Virtual News Network Launches, Advertisers come calling on MetaNetwork Media

Synergy Island, Second Life, Jan. 26, 2008 – An unqualified success! That is how CEO of MetaNetwork Media, characterized the launch of the company’s news network on Jan. 19. With a gridwide event hosted at 20 locations in Second Life, MNM broadcast its first newscast, which was preceded by an address from Cadence Juran.

“I had many residents approach me during the day remarking how glad they were that someone was stepping up to deliver balanced news coverage in Second Life,” Juran said. She indicated the newscast hit the mark with a large cross section of residents, which is what advertisers are hoping for.

HD Slade, the director of technology for MNM, agreed. “I feel we were well received by actual Real Life and Second Life businesses,” Slade said. “There has been no effective way for any business to advertise to the millions of residents in Second Life and we now have demonstrated an effective way for them to show their products and services.”

“Our first broadcast was at 9 a.m. and we had residents at many sims requesting to see the broadcast repeatedly throughout the day and into the night,” Juran remarked. “With an audience so starved for great programming, our advertisers will benefit greatly due to repeated impressions and what will surely be deep message retention.”

Juran reports that Real Life and Second Life businesses must have understood the implications because the response was significant. “It’s now a week later and I’m still being flooded with proposals and inquiries from prospective advertisers.”

As a single proof point to Juran’s comment, MNM recently landed a new advertising account with a real life technology business, Castlebreck, Inc., a software and applications developer located in Windsor, Ontario. “We’re very pleased that Castlebreck saw the value to getting on board early as an advertiser,” she said. “They not only have decided to run their commercials on our network, but believe in our vision so much that they have decided to locate their Second Life presence on our sim.”

Next steps for MNM

The company continues to collect programming content and keeps its reporters networked throughout Second Life. “During the launch, residents saw what will be the new standard for broadcast television content in world,” Juran said. “The community eagerly awaits our next move and the arrival of more programming. We won’t disappoint them.”

To continue to promote MNM as a business and expose more advertisers to opportunities within Second Life, MNM is planning to host more events at Synergy Island and at the location of some of their collaboration partners. The events will be smaller in scale so they can be coordinated with fewer resources and targeted to key audiences.

The first newscast featured Runeswan Ceawlin reporting on several stories, including the Second Life banking policy and an American Civil Liberties Union event to protest the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Ceawlin said it was an honor to be featured in the first newscast. “I received a lot of positive feedback and the vibe from viewers during the broadcast was very strong,” Ceawlin said.

Now that MNM has launched its news network, there appears to be a new level of expectation from residents. “We set the bar high intentionally so that we are viewed as the leader. It will require significant resources and effort for someone else to equate what we’ve started,” Juran said. “We know this is the right thing for Second Life and more importantly, the right thing for the millions of users and residents in the Second Life platform.”

Visit the MNM Web site at www.metanetworkmedia.com
View the latest newscast at www.metanetworknews.tv

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For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
WordWright Singh
Communications Director
MetaNetwork Media, Inc.
Television for Generation M
www.metanetworkmedia.com
wsingh@metanetworkmedia.com

MetaNetwork Media, Inc.
332 Bleecker St. #K114
New York, NY. 10014

About MetaNetwork Media, Inc.:

MetaNetwork Media, Inc., is a broadcasting and interactive media company with the purpose to provide quality news and entertainment to residents and visitors of the metaverse community through the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information within Second Life and the rest of the metaverse. MNM will deliver programming via an innovative distribution network in Second Life, on the company’s Web site and via other Web 2.0 platforms.

This release was published on openPR.