Viacom Consumer Products To License One of the Web's Hottest Properties, NeoPets.com; Interactive & Publishing Will Be Key Categories for Popular Youth Website. - November 13th, 2001
HOLLYWOOD--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 2001
Viacom Consumer Products (VCP) will represent one of the hottest new companies with worldwide licensing potential -- NeoPets.com, Inc.
VCP will represent NeoPets for licensing of interactive games and publishing worldwide. The announcement was jointly made today by Andrea Hein, president of Viacom Consumer Products, and Doug Dohring, chairman and chief executive officer of NeoPets.
"Viacom Consumer Products has an extremely strong track record in the interactive and publishing categories of licensing," said Hein. "We are delighted to be a part of this hot, young company's move to extend its brand, characters, stories, game concepts and other intellectual property assets into new, offline products via our extensive worldwide network."
Dohring added, "As we begin to extend our reach beyond the Internet, we are pleased to be partnered with a company like Viacom Consumer Products with their outstanding performance in publishing and interactive. We're extremely impressed with the quality and volume of product that Andrea and her team of professionals produce, especially in these two categories that we feel exceptionally suit our company's assets."
NeoPets has consistently been a world leader in "stickiness" metrics -- number of page views per user and time spent -- according to Nielsen/NetRatings. NeoPets, with its collection of more than 40 original virtual pet characters, engaging story lines, compelling games and other extensive and stimulating content, is one of the fastest-growing sites among the Generation Y market -- generally defined as age 20 and younger.
The site has grown over 500 percent in the past 12 months to over 20 million registered members. Membership continues to grow at a rate of more than 50,000 new registrations per day worldwide. This phenomenal growth is fueled almost exclusively by word of mouth, reflecting a unique passion among NeoPets members for the activities, games and story lines of Neopia.
Terri Helton, senior vice president of Worldwide Licensing, commented, "NeoPets, with its uniquely creative and compelling content, is perfectly suited for the next generation of offline console and PC-based games. In addition to interactive, there is a strong place for this property in the publishing arena, with the company's wide-ranging intellectual property assets, coupled with the site's devoted and highly literate audience of millions who are regular book readers," Helton said. "From a marketing perspective, the NeoPets team has done an excellent job. Advertising Age just last month named Doug one of the top 100 marketers of 2001 for NeoPets. We couldn't be more excited to represent the property."
About Viacom Consumer Products
Viacom Consumer Products merchandises properties on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television, Viacom Productions, and Spelling Television, as well as third-party properties. Viacom Consumer Products, a unit of Viacom Entertainment Group, is a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. To learn more about Viacom Consumer Products and its properties, please visit http://www.viacomcp.com.
About NeoPets
NeoPets, Inc. is a privately held corporation based in Glendale, Calif. that owns and operates one of the largest youth websites in the world. This youth-oriented network is an interactive community of virtual pet owners whose NeoPets inhabit a mythical land called Neopia. Creating and caring for their virtual NeoPets is merely the first step members take into the constantly changing world of Neopia. The NeoPets experience is multi-faceted and provides many hours of entertainment through a myriad of engaging activities and ever-changing content.
For additional information, visit the NeoPets website or the company's online press kit at: http://demo.neopets.com/presskit/.
Viacom Consumer Products (VCP) will represent one of the hottest new companies with worldwide licensing potential -- NeoPets.com, Inc.
VCP will represent NeoPets for licensing of interactive games and publishing worldwide. The announcement was jointly made today by Andrea Hein, president of Viacom Consumer Products, and Doug Dohring, chairman and chief executive officer of NeoPets.
"Viacom Consumer Products has an extremely strong track record in the interactive and publishing categories of licensing," said Hein. "We are delighted to be a part of this hot, young company's move to extend its brand, characters, stories, game concepts and other intellectual property assets into new, offline products via our extensive worldwide network."
Dohring added, "As we begin to extend our reach beyond the Internet, we are pleased to be partnered with a company like Viacom Consumer Products with their outstanding performance in publishing and interactive. We're extremely impressed with the quality and volume of product that Andrea and her team of professionals produce, especially in these two categories that we feel exceptionally suit our company's assets."
NeoPets has consistently been a world leader in "stickiness" metrics -- number of page views per user and time spent -- according to Nielsen/NetRatings. NeoPets, with its collection of more than 40 original virtual pet characters, engaging story lines, compelling games and other extensive and stimulating content, is one of the fastest-growing sites among the Generation Y market -- generally defined as age 20 and younger.
The site has grown over 500 percent in the past 12 months to over 20 million registered members. Membership continues to grow at a rate of more than 50,000 new registrations per day worldwide. This phenomenal growth is fueled almost exclusively by word of mouth, reflecting a unique passion among NeoPets members for the activities, games and story lines of Neopia.
Terri Helton, senior vice president of Worldwide Licensing, commented, "NeoPets, with its uniquely creative and compelling content, is perfectly suited for the next generation of offline console and PC-based games. In addition to interactive, there is a strong place for this property in the publishing arena, with the company's wide-ranging intellectual property assets, coupled with the site's devoted and highly literate audience of millions who are regular book readers," Helton said. "From a marketing perspective, the NeoPets team has done an excellent job. Advertising Age just last month named Doug one of the top 100 marketers of 2001 for NeoPets. We couldn't be more excited to represent the property."
About Viacom Consumer Products
Viacom Consumer Products merchandises properties on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television, Viacom Productions, and Spelling Television, as well as third-party properties. Viacom Consumer Products, a unit of Viacom Entertainment Group, is a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. To learn more about Viacom Consumer Products and its properties, please visit http://www.viacomcp.com.
About NeoPets
NeoPets, Inc. is a privately held corporation based in Glendale, Calif. that owns and operates one of the largest youth websites in the world. This youth-oriented network is an interactive community of virtual pet owners whose NeoPets inhabit a mythical land called Neopia. Creating and caring for their virtual NeoPets is merely the first step members take into the constantly changing world of Neopia. The NeoPets experience is multi-faceted and provides many hours of entertainment through a myriad of engaging activities and ever-changing content.
For additional information, visit the NeoPets website or the company's online press kit at: http://demo.neopets.com/presskit/.
Courtesy of NeoPets Inc.
