SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 08, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- CNET Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNET) has acquired
Metacritic, Inc. and its popular metacritic.com Web site. By providing
weighted "Metascores" and summaries of what the top critics are saying
about the latest films, videos, music, games and books,
metacritic.com is dedicated to helping consumers make informed
decisions about how to spend their entertainment dollars and time. The
transaction was not material in terms of financial impact or audience
size.
Metacritic.com provides access to thousands of reviews across
entertainment genres, presenting opinions in a concise, organized and
easy-to-understand manner. The proprietary Metascore it assigns to
each new release combines all of the individual critics' scores into
an overall grade for each item, so users can gauge the critical
consensus at a glance. Metacritic.com carefully screens and selects
the most respected critics, leveraging the work of a minimum of 40 top
critics within each entertainment category it covers. The site
encourages users to dig deeper in matters that interest them by
reading full reviews when available.
Metacritic.com, which is visited by nearly 170,000 unique visitors
per month(1), is well regarded among the critics themselves, who view
the site as a valuable source of information, providing them a quick
glimpse at what their peers think about the latest entertainment
releases. Metacritic.com's three well-known founders -- Marc Doyle,
Jason Dietz and Julie Doyle Roberts -- enjoy a regular dialogue with
the critics, who do not hesitate to contact them when they think an
individual score that is assigned to their reviews should be adjusted,
and who always enjoy a prompt response by the metacritic.com staff.
Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal and winner of the 2005
Pulitzer Prize for Criticism said, "I just caught up with a movie I'd
missed months ago, during a short vacation, and the first thing I did
when I got home was to go to Metacritic to find out how it had been
treated -- or mistreated -- by my colleagues. The site is a pleasure
to use, not only because it's well organized and graphically
attractive, but because it's well-managed and well-written in an
unobtrusive way."
Roger Ebert, the renowned critic from the Chicago Sun-Times, said,
"Metacritic is a quick and useful resource for scanning the response
to a movie; the most interesting reviews, I've found, tend to be at
the top and bottom of the scale."
In addition to supporting the ongoing development of the
metacritic.com Web site, which will continue to be run by its
founders, CNET Networks plans to integrate relevant metacritic.com
content into its games and entertainment properties, including
GameSpot and MP3.com, initially.
"We continue to build out world class entertainment properties,
immersing our users in authentic and unique interactive content
experiences. A key part of our strategy is providing easy access to
valuable opinions from our own editorial experts, from our passionate
users -- and now thanks to metacritic.com -- from the most highly
regarded critics in entertainment media," said Vince Broady, senior
vice president of CNET Networks' Games & Entertainment division.
"Metacritic.com's founders have brilliantly executed on their goal,
combining intelligent writing, their innovative scoring system,
seamless site navigation and of course their valuable relationships
with the critic community. This acquisition is an important win for
us."
"Our users know how passionate we are about making their pursuit
of entertainment easier through innovative use of the most
authoritative opinions," said metacritic.com co-founder Julie Doyle
Roberts. "CNET Networks is an interactive content pioneer that not
only supports our goal and will help us continually enhance our
service, but that will also find new ways to leverage our work across
their leading brands. This is an exciting step forward for us."
Since its launch in 1999, Metacritic.com has received many
prestigious industry accolades. The site was listed among the "50
Coolest Web Sites" by Time Magazine in 2004. Entertainment Weekly
assigned Metacritic a grade of A in a review, calling it "the Web's
best film review site." And an article in BusinessWeek Online called
Metacritic "a mathematically precise and well-groomed site that finds
the best, smartest reviewers and digests their opinions for you."
CNET Networks Games & Entertainment
By delivering content and communities focused on games, music and
television, CNET Networks' Games & Entertainment properties attract
more than 24.4 million(1) passionate consumers each month and help
them make meaningful connections with the products, marketers and
people that matter. The properties, including GameSpot, MP3.com and
TV.com, bring content to life with compelling visual environments and
expert original coverage and programming and by engaging users through
cutting-edge community features like tracking and personal profile
pages that become more robust as users post reviews, ratings and
opinions. A universal registration system makes it easy for users to
seamlessly access content and features across all three sites.
About CNET Networks
CNET Networks, Inc. is a worldwide media company and creator of
content environments for the interactive age. CNET Networks takes
pride in being "a different kind of media company," creating richer,
deeper interactive experiences by combining the wisdom and passion of
users, marketers and its own expert editors. CNET Networks' leading
brands -- such as CNET, GameSpot, MP3.com, Webshots and ZDNet -- focus
on the personal technology, entertainment and business technology
categories. The company has a strong presence in the US, Asia and
Europe.
(1)Comscore, June 2005
SOURCE: CNET Networks, Inc.
CNET Networks, Inc.
Martha Papalia, 617-225-3340 (Media)
Martha.papalia@cnet.com
Cammeron McLaughlin, 415-344-2844 (Investor Relations)
Cammeron.mclaughlin@cnet.com
