaper; and Covers.com, a leading sports information site, have chosen 24/7 Real Media’s leading ad serving technology solution, Open AdStream®.
"Open AdStream’s sophisticated, enterprise-level ad management platform is what makes it the most trusted solution for more than 2,000 Web publishers worldwide," said Jay Aber, president of 24/7 Canada. "Our clients at Morningstar.ca, theChronicleHerald.ca and Covers.com told us it was our complete package of industry leading technology, along with our high quality, local service and support that closed the deal."
Morningstar is a leading provider of independent investment research. Launched in February 2000, Morningstar.ca’s mission is to be the Canadian investor’s primary source of mutual fund information. Before switching to Open AdStream, Morningstar used a system it built several years ago that no longer met its advertisers’ or its own inventory management needs. "We chose 24/7 Canada’s Open AdStream for Morningstar.ca because it offered just what we required: sophisticated inventory management and precision targeting tools, plus responsive, knowledgeable local customer service," said Tim Gilbert, Chief Technology Officer for Morningstar Canada.
TheChronicleHerald.ca is the online extension of Nova Scotia’s leading daily newspaper, whose current circulation exceeds 114,000. Online, theChronicleHerald.ca attracts more than 201,000 unique monthly visitors, generating more than 12 million monthly page views (comScore Media Metrix, October 2005). "Upgrading our ad serving technology was a natural part of our major Web site redesign project," said Sheryl Grant, Web manager for The Chronicle Herald. "After a significant review of available ad serving tools, 24/7 Canada came out on top. Not only are they able to provide us with a top technology solution, their unparalleled expertise in the Canadian market and local support personnel were key factors that sealed the deal for us."
Managed by a round-the-clock editorial staff, Covers.com produces statistics, articles and information that help sports bettors win 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Management at Covers.com came to realize that the locally installed ad server that they had used since 1995 had outgrown its ability to keep pace with their success. According to Covers.com, the site receives more than 5.5 million visits annually and consistently ranks number one in terms of page views per visit in its category. "Now that Covers.com is one of the top online sources for sports news and facts, we needed to graduate to an ad management system that is reliable, powerful and flexible enough to manage our seasonal peaks in traffic and ongoing growth," said Rob Begg, VP of Marketing for Covers.com. "24/7 Canada provides us with the best solution to meet our needs. Their local presence and expertise in Canada were important selling points for us."
These three agreements are in addition to significant wins for 24/7 Canada’s technology division, including recent engagements with NowToronto.com, the Web site for NOW Magazine, Toronto’s weekly news and entertainment voice since 1981, and Aeroplan, Canada’s premier loyalty program.
About Morningstar and the Morningstar Canada Fund Indices
Morningstar Canada is the Toronto-based unit of Chicago-based Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research. Morningstar Canada produces the PALTrak and BellCharts Canadian fund analysis products and is a major source of Canadian investment fund information through Morningstar.ca and MorningstarAdvisor.ca. The Morningstar Canada Fund Indices measure the dollar-weighted return of assets in Canadian investment funds for each of 31 industry fund categories, as established by the Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee. The fund indices also correct for "survivorship bias" by including the impact of historical data from discontinued funds -- those that no longer exist because of mergers, mandate changes, or terminations.
About theChronicleHerald.ca
TheChronicleHerald.ca is published by the Halifax Herald Limited and is the Web site of The Chronicle Herald of Halifax, Nova Scotia - a daily newspaper formed by the merger in 2004 of The Chronicle-Herald and The Mail-Star. Both Web site and newspaper deliver the most comprehensive available package of Nova Scotia news, as well as thorough coverage of the rest of Canada and of the world. In a world in which most newspapers of any size are part of a chain, The Chronicle Herald (circulation in excess of 114,000) and theChronicleHerald.ca remain in the private ownership of and are operated by Graham William Dennis, whose great uncle William Dennis purchased a single share of the newspaper on its foundation in 1875, and acquired the remaining shares on the death of the founding publisher, John James Stewart, in 1907. The Halifax Herald Limited stands for Nova Scotia’s progress and development and is dedicated to the service of the people, that no good cause shall lack a champion and that wrong shall not thrive unopposed.
About Covers.com
Covers.com provides information and state-of-the-art statistical analysis for eight major professional and amateur sports. Since its creation in 1995, it has grown to become a leading sports media organization, with more than 500,000 daily visitors taking advantage of its advanced statistics, articles, columnists and the lively community they find in its popular posting forum. Covers.com is operated by SportsDirect Inc., located in Halifax, Canada. In addition to operating sites such as Covers.com and Coversexperts.com, SportsDirect provides content and statistics to companies in the online and wireless industries.
About 24/7 Canada24/7 Canada, a subsidiary of interactive marketing and technology pioneer 24/7 Real Media, targets and delivers audiences for Canadian publishers and marketers. In addition to the recent launch of 24/7 Search in Canada, offering award-winning search engine marketing technology solutions and services, 24/7 Canada provides creative Internet advertising media programs, integrated Web site marketing sponsorships, highly targeted permission-based e-mail recommendations and effective Open AdSystem® Web ad serving and analytics technology solutions. With offices in Toronto and Montreal, 24/7 Canada is the number one permission-based email list broker and manager in Canada and sells advertising for such leading Web sites as the Yellow Pages Group, LeDevoir.com, Admission.com, GTAA.com, ICQ, TheScore.ca, and the Osprey Media Group.

