TOKYO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dec. 4, 2002–Overture Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:OVER), the world’s leading provider of Pay-For-Performance search to Web sites across the Internet, today launched its commercial search service in Japan — the world’s second largest Internet market. Building on its success in the United States and Europe, the company’s first Asian marketplace will reach more than 87% of Japanese Internet users, making Overture the largest paid search network in Japan. “Today’s Japanese market launch crowns Overture’s most successful year to date,” said Johannes Larcher, general manager, Overture International, at a Tokyo press conference. “We believe we have built a strong foundation and market-leading business in Japan, which will serve as our initial beachhead for the larger Asia Pacific Rim.”
Overture’s Japanese market search listings will be generated by advertisers who bid for placement on keywords relevant to their business. Overture’s local editorial team will carefully screen these listings before they are distributed to the company’s affiliate partner network, which includes Yahoo! JAPAN, NTT-X, which operates the “goo” Internet portal, Infoseek Japan and Lycos Japan. In addition, Overture and MSN agreed in September to an initial test of Overture’s search results in Japan.
“Overture will lead Japan into the next frontier of online advertising,” said Shigehito Suzuki, president, Overture K.K., the Japanese operating subsidiary of Overture Services, Inc. “We are confident that Japanese advertisers will see that Overture delivers the most effective and cost-efficient online marketing service, and that our affiliate partners will see that Overture offers the best quality and economics in the industry.”
About Overture
Overture Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:OVER) is the world’s leader in Pay-For-Performance search on the Internet. The company created the market for Pay-For-Performance search by redefining how businesses market online. In the third quarter 2002, Overture facilitated 500 million paid introductions on a worldwide basis between consumers and its 73,000 advertisers, who bid for placement on relevant search results and pay Overture only when a consumer clicks on their listing. Following a rigorous screening for user relevance by Overture’s editorial team, the company distributes its search results to tens of thousands of sites across the Internet, including Yahoo!, MSN and Lycos, making it the largest Pay-For-Performance search and advertising network on the Internet. Overture is based in Pasadena, California, with offices in New York and San Francisco, and subsidiary offices in the UK, Germany, Ireland, France and Japan. For more information, visit www.overture.com.
Overture and Pay-For-Performance are servicemarks of Overture Services, Inc.
Other product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements include without limitation statements that potential Web site partners and their users will want to use Overture search results, that advertisers and businesses will want to participate in Overture’s search results by seeking enhanced placement in the search results and the ability of these transactions to generate meaningful revenue. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, Overture’s products and technologies may not successfully work with those of Overture’s or other third parties in the Japanese market, the implementation may not be successful or generate revenue for Overture or yield economic benefits to Overture or our Japanese partners, the risk that Overture’s advertisers and businesses may not want traffic from Overture’s Japanese partners or users may not click on Overture’s search results. For a discussion of other risks that could cause actual results see the discussion of “Risks That Could Affect Our Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Overture’s 10-Q filing with the SEC for the period ended September 30, 2002. Overture undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.
CONTACT:
Overture Services, Inc.
Al Duncan (Media), 626/685-5714
al@overture.com
or
Laurie Berman (Investors), 626/229-5368
laurie.berman@overture.com
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