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Backchannelmedia Unveils Free Television Media Planning Research Portal

Robust Technology Platform Drives New Era of Accountability in Television Advertising

As part of its strategy to bring accountability to television advertising, Backchannelmedia, Inc., a provider of direct response TV (DRTV) and television advertising services, today unveiled its redesigned Web-based DRTVResearch portal. DRTVResearch is a free search and planning portal that offers media buyers and planners one central resource to access the latest demographic information, paid programming availabilities, and TV listings for all U.S. commercial television stations, cable networks, regional sports networks, and syndicated programs for designated market areas (DMAs). Using this portal, media planners can optimize their purchases of television advertising time for the greatest return on investment (ROI). DRTVResearch is now available at www.backchannelmedia.com .

The traditional approach to purchasing TV advertising is under close scrutiny from the industry due to the fragmentation of today's television audience and their viewing habits. The combination of expanding channel capacities, changing viewer habits and emerging technologies – such as Video-on-Demand and DVR – has created an array of rich and varied media-buying opportunities for today’s advertisers. Moreover, the complex nature of today’s media campaigns requires advertising to be accountable, where ROI must be closely tracked to eliminate ineffectual spending. As a result, there is a need for solutions that can increase advertisers’ ROI and enhance their media buying efficiencies by providing services that capture the dynamic relationship between consumers and commerce.

“The newly redesigned DRTVResearch Web portal is the first step in helping advertisers to effectively plan and optimize TV advertising campaigns, driving a renewed sense of accountability and return on investment for advertisers,” said Michael Kokernak, founder and co-CEO of Backchannelmedia, Inc. “Now media planners and buyers have free access to one of the most powerful media buying search tools available. Using our Web-based service, media buyers can research various markets to identify types of television programs and program schedules as well as demographic data down to the zip code level.”

The DRTVResearch Web portal consists of more than 800,000 searchable web pages of invaluable information and research required by media planning professionals to develop more accountable media schedules for their clients. The most comprehensive, free media planning tool currently available online, the DRTVResearch Web portal includes:

An intuitive user interface developed for ease-of-use and accessibility;
A robust search engine technology that allows for deeper targeting capabilities;
Substantial graphing capabilities designed for users to easily leverage their research in presentation form to their clients.

DRTVResearch easily integrates with Backchannelmedia’s STARS (Sales Tracking and Reporting Services) Web portal – a centrally hosted platform that provides real-time customized data that ties media placement to actual sales and responses. In use today by direct response advertisers, STARS lets advertisers and media buyers optimize and measure the impact of their television advertising schedules created using DRTVResearch.

DRTVResearch and STARS are part of a suite of services the company will be introducing over the next several months. DRTVResearch can be accessed at www.backchannelmedia.com .

About Backchannelmedia, Inc.

Backchannelmedia, Inc., a Web enabled media buying and planning firm located in Boston , was founded in 2000 with the belief that television advertising should become accountable, fueling the growth and performance of the entire marketing and advertising disciplines. Backchannelmedia provides direct response television advertising expertise to new and established businesses so they receive the best return-on-investment (ROI) from their TV ad campaigns. The company has developed several proprietary Web applications including DRTVResearch, a free search and planning Web portal that offers media planners the most comprehensive, free Web-based planning tool currently available; Sales Tracking and Reporting Services (STARS), which assists direct response advertisers through its robust reporting and its ability to identify campaign sales trends; and Digital Gateway, a Web-based data connector that captures consumer responses from inbound telemarketing centers and uses logic algorithms to source each consumer response to each advertisement placed. The company also offers DRTV Connected, a daily newsletter which includes a compilation of the latest news and trends in the DRTV advertising industry and currently boasts over 20,000 opt-in subscribers.